Cup of life

                                                  Cup of life




       A group of students, then well-placed in senior positions in various organizations, went to meet their professor. The professor was very happy to see them. The students poured out their problems, anxiety and stress they were facing, inspite of holding a high position and having monetary comforts. They pointed out that they could not find any joy amidst these.

The professor simply smiled, and prepared fresh coffee and poured it into different types of cups- some were of decorated porcelain ones, some plain, some made of glass, some plastic and some paper cups, and placing before the students , asked them to taste the coffee. Almost all of them took the beautiful looking, decorated, heavy porcelain cups containing hot aromatic coffee.

The professor said, “ I noticed you all preferred to take decorated heavy porcelain cups. Remember, cups are just medium to hold the essence i.e. is coffee and not the essence itself. The aroma and taste of the coffee does not vary according to the container. It is the same. Only the containers are perishable. Likewise, post, position, power, money are like soap bubbles in the air and at any time can disappear and be lost. But your innermost being, your eternal treasure which holds the values of joy and serenity and guide you with the same is eternal and is always with you. So realize this, worries and anxiety will never touch you. External riches in the form of money, position, house, cars and electronic devices are essential for a comfortable life. But they are not the only goal of life. But ,with the acquisition of these physical comforts, worries and anxiety are natural to mind like waves in the ocean. Waves are seen on the surface of the ocean only. Whereas the ocean in its depth remains calm and unperturbed by the external waves. But there are many ways to calm a negative energy without suppressing or fighting it. Try to recognize it, smile at it, and replace it with good thoughts and wisdom.

Now this is the right time to test your real knowledge you have acquired and prove your worth.
One should not lose the internal treasure by being caught in the external pleasures. Even the honey bee knows how not to get caught in the sticky honey it makes. The man of understaning, finds lasting pleasure in the positive achievement, and the acquisition and exercise of wisdom. Righteousness and enduring riches of internal life should be the driving force of your life. Committing your life to nurturing highest values of life like simplicity,serenity, love, kindness, and discovering a purpose to serve humanity, radiating the same, you will find the true riches. Wish you all the Best! .”

Real strength comes from love and co-operation

                               Real strength comes from love and co-operation



    There was a saintly man. He looked fragile but would roll down the big boulders on the path into the valley down without any effort. A man was curiously observing this for a long time. One day, he went to the saintly man and asked him the secret behind his strength. The saintly man smilingly said, “ My dear son ! I don’t know. I don’t make any effort. I just address the big boulders that have fallen down on the walking path from the nearby mountain, with love and kindness, asking them for permission to co-operate with me in rolling down them from the path as they abstruct the people from walking on the path and not for any other personal motive. “  Then without much effort, I roll them down far away from the path.
This demonstrates that the real strength comes from kindness and co-operation. Real strength does not come from mere physical control or out of ego that others should obey us. This is an important principle in management techniques. A team’s strength and success depends on these qualities only.

Great things are achieved by team work in any organization. Team work is the art of giving people a common platform for spreading ideas that work towards a project undertaken by a group of people.
All should love the common work they are sharing to achieve a common goal. All the members may not be of equal calibre. They may be from diverse background. With mutual understanding, trust, respect ,and concentration on single mission, all boundaries will disappear. Infact, the diversity should impart a richness to the work. The focus should be on the action rather than one’s ego. One should not cut others and ride over. All have to be avid learners. If we enjoy doing together, everything can be achieved. Achievement of excellence in the form of unique and real contribution should be the purpose, keeping in mind the reputation of the organization and benefits to the society at large.

When the goal is set, the will and love to work,ability to communicate and resolve conflicts before they get out of control,importance of timing, taking advantage of opportunities and available resources , a unique joy of togetherness, a sense of belongingness ,self-motivation ,  commitment ,integrity,loyalty to the organization will naturally be there, like the ant who is a self-starter and needs no manager to keep it on task.

In a team, a leader and members have equal role. With varied knowledge and experience, the members can offer information and novel insights into a project which a single person alone may not possess.
The leader should not be interested in the privileges of power rather than its responsibilities.
Leadership is not about one’s power, it’s all about one’s ability to empower, encourage and elevate others.
The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not ,rude or cruel,be kind, but not weak, be bold, but not bully, be thoughtful, but not lazy, be humble, but not timid, be proud, but not arrogant, have humour , but without folly and without being silly.
Such a team becomes strong, successful and is an asset to any organization.

