In giving only, we grow rich

     

                                  In giving only, we grow rich




           There was a big majestic tree with thick branches of leaves spreading out, with beautiful flowers and delicious fruits on the banks of a river on the outskirts of a small town and looked joyful in serving others by its cool shade, fragrant flowers and sweet fruits.

Once, a small family of four members came and rested under the tree for awhile. The parents were resting underthe tree. Their children,a boy of seven or eight years and his little sister of four or five years old were playing around the tree. The little girl called her brother by name John. After sometime, the family left the place

The little boy John started coming almost daily and played under the tree, plucking its flowers and putting them on his head. He enjoyed picking its delicious fruits and eat them.

The tree developed an affection for that little boy. The unique feature of this created world is love. Love is the universal language which every creature animate or inanimate understands,longs for and fosters.
The boy grew up and had other activities to concentrate upon. After a long time, when the grown up boy was passing by that side, the tree asked him, ‘ John, why you never come here.?’
The boy said, “ I am grown up. I need money to buy things. What do you have except leaves and fruits.’ The tree said tenderly, ‘ You can pick and sell my fruits, you can get money that way.’ John plucked the delicious fruits and went away. The boy did not even feel grateful or thanked the kind tree. Years rolled by. As an adult, he was passing by the side of the tree without even looking at it. The majestic tree lovingly posed the same question to him. The man said that he wanted to build a house and asked the tree, ‘ You keep on calling me. Can you give me a house?’ The tree smilingly replied, ‘ yes, you can cut my sturdy branches and build a beautiful house.’ Without any hesitation, the man cut down the branches and took them for his building. After sometime, when John was passing by that side, the tree enquired about his welfare. Instead of expressing thanks for its concern, he poured out his problem to the tree , telling that he wanted to go to distant lands to earn more money and settle down there comfortably. So, he needed a boat. The tree cheerfully offered its big, strong trunk. The selfish man made a boat out it and sailed away.

The tree became a stump. With rains and grace from above, the tree got regenerated into a vast encompassing majestic one, fully laden with delicious fruits, fragrant flowers,and green luscious leaves offering shade to the travellers. Any person passing through that side could never miss the positive vibration of the joy and richness of the services rendered by that majestic tree to the travellers.

The tree did not forget John who, as a boy would come and play and whose desires it could fulfill. It had developed an affection for the little boy and was eagerly waiting to hear good news about his setttlement in a foreign land and nothing else.

Love is a universal language. Without words, one can feel the depth of the tree’s unselfish, unconditional love, kindness.
Man is gifted with words to express his beautiful thoughts of love, kindness and gratitude. But in modern times, the freedom of expression and speech and birthright is exploited to one’s own selfish ends.
The motherland is also like the tree. And, a y land where people come to earn their livelihood is like this great tree. It is only ungrateful men destroy the lands, fellow countrymen to satisfy their insatiable greed. The height of this greed can be seen in today’s politics. Election is nothing but a reshuffling of the same crooked politicians. The party men fight the election to defeat the rival candidates. Their object is never to take care of the country. They forget that they are mere representatives of the people , elected to govern the country, protecting the rights and safeguarding the people by providing healthcare, education, livelihood , and protection from the enemies. They are mere caretakers for a stipulated period. But they behave as if the country is their own property and loot taxpayers money to fulfill their whims instead of spending on the welfare and development of the country.
The unbridled power,  corruption of the politicians, instigation of the youths by fanatics, unemployment,poverty, illiteracy all create migration issues. The world belongs to everyone. Nature is common. In a country, people belonging to different religions live. Practice of religion is a private affair. The country belongs to all. Dividing the country on the basis of religion, driving them out of their own country by the powerful ones is a stigma and a shame on the humanity as a whole. In every country, people should realize that by giving space, help and love to one another, they don’t lose anything, but gain only, get the bounty like the majestic tree.

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.

The miracle of love

                               The miracle of love




      All are basically good as the divine spark in all is one and the same. No one is born a thief or a terrorist. It is the deprivation of basic amneties of life  namely food, clothing, shelter especially love and care , lack of opportunities for employment that cause insecurity among people ,forcing them to extreme steps of terrorism, theft, robbery and other means as a retalatiation or compensation for the deprivation of love and care, not provided by the society in which they live. The yearning for love and care is a basic ingredient of the soul of every created being, whether animate or inanimate. Emotional life is richer and deeper than the intellectual life. When the mind is full and rich, the intellect works and wisdom also dawns.

There is a story that the most famous of all Japanese robbers, Ishikawa Goemon, once by night entering a house to kill and steal , was charmed by the smile of a baby which reached out hands to him, and that he remained playing with the little creature until all chance of carrying out his purpose was lost.

Man is like a plant with its green parts above the ground and its roots below the soil. Although a plant may be temporarily crushed and bruised by the weather conditions, its roots will survive and grow back again later. Similarly, man may be temporarily crushed and bruised by insecurity, neglect, deprivation of the basic necessities of life, his roots imbedded in love will survive and grow back again later  as a proper human being, if necessary surroundings are provided with.

The key to a joyful life

                               The key to a joyful life



      Two students went to a wise, scholarly teacher to learn the secret of success and joy in life. Before undertaking the teaching, the teacher wanted to to test the mental alertness and readiness of the students. So, he gave a small gift of flower seeds to each of them, asked them them to grow, cultivate and bring their pot of flowers after six months. Six months over, both reported to the master with their pot of flowers. The first student’s pot had three flowers only. He accounted for this that when he planted the seeds, half of the seeds were eaten away by the ants in the soil. There was no rain at all. While budding, insects ate away the flowers whatever grown. So, he could save and get only three flowers.
The other student’s pot was full of healthy flowers. On being asked about the cause of the same, he replied thus, “ I looked at the seeds you gave and developed a love for them. I put proper soil in a clean pot, planted the seeds with love, and watered with care. I took care to take out the weeds, protected them from extreme heat and cold. When the plant grew, I felt happy and prayed. When the buds appeared, a sense of gratitude and achievement overwhelmed me. When the first flower bloomed, its fragrance, structure and texture  transported me into a world of unique joy, unknown, unexperienced until then. I looked at it with a smile. Daily I would go and look at it with love and care like a child. It seems that the happy plant also reciprocated its feelings, expressing its smile in the form of bountiful flowers. That is why I could bring this pot full of flowers.
Then the teacher explained to them, “ you should develop a mind to love both animate and inanimate objects equally. Such people will find joy in everything, anywhere, at anytime. If you quietly observe natural things like a flower, a leaf, a fly, a dog or simply the grain of a piece of wood and marvel at their color, texture and other specialities in each of them, you cannot but admire at the unique craftmanship and wisdom of the creator by whom these masterpieces have been brought into being. Cultivate the mindset of a master craftsman. Think deeply about what you are doing .What you are really trying to achieve.Do the best as you can. Mistakes do occur. Take them as lessons only. Whatever we get in life, we should feel grateful for that. We should live life with faith and joy.
The wiseman, is a life-long learner and a student of human nature, always thirsting for the insights and understanding that leads to joy and success. He builds up a valuable store of useful knowledge and appliies it.
This is the first and basic lesson to be learnt for finding success and joy in every sphere of life.”