Ego so elusive

Our lives could be so much better, so much more peaceful and joyful if only we could become aware of our ego. Awareness is the first step to identify our deep rooted ego. Yet Ego itself is the most formidable barrier to awareness. Therefore instead of taking the elusive ego head-on it may be wiser to work towards achieving a state of awareness. This is because the ego lies couched in most of our actions even in our good acts like helping the needy or making donations. Why? because the ego makes us feel we superior like “playing God”! So we are back where we started.

“No matter what we talk about, we are talking about ourselves”! ~ Hugh Prather

“If a man thinks he is not conceited, he is very conceited indeed”!  ~ C.S Lewis

Cheers dear friends and lets wish each other an ego-free journey ahead🙂

A bloom of joy – the mystical Brahma Kamal

Hello friends this year too my friend Brig. Chow’s (Chowdhry) home was blessed with the bloom of the Brahm Kamal flowers in his garden. Very gracious of him to share his thoughts and pictures as below:

“The gorgeous Brahma Kamal’s are so beautiful that they are glorified by different names two of which are The Star of Bethlehem and the Lotus of the Gods. Lotus symbolizes purity and enlightenment. These breathtakingly beautiful flowers bring with them an aura of such calm, peace and beauty, as if to say, that despite the present turmoil in the World all will be well. They are perhaps the most precious flowers in the world since they come as night visitors, and by morning are completely a spent force, as if to ratify a favorite quote of mine by Edna St. Vincent Millay:

My candle burns at both ends;

   It will not last the night;

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—

   It gives a lovely light!

 

 

 

 

I would like to mention here quite an amazing occurrence – a niece of mine in L.A. with geographical and climatic conditions, have these flowers blooming within a day or two of us in Pune. It is monsoon time here but no rains there! Lovely are ways of God.

With the plants with me having matured now over the last four years or so, they bloomed a number of times during the monsoons in clusters of twos, fours and sixes as the rains progress. The first bloom of two this season occurred just a few days before the onset of monsoons.”

So friends we wrap-up now with a big thank you to our guest writer and a quote by Alfred Austin which aptly depicts the Brig’s love for gardening ~

“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul”.

Cheers and a have lovely week!🙂

Secret to Happiness

Zen Masters have a way of expounding great truths in simple ways. Who doesn’t want to be happy? yet happiness remains elusive to most of us. The Zen wisdom below simplifies the secret to attain happiness in just a few words. Yes to be happy or not is entirely our choice as our happiness does not depend on anyone else. If we consider each moment as precious we will not allow it to be frittered away in bickering and negativity. For this we need to be intensely aware of every fleeting moment which we have and savor it.

So lets make it a point to enjoy the heavenly bliss of nature in all its bounties. In beautiful forests and serene lakes and by helping the needy. In the smiles and wonder of children and being in love with humanity.

What if after you die, God asks you “So, how was heaven?”🙂🙂

 

Cute managers!

These two young managers are in the business of selling happiness for free😉

 

 

“Be the person who your dog thinks you are!” ~ J.W. Stephens

Have a wonderful weekend my dear friends!

The School Bell

Who doesn’t remember the school bell and the pleasant memories associated with it. And why does a school bell sound not so pleasant in the morning whereas the same bell sounds so beautiful at the end of school day closing.

The first bell signals a structured regimen of studies and discipline. Whereas the final bell is music to our ears as it heralds freedom fun and play.

How nice if we could start our day visualising the sweet sound of the second bell and have a wonderful day?

Come friends lets all “Live Life Less Serious” 😎 😎

 

 

 

 

Short and Sweet

ONCE, all villagers decided to pray for rain, on the day of prayer all the people gathered but only one boy came with an umbrella.
That’s FAITH

Grown-ups always need logic or reason to believe yet things can still go wrong. But little children live a happy life with wonder in their eyes and without care for the outcomes.

“Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe” ~ Voltaire

Have a good day my friends🙂

Patience in a fast moving world

We all seem to be in a hurry in whatever we do. More so as life today has become fiercely competitive and we want to achieve our goals before anyone else does. But in this frenzy our mind gets clouded with tension and negative thoughts and our ability to think gets severely weakened thereby losing the goal itself.

However the quote below makes me wonder whether such wisdom can work in a world of fleeting opportunities where speed is the mantra to winning?

 

A leader in a hurry is bound to make mistakes or achieve short-term wins but a leader who analysis the situation and plans well before execution will provide sustainable and robust results. No wonder leaders with high levels of emotional intelligence (EI) are considered to be better than leaders with high IQ levels and low EI. The former has the ability to remain calm in highly stressful and volatile situations thus validating the wisdom of  Lao Tzu ( 601 BC to 531 BC) even in present times. In Lao Tsu’s words ~

                                                                 “Do you have the patience to wait,

                                                              Till your mud settles and the water is clear?

