Mt. Kailash and Manasarovar lake

Photo Credits: https://www.flickr.com/people/sunciti_sundaram/

Success–Ralph Waldo Emerson

“To laugh often and love much;

to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children;

to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends;

to appreciate beauty;

to find the best in others;

to give of one’s self;

to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;

to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation;

to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived

– this is to have succeeded.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Image source and credits:

http://www.michaelnoyes.com/gifts/by-genre/literary-quotes/success-ralph-waldo-emerson via http://susiesheartpathblog.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/more-from-wise-%E2%99%A5men/

Broadening our identity beyond religion–An anecdote

This is a short story which I heard in a discourse by Suki Sivam on Bhagavad Gita.

A group of doves are living in a temple tower. The temple’s renovation works begin and many people start frequenting the temple tower. The doves leave the temple tower and move to a church tower. There are a few doves which were already staying in the church tower and they are happy to have new friends. The doves heartily welcome the new doves and they start living together happily.

After a few months it is Christmas time, they start painting the church and many people start frequenting the church tower. The doves leave the church tower and move to the tower of a mosque. There a few doves in the mosque tower and they too happily welcome the new doves and share their place with the new doves. All the doves are now living happily in the mosque tower.

One day a group of people below are fighting in front of the mosque, below the tower. A little dove gets curious and asks his mother to find out why they are fighting. The mother dove explains they are different groups of people and that’s why. Some of them go to the mosque and they are called Muslims, some of them go to the church and they are called Christians and some of them go to the temple and they are called Hindus. They are fighting amongst each other as to who is right, who is great.

The little dove really gets puzzled and asks the mother dove, we were living a temple, and then the church and then the now we live in the mosque. We are all still doves we did not change to something other than doves because we live in a different place, how can it be so different for humans. The mother thinks for a while, lets out a sigh and then responds: that’s why we get live in a place where God lives and humans cannot live here, they have to be visitors. And that’s why we live above the humans and they live below us. Once they realize that regardless of the church, mosque, temple they all are humans, they will join us as doves.

The thin line between passion and stress

Source and Credits: https://plus.google.com/+ParkeMuth/posts/MAVmVrerWB1

Work hard, Have faith, Keep Walking

The following post has quotes from a forbes.com article / blog post. Please see below for source / credits

What happened in 2009?

In the middle of 2009, Brian Acton was the software engineer that no one wanted to hire. Despite a dozen years of experience at Yahoo and Apple Computer, he got turned down by two of the Internet’s brightest stars at the time.  First Twitter said no in May. Then Facebook rejected him in August.

What Brian Acton did in the years to follow?

When Acton couldn’t find work at another big-name company, he took his chances on the start-up route instead. Teaming up with another Yahoo alum, Jan Koum, he helped build WhatsApp, a Mountain View, Calif., start-up that has become the king of cloud-based messaging.

Hard luck, persistence — and vindication

WhatsApp is in the headlines this week because Facebook has agreed to buy the company for a stunning $16 billion in stock and cash, along with as much as $3 billion in restricted stock units  for the founders. With at least a 20% stake in the company, Acton is headed toward a $3 billion net worth once the transaction closes. That rebound isn’t just good news for him. It’s certain to become a legendary story of hard luck, persistence — and vindication — among job-hunters worldwide.

A lesson to hiring managers

It’s also likely to cause recruiters and hiring managers some anguish. Hiring the right people is a chancy exercise even in the best of circumstances. But no one at any big company want to become famous for having let “another Brian Acton” slip away.

What an inspirational story, never get disappointed with what happens to you. Whatever happens, happens for a reason. Whatever happens, happens for good. You never know what’s in store for you, in the grand scheme of things. Work hard, Have faith, Keep Walking.

Source and Credits: The quotes are from a post by George Anders  http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2014/02/19/he-wanted-a-job-facebook-said-no-in-a-3-billion-mistake/

New beginning–letting go

Source & credits: http://www.facebook.com/mybuddhaquotes via http://www.volkerballueder.com/buddhist-thought-new-beginning/

Learn to say thank you instantly

This post is word by word from a forum post (see source below).

When Jesus Christ cured 12 twelve lepers, only one stayed behind to thank him. In this modern world one in a hundred is fine. But think do you want to be THE one or one among ninety nine?

Showing gratitude for what others have done is characteristic of an outstanding person. And by making expression of appreciation more than a matter of ordinary politeness, it helps guarantee of an outstanding future. A thankful heart is not only virtue but also the father of all virtues.

Normally most of us are too miserly use the words Thank You (in any language-see the link). Each one of us behaves like rationing officer when it comes to this word. However psychologists believe these are stress reduction tools. Many of us are too shy to say these words instantly. We want to put them across nicely and when in a good mood. But remember Thank you is always more effective than a two page letter sent after a week later!
These two words are simple enough to say but yet very difficult for some to deliver. It’s important to learn how to genuinely say "Thank You" to those who share their energy and resources with us as it helps repair the spirit and mend the fabric of our human interactions. Some may think it shows vulnerability but the reality is that the openness we exude lends itself to an outward pour, whether appreciated or not we must do to keep the essence of our own spirit healthy. Others may think it’s arrogant or condescending, but if delivered properly it is a very humbling action that shows gratitude and appreciation. We talk about changing the word, but changing the world happens one person at a time. Why not start now from within.

