Monday, March 30, 2015

Can't see the whole thing.. Why?

There was a great saint, Ramdas. Thousands of years after Rama walked on the earth, Ramdas was reciting his story again -- after thousands of years. The way he used to tell the story of Rama was so enchanting, so magnetic, so charismatic, that it is said that Hanuman, the absolute devotee of Rama, who had seen everything with his own eyes, used to come to listen to Ramdas, of course, in disguise. He would sit in the crowd and listen, and he enjoyed it very much.
Sometimes it happens that when you are involved in the action itself you can't see the whole thing, the perspective cannot be that big. You are involved in the thing, you are doing your thing, and there are a thousand and one things going on; you cannot be watchful of all.
Now the story was finished, completed. Ramdas was telling his disciples the story of Rama, and Hanuman was very happy, utterly glad to come, to listen. Many things that he had only heard through rumors he was listening to again from an authentic source.
But one day a problem arose. Ramdas was describing when Rama's wife, Sita, was stolen by Ravana. He kept her on Sri Lanka in a beautiful garden; the garden was full of white flowers. Ramdas was telling that part of the story -- that Ravana kept Sita in a beautiful garden which was full of white flowers.
Now this was too much, because Hanuman had visited Sita in the garden and he had not seen a single white flower; he had seen red flowers. So he stood up. He forgot that he should not interfere, that he was not expected to be there at all. He stood up and he said, "Please, everything is okay, but this information you got wrong. You change it! There was not a single white flower, all the flowers were red, bloody red."
Ramdas said, "You sit silently! Who are you to correct me?"
In anger, Hanuman threw his blanket. He was a monkey god, so with his tail and everything he appeared out of the blanket, and he said, "You ask me who I am? I am the Hanuman about whom you are talking! And I was the man who went to the garden, and you never went, you were never there. After thousands of years you are telling the story, and you have got some nerve! You are telling me to keep quiet! I cannot keep quiet! Change the story! The flowers were red, absolutely red!"
But Ramdas said, "Don't be stupid! In the first place you are not expected here. In the second place, you may have gone, but I cannot change the story. I know for sure that the flowers were white."
Now this was too much. Hanuman was an eye-witness, and this man, after five thousand years, was writing a story, and he seemed to be much too stubborn. Not only that, he called Hanuman stupid!
He said, "You be silent! Don't be monkeyish! I know who you are -- you just keep quiet!"
Hanuman said, "I cannot allow this. You will have to come with me. I will take you to Rama. Only Rama can decide now -- and this has to be decided."
So Hanuman took Ramdas on his shoulders, flew back to heaven, reached Rama, really angry, and said, "Look at this man! After five thousand years he is writing a story. About everything else I have not objected because I was not an eye-witness. And I love his story; he is a beautiful story-teller. But about things which I was involved in he is not ready even to listen to me. You tell him to change his story. The flowers were all red, and he goes on insisting that they were white. Not only that, he calls me stupid, and he tells me 'Be quiet, and don't disturb and don't interfere!' And I say again, the flowers were red! What do you say?"
Rama said, "Hanuman, Ramdas is right, the flowers were white. But you were so angry because my wife was stolen, your eyes were full of blood; hence you saw the flowers as red. You should not interfere. When persons like Ramdas say something, it cannot be changed. It is not a question of time -- five thousand or fifty thousand years, it doesn't make any difference. For a man like Ramdas there is no time. He has entered into eternity, all time has disappeared. When he is telling the story he is not only telling the story, he is seeing it too. For him there is no question of time. It is not something of the past."
This was too much! Hanuman said, "You also were not present there! And this is being partial, unjust. It is unfair! I was present there! You had not gone into the garden, so who are you? Ask Sita; she was there, and I hope that she will not be unfair."
And Sita started laughing and said, "Hanuman, you simply apologize. The flowers were white; you were just so angry that you could not see the white flowers. You imposed your anger, you were so blood-thirsty! You just apologize to Ramdas. And make it a point that in the first place you need not go, and if you go then keep hiding and don't interfere. Nothing can be changed. Whatsoever Ramdas is saying is right, because he has a more aloof, distant witnessing than you can ever have. You were too much involved in it."
OSHO

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Happy...

