Be Vigilant

THE TOUCHSTONE

When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few coppers.

The book wasn't very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone" !

The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.

So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles. He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold - throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea.

The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however, about midafternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.!

REFLECTION

So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant, it's easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it's just as easy to throw it away.

Wise men make more opportunities than they find! Like an eagle, be vigilant to make use of the opportunities around you.

Everyday is an opportunity in front of you for making new beginnings and happy endings.

Glory of SadGuru - By Sri Muralidhara Swamiji - Part -2

Radhe Krishna To all,

Glory of Sadguru By Sri Sri.Muralidhara Swamiji- Part-2

Jagadguru Adi Sankara, the teacher of Advaita philosophy, has sung on the Glory of the Guru, “One may possess a beautiful, healthy body; a charming wife; wealth as huge as a meru mountain and enjoy fame throughout the world but of what use are these if his mind is not set on the Lotus Feet of the Guru?
All great Mahatmas have sung on the glory of the Guru.
“Kutramutrum aruthennai gunamai pannithal Guru uruvãiolir, Arunachala!”,
sings Ramana Maharishi, calling upon Arunachala to be the Guru in annihilating his mind and taking him unto His fold!
“Guruvai varuvai arulvai Guhane!” sings Saint Arunagirinathar calling upon Lord Muruga to be his Guru! And what does the great Kabir say while speaking on his Guru Ramanand? “If God and Guru appear before me I will ignore God and prostrate to my Guru!” and what does Ekanath sing of his Guru Sri Janardhana Swami?
“Guru Mata! Guru Pita! Guru amuchi kuladevata!” - The Guru is my mother, Guru my father and Guru is my family Deity!
A Sadguru is like the mother and God like the father of a child. It is the mother who takes care of the child from its birth upto the time he is able to take care of himself. In babyhood and childhood she handles the child with care and affection. When the baby dirties the bed it is she who cleans up the mess even as she speaks loving words to the baby. She sits with the child day and night when he is sick and attends to his personal needs without a frown. Whereas, the father takes pride in the son only when he stands on his two feet and makes a name for himself in the world.
Likewise, God is accessible only to the pure heart but the Guru takes on the ‘jiva’ ONLY TO CLEANSE HIM OF HIS DIRTS (‘vasanas’) and liberates him. The Sadguru’s Grace is beyond the description of words! A man with his inherent nature of successfully completing a task taken up may perform japa or meditation with obstinacy. But what happens to such a one who takes to intense spiritual practice without the guidance of a Guru? The net of Maya only tightens its hold by bestowing him with supernatural faculties. He is able to learn the happenings that are beyond the reach of our mental faculties. He may be able to cure diseases. The world, too, holds and looks upon him as verily Bhagavãn.
But the truth is that he has not attained liberation but has been pulled deeper into the pit of Maya (of ego)! He himself is aware of this. By his own effort a ‘jiva’ cannot disentangle himself from the chains of Maya. It is only a Guru who can annihilate a person’s Ego, which is the only block in knowing/being his true Self.
A classic example of this is Sarngdev who had a huge following of wealthy powerful men. He was a Siddha Purusha who could even revive the dead. Thus, he was sought after by one and all and there was always a long line of the dead and their relatives at his doorstep! Once Mukta Bai, the little sister of Saint Jnanadev, enquired about this long line of dead. On learning the reason the little one said to the relatives of the dead, “I can also revive them to life!” and chanted the Nama ‘Vittala’! ‘Vittala’! in each one’s ear and the dead jumped back on ‘its’ feet and danced away singing the Nama ‘Vittala’! ‘Vittala’!
The belittled Sarngdev rode on a lion to accost Jnanadev whom he looked upon as his archenemy. Jnanadev who was poor and lived in a hut was repairing the broken wall of his hut. He saw Sarngdev ride arrogantly on a lion and only to teach him that ‘Siddhis’ were silly matters, sat on the wall and tapped it; and it moved up to Sarngdev! The astounded Sarngdev fell at the feet of Jnanadev as he realized his own folly and the emptiness of all around him. He sought knowledge from Jnanadev who blessed him with the Nama ‘Vittala’! Sarngdev gave up his wealth, relatives and followers immediately and took to incessant chanting of the Name of Vittala into which Jnanadev had initiated him. Very soon his nescience was wiped out and he became a Jnani! !!!