HERE ARE FEW WEB LINKS FOR THANK YOU.

Worth watching Movie from Youtube- on Gratitude Campaign (Saying thanks)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSfFYxSdKdo

The world’s best Sales man, Mr. Joe Girard sends out 13,000 thank you letter in a month.
http://www.joegirard.com/

How to say thanks in different Languages

http://www.squidoo.com/say-thank-you-in-different-languages

Source and Credits: http://www.geetham.net/forums/showthread.php?36229-Learn-to-say-thank-you-instantly-%E2%80%93-an-old-management-lesson

Patience or Anger – Purity of mind – An anecdote from Sant Eknath’s Life

Here is an anecdote from Sant Eknath Maharaj’s life.

One day a group of people were gambling. A small fight began within them and they started fighting within themselves. One of them tried to stop the fight and asked them not to get angry and fight among themselves.

One of them immediately replied that he was not Eknath to be calm and collected and never to get angry for anything. One of them listening to this asked if Eknath really will not get angry for anything. All others said that even the sun may rise in the west but Eknath will never get angry. He then said that if someone doesn’t get angry then he is not human. The others then said that he was not human and that he was god. The guy then betted the whole money they were gambling and said that he would make him angry.

The gambler who had betted, had a house near the banks of Godhavari. He went home and the next morning he was waiting for Eknath to come to Godhavari to have his bath. Eknath had his bath and was returning back. The gambler was chewing pan and spitted on his head from the terrace of his house on Eknath. Eknath dint even bother to look up to see him, nor did he shout at him and he went back to Godhavari to bath again. When he came back the gambler again spit the pawn on him. Eknath still dint say anything and went back to bath again.

Eknath would clean himself and come and the gambler would spit on him, this happened several times and by noon the gambler had finished his entire pan and was also tired standing in the terrace and spitting. Now the gambler came down and was waiting for Eknath to come. This time when Eknath was going back from the river the gambler blocked him and asked him how he had so much of patience and that why he did not get angry with him when he has been spitting on him since morning.

Eknath then replied to him that he came to Godhavari to clean his body before performing pooja to god. He also said that one should perform pooja with clean body and mind. When he spitted on him, he only dirtied his body and went back to clean it. He then said that if he had got angry and shouted at him, his mind would have become dirty and that it would be even more difficult to clean his mind than cleaning his body. The gambler was moved hearing this and said that he had read about this but never seen this in practice.

Source & Credits: http://indiansaints.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/sant-eknath/

Meditation

This post is again broadly based on notes from a discourse by Swami Paramarthananda.

What is meditation?

Meditation (dhyana) is a practice (sadhana) of conditioning the mind. Many of us are conscious of our physical health. We try to imbibe

• exercise,
• physical sports,
• workouts at the gym,
• (pathanjali) yoga asanas (postures)

into our daily routine – to keep ourselves physically fit.

Meditation likewise is one of the key practices to keep our mental faculty (mind) fit. Even though meditation is related to the mind, it also has some physical health benefits as well.

The Goal of meditation

Meditation is a means for different things to different people. We can use meditation to help us with

• either worldly / material goals such as physical and mental health, personality development and better performance etc. (upasanam)
• or spiritual advancement (upasana yoga)

Meditation as a spiritual practice

When meditation is used as a practice for spiritual advancement it can be

• either preparatory (dhyanam)
• or assimilatory (contemplation as per Swami Dayananda Saraswathi) (nidhidhyasanam)

Types of meditation

A spiritual seeker (sadhaka) can use Preparatory Meditation to condition his mind before studying Vedanta. Depending on what aspect of the mind

• Tranquillity / Peace (Shama)
• Focus / Sharpness
• Open-minded-ness
• Value system

is being developed the meditation can be classified into

• Relaxation meditation
• Concentration meditation
• Expansion meditation
• Value meditation

Relaxation meditation

In relaxation meditation you try to ‘relax’ your mind using a technique that works for you. It can be very simple mental self talk / imagination like

• while breathing out imagine breathing out all negative emotions, stress, tension etc.
• while breathing in imagine breathing in good health, wellness, peace etc.  

Concentration meditation

You can choose any task that requires you to focus. Swamiji used the example – a typist can use typing. But since we all do this, all of the time, It is better to use a practice that is spiritual.

You can choose from a spectrum of mental worship practices (manasa upasana) such as

• Mental worship (manasa pooja – scope is large) – You can imagine yourself or a priest performing an elaborate spiritual ceremony (pooja). For example you can choose Mantra Matruka Pushpa Mala Stava or Shiva Manasa Pooja Stotram by Adi Shankara Bhagavad Pada and visualize your self doing an elaborate pooja. If you are not used doing a pooja, next time you visit a temple, observe how it is done. You can use the same visualization.
• Mental chanting of spiritual verses (manasa stotra parayana – scope is as smaller than mental worship as there are only words now) – You can mentally chant verses from the scriptures / prayer songs etc.
• Mental chanting of lord’s name (manasa japa – scope is smaller than mental chanting of verses as there is only one name that you are chanting) – You can mentally chant the name of the lord repeatedly. Ex. chanting
  • Om Nama Shivaya, or
  • Om Namo Narayanaya, or
  • Om Maha Devyai Nama:, or
  • Shree Rama Jaya Rama Jaya Jaya Rama or
  • Hare Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare or
  • What ever be the name of your lord (ishta devata).