                                                              Can you remain unmoving,

                                                             Till the right action arises by itself?”

Do share your views dear readers on the relevance of Patience not only in today’s fast moving business world but also in our own family relationships.

 

Merry Christmas and a Very Happy 2016

It’s Christmas eve and I wish you all my dear blogger friends a beautiful and joyful Christmas and a very Happy New Year 2016. May you and your families enjoy good health and well being in mind body and soul!

Lets listen to John Denver’s The Little Drummer Boy!

Cheers!

Moksh

Moksh simply means eternal bliss. To experience Moksh we need to take a break and liberate ourselves from our monotonous routine. Freak out to a  quiet and serene locale and lose yourself in its stillness and calm. Listen to good music dance and/or do yoga when you feel like it. By being in gratitude meditation will happen on its own. Life is short so lets step out and capture the peace and joy.

I’ve just spent a week in a quaint little rustic place near my town. Through the pictures below I am sharing some of my Moksh moments with you.

Moksh

 

Dance with the rhythm of nature

 

P.S.

Some of my blogger friends whom I hold in the highest esteem wished I had shared some deeper insight on the word Moksh. Firstly I am thankful to them for feeling free to share their candid views. Well Moksh here is the name of the Retreat place where our group spent a week. Secondly I must admit I am not too much into knowledge based spirituality. My inspiration comes from the wisdom of the masters, my fellow bloggers and from our daily life.

For me Moksh is any moment that I can spend in “BLISS”. We can experience Moksh in a beautiful serene place, in the solitude of your home, when listening to music or painting and in the outdoors trekking or playing sports.

However Swami Sivananda puts it beautifully in words here:

Have a great week ahead.🙂

Courage happens from a calm mind

Be a kid and enjoy this simple story of  “A Wise Deer and A Cowardly Tiger” 🙂 We can draw a small lesson from it too🙂

There was a dense forest on the sides of a mountain. Many wild animals lived in the forest. Once a deer was eating leaves and grass with her two young ones. The young ones wandered happily here and there. The deer followed her fawns. The young ones entered a cave. The deer was frightened as it was a tiger’s cave. There were bones of dead animals all over the cave. Fortunately, the tiger was not inside the cave at the time.

As the deer was tried to lead her young ones out of the cave she heard a loud roar and she saw the tiger at a distance. The tiger was coming towards the cave. It was dangerous to go out of the cave now. She thought of a plan. The tiger had come closer to the cave. The deer raised her voice and shouted, “My deer young children do not weep. I shall capture a tiger for you to eat. You can have a good dinner.”

The tiger heard these words. He was disturbed. He said to himself, “Whose is that strange voice from the cave? A dangerous animal is staying inside to capture me. I shall run away to escape death.”

So saying, the tiger began to run away from there as fast as possible.

A jackal saw the running tiger. “Why are you running in great fear?” the jackal asked. The tiger said, “My friend, a powerful and fierce animal has come to stay in my cave. The young ones are crying for a tiger to eat. The mother is promising to capture a tiger for them. So, I am running away in great fear.”

The cunning jackal was now sure. The tiger was a coward. It said to the tiger. “Do not be afraid. No animal is fiercer or stronger than a tiger. Let us go together to find out.”

But the tiger said, “I do not want to take a chance. You may run away. I will be left alone to die. So, I will not come with you.”

The jackal said, “Trust me. Let us knot our tails together. That way I will not be able to leave you.”

The tiger agreed unwillingly to this proposal. The jackal tied their tails in a knot. Now they walked towards the cave together.

The deer saw the jackal and the tiger coming together. She again raised her voice and shouted towards her children standing inside the cave, “My dear children, I had requested her friend, the clever jackal, to capture a tiger for us. Now look the jackal has captured a tiger for us. He has tied the tiger’s tail to his tail. This is to prevent the tiger from escaping. You will soon have the tiger for our dinner.”

The tiger heard this and was shocked. He was sure now the jackal had cheated him. So, the tiger decided to escape from the terrible animal standing inside his cave. He started running. He forgot about the jackal. He dragged the jackal over rocks and thorns. In the mad escape the jackal was caught between two rocks. The tiger pulled with all his might. His tail got cut. The jackal was killed in this incident. The tail-less tiger ran away to another part of the forest.

The deer and her young ones left the tiger’s cave and joined their herd safely.🙂