In my morning walks I get to read this lovely proverb that I love to
contemplate upon.
The import of the message “This too shall pass” means – all that we perceive either positive or negative is temporary. Therefore a person feeling low will definitely get a boost and the person who is much too happy due to some material condition or achievement is reminded that it is temporary.
To me the moral of the story is always try to be in a state of equanimity – joyful but temperate and composed.
Dear readers what do you say? 🙂
Breath of Joy 
Truly. Nothing is permanent.
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Yes and thank God for it 😀
Wish you a Happy New Year. 🎉🎉
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this quote gets me though some days
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Gracious of you to stop by and return my call! Yes this quote is simple yet effective.
Kind regards!
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🙂
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🙂
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This too shall pass…the absolute reality of the ‘power of now’ . Loved it!
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Hello Ramya … what a wonderful surprise. Trust you doing well and thanks for dropping by 🙂
Cheers!
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I really enjoyed this discussion here.My Mum used to say this and I had forgotten about it until I read your post. Thank you, Sally.
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How nice indeed Sally! Thanks for appreciating! Regards. Dilip
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Dear Sir,
Excellent post! Thank you so much!! I really appreciate that even in your morning walks; you notice such “(so-called) small” things but really intense that allows everybody to share upon…
Perfectly mentioned by Geeta and Sriram Sir:
– That each among the wealth, friends and youth are destroyed within a minute… so free ourselves from the illusion of Maya and attain the timeless Truth.
– That Solomon realized…for one day he would be nothing but ‘dust’.
During the first year of my graduation, we learnt a lesson in our Hindi subject which influenced me a lot. The author mentions that we continue to think every minute and plan for our future perfectly well which is so uncertain; however, we never think about death, which is a certain event that is going to occur, even for a single minute..
I remember the author’s words: “In one’s life, one always decides upon his/her career, say ‘I want to become a Doctor, an Engineer, a Lawyer, and so on’… but, NEVER think how or in what way, one would like his /her death to occur?”
And this certain event is nothing but the same as also mentioned earlier, the ‘Timeless Truth’, the ‘Dust’… ‘This too shall pass’ / (‘Yeh waqt bhi gujar jayega’)…
And that is why, we also know that: “Yesterday is a history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift (present)”, and so said, ‘Enjoy and Live the present’: similar to the moral you discussed- ‘a state of equanimity’.
Thank you,
Sahajo…
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Hello Sahajo,
Your kind words mean a lot! I’d like to respond with a small compliment with this quote ~ Appreciation can make a day – even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary. ~ Margaret Cousins
The lesson in your Hindi class is absolutely true and profound. We remain embroiled in our daily hassles which really are quite meaningless. I guess the only way out is to make each moment of our life one of joy. Problems always come uninvited – so one way forward is to believe that ‘This too shall pass’! 🙂
Thanks Sahajo! And all the best.
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Dear Sir,
Here is the story from which this phrase is taken –
One day Solomon decided to humble Benaiah ben Yehoyada, his most trusted minister. He said to him, “Benaiah, there is a certain ring that I want you to bring to me. I wish to wear it for Sukkot which gives you six months to find it.”
“If it exists anywhere on earth, your majesty,” replied Benaiah, “I will find it and bring it to you, but what makes the ring so special?”
“It has magic powers,” answered the king. “If a happy man looks at it, he becomes sad, and if a sad man looks at it, he becomes happy.” Solomon knew that no such ring existed in the world, but he wished to give his minister a little taste of humility.
Spring passed and then summer, and still Benaiah had no idea where he could find the ring. On the night before Sukkot, he decided to take a walk in one of he poorest quarters of Jerusalem. He passed by a merchant who had begun to set out the day’s wares on a shabby carpet. “Have you by any chance heard of a magic ring that makes the happy wearer forget his joy and the broken-hearted wearer forget his sorrows?” asked Benaiah.
He watched the grandfather take a plain gold ring from his carpet and engrave something on it. When Benaiah read the words on the ring, his face broke out in a wide smile.
That night the entire city welcomed in the holiday of Sukkot with great festivity. “Well, my friend,” said Solomon, “have you found what I sent you after?” All the ministers laughed and Solomon himself smiled.
To everyone’s surprise, Benaiah held up a small gold ring and declared, “Here it is, your majesty!” As soon as Solomon read the inscription, the smile vanished from his face. The jeweler had written three Hebrew letters on the gold band: “gimel, zayin, yud”, which began the words “Gam zeh ya’avor” — “This too shall pass.”
At that moment Solomon realized that all his wisdom and fabulous wealth and tremendous power were but fleeting things, for one day he would be nothing but dust.
The Magical truth embodied by this statement is to focus on the permanence over the temporal. As Geeta has quoted from Adi Shankara, All the Scriptures have similarly written about this and have always asked the reader to forget all that that undergoes ‘vikara’ – change….
And this connects beautifully with the EI discussion. This ‘mantra’ tells us not to get carried away by the moment – so no ‘hijacks’ !
