Appreciation never comes spontaneously for many of us.

One man went to the market to buy vegetables for his wife. He bought ladies’ fingers, came home and showed it to his wife. The wife saw the ladies’ fingers and said, “Oh! These are so over grown. I will not be able to cook them.”

The man went the next day and bought some more ladies’ fingers, choosing carefully this time, and came home and showed them to this wife. The wife said, “What have you bought? They are too tender to make the dish I had in mind.”

The next day, the man went to the market, prayed to the shopkeeper and said, “Please give me some good ladies’ fingers that are neither too ripe nor too tender.” The shopkeeper picked the best ladies’ fingers himself and the man took them home and showed them to his wife. The wife saw them and said, “What? You’ve bought ladies’ finger today also!”

God's compassion

One man dreamt that he and God were walking on the beach through the journey of life.
He told God, “Oh Lord! I dreamt that you and I were walking on the sands of the beach. When I looked back at the trails on the sand, I saw that at times when life was most testing, at times when I had the deepest troubles, there was only one line of footsteps, the other was missing. How could you move away from me during those times?”
God replied, “Son! It was during those times that I carried you!”

7 Wonders of the world

A small story:

One day, the Geography teacher in a school asked her students to write down the Seven Wonders of the World.
All the kids listed the great wonders like the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower and so on.
One girl was writing and she kept writing, shaking her head and continuing to write.
The teacher came to her and asked, “What happened, you forgot what you learnt?”
The little girl said, “No. I am a bit confused. There are many more than seven.”
The teacher was surprised and took her sheet and read it. She then read it aloud for the class to hear, “The seven wonders of the world are: I can see; I can touch; I can smell; I can hear; I can taste; I can laugh; I can love…”
The class was suddenly filled with penetrating silence.

These small things are forgotten because we think that they are small. Everything becomes small to us when it is easily available. There are so many millions of people in this world who can’t see, who can’t hear, who can’t talk, who can’t taste. We never think of all these things. We are always thinking of what more, what better, what next, all the time, that’s all.

Gratitude to God

A Sufi Master, Junnaid used to pay his gratitude to God five times a day.
At one time, he and his followers were wandering through some villages where Sufism was not accepted as a religion.

In the first village, people accused them of begging, and threw meager alms at them.
The next day, the people refused to give them any alms.
On the third day, the village they passed through was so hostile that the villagers drove them out with sticks and stones.
That night as usual, Junnaid knelt down and offered his gratitude to God.
His disciples were watching him. It was too much for them. They could not understand why Junnaid was thanking God. They were furious.
They cried out, “Master! For three days we have gone without food! Today we were even driven out of that village like dogs! Is this what you are offering your gratitude for?”
Junnaid looked at them and said, “You talk about three days of hunger! Have you thanked God for the food you have received for thirty years? And know one thing: My gratitude is not for receiving or not receiving anything. It is simply an expression of the deep joy and love in my Being; it is a choice-less and prayerful expression, that’s all.”

Intelligence

Three men were asked the same question, “What would you do if you were told that you have only 10 more days to live?”
The first man said, “I would put all my work in order, tie all ends up so that my family does not suffer after I am gone and then I will live peacefully.”
The second man said, “I would enjoy life to the maximum doing all the things I have never done before.”
The third man said, “I would consult another doctor!”

ஆரம்பிக்கலாம் வாழ!

'கேட்டதையெல்லாம் கொடுக்கமாட்டான் கடவுள்' என்று கோபித்துக் கொள்ளும் அளவுக்கு உனக்கு ஒரு தீங்கும் செய்யவில்லையே..

உனக்காக...?

நான்தான் சுவாசிக்கிறேன்

இதயமாய் துடிக்கிறேன்

மனமாய் இயங்குகிறேன்

நீயா அதையெல்லாம் செய்கிறாய்?

இப்படிக்கு,

வாழ்க்கையாய் வரும் இறைவன்

ego-fulfilling?

If your neighbour has done a particular offering in a particular temple, next you go and do the same offering in that temple. What is the focus on? The deity or the neighbour?!