Glory of SadGuru - By Sri Muralidhara Swamiji - Part -1

Radhe Krishna To all,

Glory of Sadguru By Sri Sri.Muralidhara Swamiji- Part-1

“To acquire knowledge of even worldly affairs from making a pot to scientific matter one needs a Teacher. If matters such as these that are within the purview of the working of our limited brain needs a teacher then what to speak of high spiritual knowledge which is beyond the realm of the mind? The mind that had been involved in innumerable births to look externally in seeking happiness does not so easily turn inward.

It is the Guru - the friend, philosopher and guide in the true sense - who helps us first learn the purpose of life, shows the way to the goal, holds and leads us all through the way and finally sets us in our true nature. A poverty stricken man is sitting on a cot crying and a Siddha Purusha who passes by enquires the reason for his grief. The poor man says, “I am drowned in poverty. This is the reason for my sorrow”. The Siddha Purusha points out to him, “Do not cry. Dig the ground below the cot on which you are sitting and you will find a pot filled with treasure!”
Our situation is akin to this poor ignorant man. Not knowing that happiness is our very nature we are drowned in sorrow trying to seek it elsewhere. It is the Guru who points out to us our very nature that is Bliss. Just as a child who has no parents is called an orphan a spiritual aspirant who has no Guru to guide is also an orphan. Even Bhagavan in both His Avatars as Krishna and Rama sought a Guru. Krishna’s Guru was Sandeepani and Rama’s Guru was Vasishta.
What does Krishna tell his visiting friend Kuchela? “Kuchela! None in the world enjoys peace - neither the rich nor the poor. Each envies the other imagining that the other is happy! However, you who are the personification of poverty and I who am Dwarakadeesa (the ruler of the wealthy Kingdom of Dwaraka) and Lakshmipati (Consort of Goddess of wealth Lakshmi) both enjoy peace. You do not suffer from the sorrows attached to poverty and I from those attached to wealth. Do you know why it is so? Since we enjoy the Grace of a Guru - our Guru Sandeepani!”

“GUROHO ANUGRAHENAIVA PUMAN PURNAH PRASHANTHAYE”--- One on whom guru ‘kataksha’(blessings) has fallen suffers no grief, be he wealthy or poor.
(In the case of Rama, his Guru Vasishta gives upadesa to the aggrieved Rama on the true nature of the Self and shows his true nature.)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Just as those who are greedy see everything as a source ofmoney-making and those who are lusty see everything as conducive tosex, the most perfect devotee sees Krsna everywhere."

MOTHER'S TRUE LOVE

A little boy came up to his mother in the kitchen one evening while she was fixing supper, and handed her a piece of paper that he had been writing on. After his Mom dried her hands on an apron, she read it, and this is what it said: For cutting the grass: $5.00 For cleaning up my room this week: $1.00 For going to the store for you: $.50 Baby-sitting my kid brother while you went shopping: $.25 Taking out the garbage: $1.00 For getting a good report card: $5.00 For cleaning up and raking the yard: $2.00 Total owed: $14.75 Well, his mother looked at him standing there, and the boy could see the memories flashing through her mind. She picked up the pen, turned over the paper he'd written on, and this is what she wrote: For the nine months I carried you while you were growing inside me: No Charge For all the nights that I've sat up with you, doctored and prayed for you: No Charge For all the trying times, and all the tears that you've caused through the years: No Charge For all the nights that were filled with dread, and for the worries I knew were ahead: No Charge For the toys, food, clothes, and even wiping your nose: No Charge Son, when you add it up, the cost of my love is: No Charge. When the boy finished reading what his mother had written, there were big tears in his eyes, and he looked straight at his mother and said, "Mom, I sure do love you."

And then he took the pen and in great big letters he wrote: "PAID IN FULL".
REFLECTION

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which we will always find forgiveness. Mother's love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible. A mother's happiness is like a beacon, lighting up the future but reflected also on the past in the guise of fond memories.

She is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still she will cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.

We will never know our parents worth till we become a parent.

One should be a giver not an asker, especially with our parents and there is indeed a lot to give....besides money!! Think for a moment......