Cheers
Sriram
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Dear Sriram,
What a beautiful story rich in ancient wisdom and the origin of ‘This too shall pass”. Yet man finds it so difficult to focus on the permanence over the temporal. Belief in the permanence in us is the first step in our spiritual journey. It also is happens to be the last step. Even Alexander the Great after conquering the world understood this great truth on his deathbed . When was asked by his followers about his last three wishes:
“Alexander took a deep breath and said: “I would like the world to know of the three lessons I have just learnt.
I want my physicians to carry my coffin because people should realize that no doctor can really cure any body. They are powerless and cannot save a person from the clutches of death. So let not people take life for granted.
The second wish of strewing gold, silver and other riches on the way to the graveyard is to tell People that not even a fraction of gold will come with me. I spent all my life earning riches but cannot take anything with me. Let people realize that it is a sheer waste of time to chase wealth.
And about my third wish of having my hands dangling out of the coffin, I wish people to know that I came empty handed into this world and empty handed I go out of this world.”
With these words, the king closed his eyes. Soon he let death conquer him and breathed his last.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! Best regards.
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hi, sir..
it may mean up’s and down’s happen in our life. it also means that all things pass away and become part of the past. nothing stays same as ever. i mean we should keep our heart strong to face the difficult situation by forgetting and appreciate that what we have because that too will be gone.
from,
Lata Rapola
Batch : “e”
ASOM
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Hi Lata,
Its so nice that you found time in your busy schedule and gave this lovely comment. I am glad you liked it.
With kind regards and best wishes for your MBA studies. I am sure you will do very well.
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Dear friends Manasa, Nada, Lubna, Gaurav, Geetha, Hitesh and Vedant,
Thank you for your kind response – so spontaneous and true. During the times when we have the blues so many negative thoughts crowd our mind. ‘This too shall pass’ becomes a ray of hope assuring us that things will soon become better. The lows soon turn into highs.
With best wishes and regards!
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Dear Sir
Greetings of the day!!
Hope your health is as usual. This is really a wonderful quote for those people who do not know the actual meaning of life. Good time or bad time, they are sides of one coin… sometime good time comes, sometime bad time comes… its a part of life. Everybody knows time passes like a sand in our hand. So, never think of good time or bad time, just live your in a cheerful way. Because once time has gone it never come back it just left with memories and experience.
Cheers!!
Vedant
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I admire Indian Cricket Team Captain Mr. Mahendra Singh Dhoni for his balanced attitude towards life and game. He is therefore tagged as Mr. Cool.
This too shall pass is truly a beautiful quote! “Neither get overelated with success nor get disappointed with failure”.
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Dear Sir,
Thank you for the powerful message in this post!
Yes, life is indeed ephemeral. And whenever I hear M S Subbulakshmi’s divine rendition of Adi Shankaracharya’s ‘Bhaja Govindam’, I feel that this particular stanza has a wealth of meaning to it:
“mA kuru dhana jana youvana garvam
harati nimeShAt kala: sarvam
mAyAmayam idam akhilam hitvA
brahma padam tvam pravisha vidhitvA”
This translates roughly as:
Do not boast of wealth, friends, and youth. Each one of these are destroyed within a minute. Free yourself from the illusion of the world of Maya and attain the timeless Truth.
Thanks and regards,
Geetha
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Hello Sir,
I think as things pass by one should not be afraid to change. He may loose something good but may find something better.
I like to share a poem
” This Too Shall Pass ” by Helen Steiner Rice
If I can endure for this minute
Whatever is happening to me,
No matter how heavy my heart is
Or how dark the moment may be-
If I can remain calm and quiet
With all the world crashing about me,
Secure in the knowledge God loves me
When everyone else seems to doubt me-
If I can but keep on believing
What I know in my heart to be true,
That darkness will fade with the morning
And that this will pass away, too-
Then nothing in life can defeat me
For as long as this knowledge remains
I can suffer whatever is happening
For I know God will break all of the chains
That are binding me tight in the darkness
And trying to fill me with fear-
For there is no night without dawning
And I know that my morning is near.
…Helen Steiner Rice
Have a good day,
Gaurav R Arora
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I always say: Life is a roller coaster ride.
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Dearest Friend,
Very well said and I must say profound thinking… I guess you have a message for me too… Every person must know that there is “LIMIT” to every thing; living or non – living… What say???
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This is a fantastic quote… Even I was not able to catch of it when immediately seen… daily we pass through many things, incidents, situations etc but we do neglect and some times we remember them back… life is full of enjoyment and sadness too. Equilibrium is the actual point which keeps person happy in a satisfactory mode… and I feel non can predict whats the next step is gonna be and life is short… I am so surprised during my elder sister marriage, that she is grown up to get married but we used to enjoy and have funny fights till yesterday still as kids, mom used to come and shout and infact my mom becomes kid when she with her siblings… and this is life… a bit bitter, a bit sour, a bit enthuse, a bit fear, a bit joyful, a bit surprise, a bit a bit…
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