  The smaller the scope is the harder it is for the mind to keep the focus. Thus one can start with larger scoped practice and move towards the smaller scoped practices.

Expansion meditation

This is done to identify ourselves with the bigger universe. You can slowly start identifying yourselves with a bigger entity. Self –> Family –> Neighbourhood –> Street –> Locality –> City / Town / Village –> State –> Country –> Humanity –> World –> Universe –> Creator of the Universe. As the salinity of a water reduces with dilution (by adding more and more water) the selfishness / narrow minded-ness reduces as one starts identifying himself with bigger entities. This can almost eliminate our narrow notion of self.

Value meditation

The first step here is intellectually convincing ourselves that values are required and they should not be compromised even if the situation is adverse. Example

• Rama agreed to sacrifice the throne and to live in forest to honour his father’s word.
• Nachiketus agreed to goto to Yama to keep his father’s word.
• Raja Harishchandra was ready to die for truth.

Here we can imagine our self in adverse situations and imagine our response to them in accordance to desired values. Example we can imagine our self in a situation that makes us angry and imagine that our response to be patience instead of anger. Or we can imagine our self in a situation that can make us jealous of someone and instead of feeling jealous we can imagine our self congratulating the person with our whole heart.

Once we practice this enough, this becomes a habit in our real life as well.

Which one to practice

Just like we use different kinds of exercise to strengthen different parts of the physical body, different kinds of meditation, condition different aspects of the brain. So we need all of them.

An un relaxed mind, however sharp it can be, cannot study Vedic philosophy (Vedanta).

A relaxed mind, if lacks focus cannot do Shravana (listening) or Manana (memorizing, analyzing)

So every type of meditation is required.

 

Obstacles & tips to overcome  them

 

What if, I am unable to start?

• Start small and slowly increase the time (start with 2-3 minutes & slowly increase the time)

What do do with other thoughts during meditation?

• Just do not try to control the thoughts, in which case the thought might become more powerful. Everyone knows the story where a king is asked by the doctor to not to think of the monkey when taking the medicine and the king ends up thinking about the monkey every time he tries to take the medicine.
• At the same time try not to entertain it further and get back to your meditation / relaxation / concentration technique at hand (ex. breathing or relaxing or manasa pooja or manasa stotra parayana)
• Follow some sort of non co-operation movement with the thoughts, so that the thoughts do not overpower / control you.
• Generally it does not matter if the mind wanders from one thought to another, because such is the real nature of mind. But it might be a problem if a single thought pattern repeats. It might mean that you may need to fix something in your lifestyle as a whole.

I tried to get back to the meditation technique when I realized that my mind had wandered off, but it still keeps happening often, what can I do? Well if your mind is completely racing and you are not at all able to continue –

• Try guided meditation.

Why do some relationships fail? What can we do about them?

These are again notes from an old Guru Poornima discourse by Swami Paramarthananda.

To understand the topic “Why do some relationships fail?” we need to understand two kinds of people first and their characteristics.

Two kinds of people

 

1. Wise – Happy(read content) with himself
2. Ignorant – Not happy(read not content) with himself

This classification puts a vast majority of the people in the ignorant bucket.

When two ignorant try to strike a relationship (which is the most common case) these are the characteristics.

Characteristics of an ignorant-ignorant relationship

 

• Both are not happy with themselves, and they try to gain happiness from each other
• This is like Two unsteady people trying to hold each other in order to become steady (This is one of the best examples that one can attribute to such relationships).
• They both try to influence (sometimes even manipulate) each other (in order to gain happiness)
• Expectations keep mounting, No human can fulfill the expectation of other human – impractical
• More complaints than joy as a result of the relationship
• No question of progress / improvement – because maintenance itself is a struggle – Samsara

Lower your expectations

Well that kind of sets the expectations you can have from most of the relationships. So what kind of relationships you can trust on, the relationship with the content (wise) – Read – your Guru.

But, what about other relationships, which form a vast majority and which are most likely you run into. Well the only thing we can do is have lower expectations or better zero expectations when you get into such relationships.

You can read the notes (not transcript) that I made from the discourse here

http://www.evernote.com/shard/s2/sh/4da17541-1317-4ee6-b9d8-19c72db4b03d/03e3bb324c19e9149c4166211031a328

Let go and move on

 

So next time your friend, relative does something that you did not like, or does not do something when it is really needed (It is not one way, you may also do something that your friends / relatives may not like or refrain from doing what they were expecting from you) – remind yourself this example

Two unsteady people are trying to hold each other in order to become steady

Lesser disappointment as a result. Any favourable outcome is rather an exception (not the norm). This simple and profound thought enables us to move on peacefully by letting go.