Wisdom from the kingdom of plants

                                        Wisdom from the kingdom of plants

•  When the axe came into the forest the trees said, “ The handle is one of us.”
• I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we  do.
• The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.
• Just as a coconut tree bears the weight of coconuts on its head and gives nectarine water throughout its life in return for a little water that was given to it during the first year of its growth, a good person never forgets the help he had received and tries to return it to others in manifold forms and ways.       
•  Though the blue water lily, lotus, fish, and white lily are born in water, they have different odors.
• Plants are more courageous than almost all human beings. An orange tree would rather die than produce lemons.
• A lone flower still blossoms for its own purpose not looking around for admirers.
• If you love a flower, don’t pick it up. Because if you pick it up, it dies and it ceases to be what you love. So if you love a flower, let it be in the plant itself. Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.
• The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit.
• Don’t chase the butterfly. Mend your garden, let the butterfly come.
• Don’t wait for someone to bring you flowers. Plant your garden and decorate yor soul.
• The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge, and it becomes another’s , smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises.

Value of things

                                     Value of things


 Children,from the early age should be educated about the value of things and not money.

A boy had a beautiful piece of cloth with exquisite workmanship. He took it to a shop in antiques with the intention of selling it. The shopkeeper, looking at the unique artistic piece, was ready to offer him twenty gold coins for that. The boy became greedy and tore the beautiful cloth, a table spread, into two pieces and asked him for the price. As both the pieces had beautiful motifs weaved on them intact, the shopkeeper was eager to have them and was ready to offer twelve gold coins each. The boy, not being satisfied, tore the beautiful pieces into small, small pieces and wanted to know the price for all. The wise antique dealer declined to give anything for those small insignificant pieces and addressed the boy, “ Oh my dear boy ! You don’t know the worth of this beautiful cloth. You tore into small pieces without any regret. You don’t seem to realize as to many hands have labored in making this unique artistic cloth. The farmer grows and cultivate cotton in the fields, fighting against the vagaries of weather. The merchant buys it and gets the cotton in the form of threads and gets them  colored in different shades. It is the weaver who weaves it with patterns and gives  it  to the merchant, who fixes the price and ships it to shops for sale. This is the case with everything manufactured.
When a person realizes this, he would never waste a thing or underrate any worker. The worth of a thing, appreciation of the same will develop the qualities of reverence, honesty , and love towards all. Automatically, the necessity and importance of money will also be realized in due course as it is needed for a comfortable living of one's own and to support and preserve others and other things. This realization will motivate earning of money through rightful means without exploitation."
In our modern, hectic and consumer-oriented lifestyles, competition and profit motivate business. Our society attributes status, position, power to people rich in terms of money. Since with money, everything is bought, children take everything for granted. Money is necessary, but money is not everything. Money masks everything. So people have no hesitation in wasting food, throwing out the clothes and other things. Children and even adults don’t understand the value of things, the labor undergone and the sweat shed by The laborers. They provide us the basic things for our living like food, clothes, shelter and other things. These things are modified into various forms by big business houses, who thrive. As we have multiplied our possessions but reduced values, we’ve learned how to make a living but not a life.

Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize that all the creatures that inhabit this earth- be they human beings or animals- are here mutually inter-dependent and are here to contribute each in its own particular way, to the beautty and prosperity of the world. We will understand others, we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance and care. We will also realize that in diversity, there is beauty and there is strength.
If we want to continue to enjoy varieties of food, clothing and other amneties of life, we need to help farmers and creatures carry on and preserve the pure environment, the bountiful Nature has provided us with. This will teach and value other people’s skill and knock out any thought of our superiority out of our head. We will realize that we all share a common thread and mutually depend on each other, our lack of healthy connection to each other, our inability to see the full dignity of each other is the underlying cause of lot of our problems.

When we understand the value of things, we will not waste food, clothes, toys, books or anything. Either things will be bought according to the needs or if more, will be distributed among the needy.
Even thinking of the wastage will be a shame, when many on the planet are starving, under-nourished, underclothed and uneducated.

We will consciously care for our planet and limit the damages we create and this will become a prioritized habit in our daily lives.
Value teaches the worth of everything. When we learn to respect even the smallest being of creation, whether animal or vegetable, nobody has to teach us to love our fellow human beings.
If we are able to see life from a broader perspective, we will thoroughly enjoy this place called Earth, our great common benevolent mother. All people, especially children will not feel isolated and glued to electronic devices for comfort, they will find their family-world has been transformed into a joyful fairy land of big , comforting, and loving world-family of "Live and Let live" resulting in boundless feelings of gratitude. This boundless gratefulness will lead to a total love to the Divine, who is our resource and who is also our refuge.