EMPEROR AND THE BEGGAR

An emperor was coming out of his palace for his morning walk when he met a beggar. He asked the beggar, "What do you want?"The beggar laughed and said, "You are asking me as though you can fulfill my desire!"The king was offended. He said, "Of course I can fulfill your desire. What is it? Just tell me." And the beggar said, "Think twice before you promise anything."The beggar was no ordinary beggar, he was the emporers past life master. He had promised in that life, "I will come and try to wake you in your next life. This life you have missed but I will come again." But the king had forgotten completely -- who remembers past lives? So he insisted, "I will fulfill anything you ask. I am a very powerful emperor, what can you possibly desire that I can not give to you?"The beggar said, "It is a very simple desire. You see this begging bowl? Can you fill it with something?"The emperor said, "Of course!" He called one of his viziers and told him, "Fill this mans begging bowl with money." The vizier went and got some money and poured it into the bowl, and it disappeared. And he poured more and more, and the moment he would pour it, it would disappear. And the beggging bowl remained always empty.The whole palace gathered. By and by the rumor went throughout the whole capital, and a huge crowd gathered. The prestige of the emperor was at stake.He said to his viziers, "If the whole kingdom is lost, I am ready to lose it, but I cannot be defeated by this beggar."Diamonds and pearls and emeralds, his treasuries were becoming empty.The begging bowl seemed to be bottomless. Everything that was put into it --everything! --immediately disappeared, went out of existence. Finally it was the evening, and the people were standing there in utter silence. The king dropped at the fet of the beggar and admitted his defeat. he said, "Just tell me one thing. You are victorious - but before you leave, just fulfill my curiousity. What is the begging bowl made of?"The beggar laughed and said, "It is made up of the human mind. There is no secret. It is simply made up of human desires!!"

REFLECTIONThis understanding transforms life.

Go into one desire -- what is the mechanism of it? First there is a great excitement, great thrill, adventure. we feel a great kick. Something is going to happen, we are on the verge of it. And then we have the car, we have that special someone of our dreams, we have the dream house, we have all the luxuries, and suddenly all is meaningless again.What happens? Our mind has dematerialised it. The car is standing in the drive, but there is no excitement anymore. The excitement was only in getting it. We became so drunk with the desire that we forgot our inner nothingness.

When the desire is fulfilled- the car in the drive, the luxuries at our home, the money in our bank account, the special someone in our life - again all the excitement disappears. Again the emptiness dawns, ready to eat us up. Again we have to create another desire to escape this yawning abyss.That's how one moves from one desire to another desire. That's how one remains a beggar. Our whole life proves it again and again -- every desire frustrates. And when the goal is achieved, we will need another desire.

The day we understand that desire as such is going to fail, comes the turning point in our life.

The other journey is inwards. move inwards, come back home!

How do our sub-consious mind works

There was a man who worked for the railroad. One day as he went into the freezer compartment to do his routine work, the door accidentally closed and he found himself trapped in the compartment. He shouted for help but no one heard him since it was past midnight. He tried to break down the door but he could not. As he lay in the freezer compartment, he began to feel colder, and colder. Then he began to feel weaker, and weaker, and he wrote on the wall of the compartment, “I am feeling colder, and colder; and I am getting weaker, and weaker. I am dying, and this may be my last words”.

In the morning when the other workers opened up the compartment they found him dead. The sad twist to the above story is that the freezing apparatus in the compartment had broke down a few days earlier. The poor worker did not know about the damaged freezing apparatus and in his mind the freezing apparatus was working perfectly. He felt cold, got weaker and literally willed himself to die.

REFLECTION :

Our sub-conscious mind can be cheated. The sub-conscious mind can only accept and act on information passed to it by the conscious mind. It has no capacity to reject or decline any instructions or information passed to it by the conscious mind.

We should take initiative in whatever we do !!

Some years ago, three brothers left the farm to work in the city. They were all hired by the same company at the same pay. Three years later, Jim was being paid $500 a month, Frank was receiving $1,000, but George was now making $1,500.

Their father decided to visit the employer. He listened to the confused father and said, "I will let the boys explain for themselves."

Jim was summoned to the supervisor's office and was told, "Jim, I understand the Far East Importers has just brought in a large transport plane loaded with Japanese import goods. Will you please go over to the airport and get a cargo inventory?"