Don't waste your energy in Comparison

A king once went to a Master to attain some magical powers, so that he could become more powerful than his neighboring kings.
He sat in front of the Master and started telling him the purpose of his visit.
The Master listened patiently to the King.
He then told him to go into his garden, where a rose bush and a Cyprus plant were growing side by side. He told him, “They are your teachers. They can teach you what you need to learn.”
The king went into the garden, saw the two plants and could not understand what he was meant to learn from them.
He came back to the Master and asked, “What do you mean, Master? I am not able to understand how they will teach me.”
The Master took him to the plants and explained, “This cyprus plant has been next to the rose plant for many years. Never once has it even aspired to become a rose plant. Similarly, the rose plant has never ever aspired to become a Cyprus plant. They just attended to their own duties of growing and blossoming everyday. If Man had been the Cyprus plant, he would have compared himself with the rose and felt jealous at the attention that the rose plant was getting from people. Or if he were the rose, he would have looked at the Cyprus enviously thinking how peaceful the latter was without the torture of getting plucked by people all day!”
The Master said, “This is the most powerful magical power you can attain!”
You see: The two plants prospered because they used all their energy in their own growth. Not even an iota of energy was wasted on analyzing the other’s growth. 100% of the energy that they had was used for their own growth.

A genuine Love?

Chanda Basu was found crying at the doorstep of his house.
His friend asked him what the matter was.
He said, “My grand aunt has died leaving all her wealth to me.”
The friend was puzzled and said, “But she was really old and besides she has left all her wealth to you. Why are you crying?”
Chanda replied, “You don’t know – the week before that, my uncle died and left all his wealth to me.”
The friend was puzzled and asked, “Why are you then crying?”
Chanda continued, “And the week before that, my aunt passed away and left all her wealth to me.”
The friend could not understand why all this was causing Chanda to cry.
He asked, “Chanda, please tell me why you are crying for all this?”
Chanda said, “You don’t know, there are no more relatives who will die and leave me wealth!”

What next, what next?

One man was doing rigorous penance in a jungle for God to appear. God condescended and appeared before him. He told him to ask what he wanted. The man was overjoyed and said that he was a landlord and had lost all his wealth and that he wished to become wealthy again. God took pity on him and said that the following day, if the man ran from dawn to dusk, all the area covered by him would be his. The Man was extremely happy.
The next day he started running even before dawn. He ran as fast as he could. Close to noon, hunger beckoned but he didn’t pay heed and kept running. Early in the evening, thirst and fatigue gripped him but he was goaded on by the thought of the neighboring landlord who owned many acres of land. Pictures of all his wealthy contemporaries came to him and he ran on. A little before sunset, he felt giddy and weak but managed a few more steps. At twilight, he faltered…and fell dead.

You need to use anger in the right way in the right quantities.

Once a sadhu – a wandering mendicant, was passing through a village, when he received a complaint from the villagers about a cobra that was playing havoc with their lives.
The sadhu was known to have the power to communicate with animals, so they begged him to convince the cobra to spare the villagers.
So the sadhu spoke to the cobra, and the cobra promised not to bite any of the villagers anymore.
A few months later, the sadhu was passing through the same village when he came upon the cobra, badly bruised and almost dead.
“What happened to you? Why are you hurt?” Asked the sadhu.
The cobra cried, “O sadhu! It is you who made me promise never to bite the villagers! I have kept my promise to this day. But the villagers, who were earlier in fear of me, took my mildness to be my weakness. Seeing that I don’t bite, they started torturing me everyday. See what a state I have been reduced to!”
The sadhu replied, “My poor foolish friend! I only asked you not to bite the people. Did I ask you not to hiss at them?”

Responsibility

A small story:

Once a man was giving a talk on Responsibility at the Charity Club. He gave an example of what happened a few days earlier. He said, “A friend and I were walking down the street towards the park when we saw a helpless man lying unconscious on the road.” He paused and looked at the concerned faces of the audience.

Then he continued, “Nobody had bothered to help him. Not only that, when we came back after our walk, the poor man was still lying there!”

பக்தி

பக்தியினாலே- இந்தப் பாரினி லெய்திடும் மேன்மைகள் கேளடீ!
சித்தந் தெளியும், - இங்கு செய்கை யனைத்திலும் செம்மை பிறந்திடும்,
வித்தைகள் சேரும், - நல்ல வீர ருறவு கிடைக்கும், மனத்திடைத்
தத்துவ முண்டாம், நெஞ்சிற் சஞ்சலம் நீங்கி விளங்கிடும்.

- மகாகவி பாரதி