___Who is Happy ?___
A crow lived in the forest and was absolutely satisfied in life.
But one day he saw a swan. "This swan is so white," he thought, "and I am so black.
This swan must be the happiest bird in the world."
He expressed his thoughts to the swan. "Actually," the swan replied, "I was feeling that I was the happiest bird around until I saw a parrot, which has two colors. I now think the parrot is the happiest bird in creation."
The crow then approached the parrot. The parrot explained, "I lived a very happy life—until I saw a peacock. I have only two colors, but the peacock has multiple colors."
The crow then visited a peacock in the zoo and saw that hundreds of people had gathered to see him.
After the people had left, the crow approached the peacock. "Dear peacock," the crow said, "you are so beautiful. Every day thousands of people come to see you. When people see me, they immediately shoo me away. I think you are the happiest bird on the planet."
The peacock replied, "I always thought that I was the most beautiful and happy bird on the planet. But because of my beauty, I am entrapped in this zoo.
I have examined the zoo very carefully, and I have realized that the crow is the only bird not kept in a cage. So for past few days I have been thinking that if I were a crow, I could happily roam everywhere."
That's our problem too. We make unnecessary comparison with others and become sad. We don't value what has God given us. This all leads to the vicious cycle of unhappiness.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Do not cling to your own projections

"THE BUDDHA once told a story about a young man who was a trader and had a beautiful wife and baby son. Sadly, his wife fell ill and died, and the man poured all his love into his little child, who became the sole source of his happiness and joy.

Once while he went away on business, bandits raided his village, burned it to the ground and captured his five-year-old son. When he returned and saw the devastation, he was beside himself with grief. He found the charred corpse of a small child, and in his desperation, he took it for the body of his son. He tore at his hair and beat his chest, and wept uncontrollably.

At last, he arranged a cremation ceremony, collected up the ashes, and put them in a very precious silk pouch. Whether he was working, sleeping or eating, he always carried that bag of ashes with him, and often he would sit alone and weep, for hours on end.

One day his son escaped from the bandits, and found his way home. It was midnight when he arrived at his father’s new house and knocked on the door. The man lay in bed, sobbing, the bag of ashes by his side. “Who is it?” he asked. The child answered, “It’s me, daddy, it’s your son. Open the door.”

In his anguish and confusion, all that the father could think of was that some malicious boy was playing a cruel trick on him. “Go away,” he shouted, “leave me alone.” Then he started to cry once more. Again and again, the boy knocked, but the father refused to let him in. Finally, he slowly turned and walked away. The father and son never saw one another ever again.

When he came to the end of his story, the Buddha said, “Sometime, somewhere you take something to be the truth. But if you cling to it too strongly, then even when the truth comes in person and knocks on your door, you will not open it.”

~Sogyal Rinpoche

Friday, June 13, 2014

Train your eyes....

Once, a merchant has lost a camel. He met a traveler and asked him if he had seen it.

"Was your camel blind in the right eye?" asked the man.

"Yes, he was", replied the merchant.

"Was it lame in one left foot?" The man asked again.

"Certainly it was", said the merchant.

"Was its front tooth missing?" the man asked.

"Yes” Merchant answered.

"Was it loaded with honey on one side and with wheat on the other?"

"That is just how it was loaded," the merchant said: "Please take us to it."

"But I have not seen your camel," said the man "and I do not know where it is"

The merchant got angry and said, "Then how could you tell us so exactly everything about our camel? You are lying"

The merchant called his helpers and took the man to the king who asked him where the camel was. The man replied that he had not seen it. At this the king asked him how he knew so much about it.

The man answered that the camel had eaten grass only on the left side of the path. So he knew that it was blind. The marks of its one left foot were faint. This showed that the camel was lame. While eating grass, it had left a little turf in the middle. So he learnt that it had lost front teeth. There were ants carrying grains of corn on one side of the path and flies eating honey on the other.

The king was satisfied with his explanation and scolded the merchant: "This man used his eyes properly. He is a great seer. You have eyes - but you don't use it"

We just see things. We don't look at or observe those things. 'Seeing' is what we do all the time, 'images' go into our eyes whether we notice them or not. 'Looking' is when we select what we see. When we look, we try to see. We make a special effort. We concentrate our eyes on something.