Three minutes later, Jim returned to the office. "The cargo was one thousand bolts of Japanese silk," Jim reported. "I got the information over the telephone from a member of the crew."
When Jim left, Frank, the $1,000 a month brother, was called. "Frank," said the supervisor, "I wish you'd go out to the airport and get an inventory of the cargo plane which was just brought in by Far East Importers."
An hour later, Frank was back in the office with a list showing that the plane carried 1,000 bolts of Japanese silk, 500 transistor radios, and 1,000 hand painted bamboo trays. George, the $1,500 a month brother, was given identical instructions. Working hours were over when he finally returned.

"The transport plane carried one thousand bolts of Japanese silk," he began. "It was on sale at sixty dollars a bolt, so I took a two-day option on the whole lot.

I have wired a designer in New York offering the silk at seventy-five dollars a bolt. I expect to have the order tomorrow. I also found five hundred transistor radios, which I sold over the telephone at a profit of $2.30 each.

There were a thousand bamboo trays, but they were of poor quality, so I didn't try to do anything with them."

When George left the office, the employer smiled. "You probably noticed," he said, "that Jim doesn't do what he's told, Frank does only what he'd told, but George does without being told."

REFLECTION

The future is full of promise for one who shows initiative! Initiative is doing the right things without being told. Success depends in a very large measure upon individual initiative and exertion and cannot be achieved except by a dint of hard work.

Time is neutral and does not change things. With courage and initiative,leaders change things!

The four cornerstones of character on which the structure of a nation is built are: Initiative, Imagination, Individuality and Independence.

THE TURTLE'S PICNIC !!

A turtle family went on a picnic.. The turtles, being naturally slow about things, took seven years to prepare for their outings.Finally the turtle family left home looking for a suitable place. During the second year of their journey they found it. For about six months they cleaned up the area, unpacked the picnic basket, and completed the arrangements.
Then they discovered the had forgotten the salt. A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all agreed. After a lengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was chosen to retrieve the salt from home.
Although he was the fastest of the slow moving turtles, the little turtle whined, cried, and wobbled in his shell. He agreed to go on one condition: that no one would eat until he returned. The family consented and the little turtle left.

Three years passed-- and the little turtle had not returned. Five years...six years.. then in the seventh year of his absence, the oldest turtle could no longer contain his hunger. He announced that he was going to eat and began to unwrap a sandwich.At that point the little turtle suddenly popped out from behind a tree shouting, "SEE I knew you wouldn't wait. Now I am not going to go get the salt."

REFLECTION :
Some of us waste our lives waiting for people to live up to our expectations of them. We are so concerned about what others are doing that we don't do anything ourselves!!

Bhagavad Gita 1:26

tatrapasyat sthitan parthah

pitrn atha pitamahan

acaryan matulan bhratrn

putran pautran sakhims tatha

svasuran suhrdas caiva

senayor ubhayor api

SYNONYMS tatra--there; apasyat--he could see; sthitan--standing; parthah--Arjuna; pitrn--fathers; atha--also; pitamahan--grandfathers; acaryan--teachers; matulan--maternal uncles; bhratrn--brothers; putran--sons; pautran--grandsons; sakhin--friends; tatha--too; svasuran--fathers-in-law; suhrdah--well-wishers; ca--also; eva--certainly; senayoh--of the armies; ubhayoh--of both parties; api--including.

TRANSLATION:There Arjuna could see, within the midst of the armies of both parties, his fathers, grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, friends, and also his father-in-law and well-wishers--all present there.

Bhagavad Gita 1:25

bhisma-drona-pramukhatah

sarvesam ca mahi-ksitam

uvaca partha pasyaitan

samavetan kurun iti

SYNONYMS

bhisma--Grandfather Bhisma; drona--the teacher Drona; pramukhatah--in front of; sarvesam--all; ca--also; mahi-ksitam--chiefs of the world; uvaca--said; partha--O Partha (son of Prtha); pasya--just behold; etan--all of them; samavetan--assembled; kurun--all the members of the Kuru dynasty; iti--thus.

TRANSLATION: In the presence of Bhisma, Drona and all other chieftains of the world, Hrsikesa, the Lord, said, Just behold, Partha, all the Kurus who are assembled here.