What you see and hear depends a good deal upon where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are. Our seeing is polluted by the conditioning of the mind. The mind is a thought producing factory. It produces thoughts based on the inputs (the operating system of the brain) that you have received. This conditioning instructs you what to see. And we see things the way our conditioned mind wants to see. The way a botanist see the flower roses would be different from that of a florist. To see as is, we need to break this and cross over the conditioning of the mind.

To attain that state, our eyes need training to see objectively. Do we see the presence of divinity and grace in each and everything? To learn to see is not an easy task- we need lot of training to accustom the eye to calmness and to patience and to defer judgment. The sky appears blue to the eyes. Is the colour of sky blue? Ask your kids - even kids would teach you that the colour of the sky is not blue.

Confucius said: “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” Many people have never learned to see the beauty of flowers, especially those that grow unnoticed. When you walk outside and look down at your feet, can you may tiny grass and flowers? Most people just step on them. So, let’s open our eyes and see things as is.

Life is always going to contain a little darkness. But we have the freedom to decide whether to get involved in that darkness or we should see and appreciate the light. The real trained eyes will see light in every adversity. But untrained eyes will see only lies. Because such eye sees only what the conditioned mind is prepared to comprehend. If we are not aware about it, at least accept that what we see with manipulated eyes are not complete truths, it can be bunch of lies. Ask yourself, can you see something without thoughts?

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Heaven or Hell..:)

One day while walking downtown, a Human Resources woman was hit by a bus and was tragically killed. Her soul arrived up in heaven where she was met at the Pearly Gates St. Peter himself.
"Welcome to Heaven," said St.Peter. "Before you get settled in though, it seems we have a problem. You see, strangely enough, we've never once had an HR manager make it this far and we're not really sure what to with you."
"No problem, just let me in" said the woman.
"Well, I'd like to, but I have higher orders. What we're going to do is let you have a day in Hell and a day in Heaven and then you can choose whichever one you want to spend an eternity in" the Saint replied.


"Actually, I think I've made up my mind.....I prefer to stay in Heaven".
"Sorry, we have rules....." And with that St. Peter put the HR Manager in an elevator and it went down-down-down to Hell. The doors opened and the HR manager found herself stepping out onto the putting green of a beautiful golf course. In the distance was a country club and standing in front of her were all her friends - fellow HR professionals that she had worked with. They were all dressed in evening gowns and cheering for her. They ran up and kissed her on both cheeks and they talked about old times. They played an excellent round of golf and at night went to the country club where she enjoyed an excellent steak and lobster dinner. She met the Devil who was actually a really nice guy (kinda cute), and she had a great time telling jokes and dancing.
The HR manager was having such a good time that before she knew it, it was time to leave. Everybody shook her hand and waved good-bye as she got on the elevator. The elevator went up-up-up and opened back up at the Pearly Gates where St.Peter was waiting for her.
"Now it's time to spend a day in Heaven" he said. So the HR manager spent the next 24 hours lounging around on the clouds and playing the harp and singing. She had a great time and before she knew it, her 24 hours were up and St. Peter came and got her. "So, you've spent a day in Hell and you've spent a day in Heaven. Now you must choose your eternity" he said.
The HR manager paused for a second and then replied, "well, I never thought I'd say this. I mean, Heaven has been really great and all, but I think I had a better time in Hell."
So St. Peter escorted her to the elevator and again the consultant went down-down-down back to Hell. When the doors of the elevator opened she found herself standing in a desolate wasteland covered in garbage and filth. She saw her friends were dressed in rags and were picking up garbage and putting it in sacks for the evening meal. The Devil came up to her and put his arm around her and laughed at her.
"I don't understand," stammered the HR manager. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and a country club and we ate lobster and we danced and had a great time. Now all there is is a wasteland of garbage and all my friends look miserable."
The Devil looked at her and grinned, "that's because yesterday we were recruiting you, but today you're staff."

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

LUNCH WITH GOD

"LUNCH WITH GOD"

A little boy wanted to meet God.

He packed his suitcase with two sets of his dress and some packets of Cakes and he started his journey.

He walked a long and felt tired.

So he sat in a park on the way and opened a packet to take a cake to eat.

Then he noticed an old woman sitting sad with hunger nearby, so he offered her a piece of cake.

She gratefully accepted it with a wide look and smiled at him. Her smile was so pretty that the boy longed to see it again. After some time he offered her another piece of cake.

Again, she accepted it and smiled at him.

The boy was delighted!

They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.

While it grew dark, the boy was frightened and he got up to leave but before he had gone more than a few steps, he ran back and gave her a hug and she kissed him with her prettiest smile.
When the boy opened the door,his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you look so happy?"

He replied, "I had lunch with God."

Before his mother could respond, he added,

"You know what? She's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen in my life!"

Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home.

Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face and asked,
"Mom, what did you do today that made you so happy?
"She replied, "I ate cakes in the park with God."

Before her son responded, she added,"You know, he's much younger than I expected."

Too often we underestimate the power of
a touch,
a smile,
a kind word,
a listening ear,
an honest compliment,
or the smallest act of caring,

all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

Remember, nobody knows how God will look like.

People come into our lives for a reason,
for a season,
or for a lifetime.

Accept all of them equally!

AND LET THEM SEE GOD IN YOU!!!
Source : Internet

Friday, February 28, 2014

Life..is how you see

24th May 2013 was the day which changed my views about life.

My roommate at IIT had fallen in love in the 3rd year of our college with one of the most chirpy, flamboyant girls of our batch. I had no particular reservations for their relationship other than the fact that they were quite opposites my buddy was shy, intro and she altogether was different and i actually felt that she did not love my friend as much as he did. Actually, because of her nature i thought she took their relationship very lightly.

But whatever be my notion both got along well then i got placed in the USA and left while my friend got placed in an MNC in India. We kept in touch for a few months but like it happens usually we got busy in our lives and could not interact much.

I took my parents to USA and my links with India got completely cut.

Now 9 years later i am on an business trip to India i thought of meeting my college friends and contacted many thru Facebook and likewise.

I tried contacting my roomie but met with no responses.

When 7, 8 of us met i got this news that my roomie died 5 years ago in the Delhi blast at Karol Bagh. I was shocked and couldn’t sink in the fact he was his parents only son and that troubled me more about how those people would be surviving.

So i took his address and went to meet them. when i entered the place (a simple yet utterly beautiful one) i found a group of four 2 old men and 2 old women were having their evening snacks and were smiling, laughing and talking i went on and introduced myself to them they all greeted me with a lot of love and asked me to join in and served me some tea. I took it and was left with no words on how to ask them about how things have been over the years.

So, i decided to leave and as i was about to rise the gates opened and my friend's girlfriend entered (i thought so these two finally married). She was surprised to see me and welcomed me and asked me to stay over the dinner.


After a lot of pestering i agreed and later mustering a lot of courage
I asked her, “So how's life?”
To that she smiled and replied "Good."
After a moment silence she continued
" we were happy very happy together and were about to get married when it all happened i was devastated but then i looked at these 4 people (his and her parents) and decided that i would have to move on. I bought a new place brought in all four together and are now living happily."

she said when i do something for them i know Shubhu smiles and it’s his happiness that i always want.

I asked her how is she managing ??
She said love is not only about his physical presence in my life it is about celebrating togetherness and that we do each day with our parents and i know somewhere he is also around here watching our every move keeping us protected.

And then she added wish i had his child.

After listening to all this i realised the strength of their love and couldn’t help envying my friend on how lucky he was to have found this girl who is selflessly busy playing her role in their relation without the society bound order of marriage etc.

I couldn’t help feeling small at the girl's immense strength and pure love that their relation stands on.
I realised how wrong i was in those days.

She said she has enough memories to last for a lifetime and said. "Log aksar humse humari khushmijaji ka karan pucha karte hai to hum bhi palat kat kar kahte hai, huzoor apki jindagi mein yaadein hai par humari to har ek yaad hi jindagi hai." 


A huge salute to you girl and lots of respect to you. Indeed life is beautiful it's just the matter of ones view to take the challenge
Source: IIT confessions from Quora
s.