Once an unhappy young man came to an old master and told he had a very sad life and asked for a solution. The old Master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it. “How does it taste?” – the Master asked.
“Terrible.” – spat the apprentice. The Master chuckled and then asked the young man to take another handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and when the apprentice swirled his handful of salt into the lake. The old man said, “Now drink from the lake.” As the water dripped down the young man’s chin, the Master asked, “How does it taste?”
“Good!” – remarked the apprentice. “Do you taste the salt?” – asked the Master. “No.” – said the young man. The Master sat beside this troubled young man, took his hands, and said, “The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount we taste the ‘pain’ depends on the container we put it into. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things. Stop being a glass. Become a lake.”
Once upon a time, 🏰there lived a King who, despite his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor contented.
One day, the King came upon a servant who was singing happily while he😊 worked. This fascinated the King…
Why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Land, unhappy and gloomy while a lowly servant had so much joy.
The King asked the servant, ‘Why are you so happy?’
The man replied,
‘Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant. My family and I don’t need much – just a roof over🏠 our heads and warm food to fill our tummies.’🍲
The king was not satisfied with that reply. Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted advisor.
After hearing the King’s woes and the servant’s story, the advisor explained, ‘Your Majesty! I believe the servant is not a part of The 99 Club.’
‘The 99 Club? What exactly is that?’ the King inquired.’👥
The advisor replied, ‘Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club is, place 99 Gold coins in a bag and leave it at this servant’s doorstep.’💰
The servant saw the bag, took it into his house and opened it. ‘So many gold coins!’ he gasped in shock.😱
He began to count them. After several counts, he was convinced that there were 99coins only. He wondered, ‘What could’ve happened to that last gold coin? Surely, no one would leave 99 coins!’😕
He looked everywhere but that final coin was elusive. Finally, he decided that he was going to work harder than ever to earn that one gold coin and complete his collection.
From that day, the servant’s life changed. He overworked himself, became horribly😖 grumpy, and castigated his family for not helping him make that 100th gold coin. He had stopped singing.
Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled. When he sought his advisor’s help, the advisor explained, ‘Your Majesty! The servant has now officially joined The 99 Club.’……
These are people who have enough to be happy but are never contented. They’re always yearning and striving for that extra 1, saying to themselves: ‘Let me get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life.
Moral Of the Story:
‘ We can be happy, even with very little in our lives, but the minute we’re given something bigger and better, we want even more! We lose our sleep and happiness, we hurt the people around us… all these is the price we pay for our growing needs and desires.
Question: What is the best advice your mother ever gave you?
Answer By Jonathan Pettit
I was about ten. My mom had just finished creating one of her amazing meals, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Delicious. Later, as I was washing the dishes, my mom came up to me. “Sorry, dinner was so awful again,” she said.
I was shocked. “What? No, it was great. I loved it.”
“Really?” she said, with mock surprise. “You always eat so quietly, never saying anything. You’ve never told me you liked my cooking, so I thought you hated it.”
“No, you’re the best cook I know.”
“Then you should tell me that,” she said. “Whenever someone does something nice for you, you should thank that person. If you don’t, then she might think she’s not appreciated and stop doing those nice things.”
Something clicked right then. From that day onward, I thanked everyone for literally everything. If anyone did something that even vaguely helped me, I thanked that person profusely. It became a habit, something I didn’t even think about, and that’s when the magic started happening.
People liked me more. They talked to me more, shared with me, were more friendly. In my first year of high school, during the final week, I came home and found a giant freezie (a kind of sweet frozen snack) waiting for me. “Thanks, mom!” I said instinctively.
“This isn’t from me, she said. “This is from your bus driver.” He had been driving that bus for years, and my siblings and I were the first people to ever thank him as we got dropped off. Those two simple words made a huge difference, so much so that he went out of his way to tell our mom and give us a present.
That’s the power of appreciation. When you have it, all is right in the world, but when it’s missing life is empty. My mom taught me many things, but taking two seconds to say ‘thank you’ every time, in any situation, was the best.
CRUX OF THE STORY
You would have met people who call themselves as good critics but have you ever met a person who says I am good at appreciating others? Isn’t that a sad part of our society?
Let’s start appreciating people more frequently especially people who are close to us.
Communication,appreciation and understanding are the building blocks of any successful relationship
And more the gratitude and appreciation we show, the more we get to be grateful and appreciative of.
Today i would like to tell you about Wisdom. There are 3 different types of wisdom.
The wisdom we hear from others perhaps in a conversation where someone imparts a truth
Then there is intellectual wisdom when we go further into intellectual understanding perhaps by reading a book or taking a course
Finally there is the third type of wisdom when we experience insight and truth first hand for ourselves. This is experiential wisdom.
I will share you an example where Sri S N Goenka describes the three types of wisdom from the perspective of being in a restaurant environment.
1st wisdom heard – this is when a friend or coworker recommends a restaurant and we read positive reviews. We have a favorable impression and decide to make a reservation.
The next level of wisdom is deeper where we gain intellectual understanding. We show up, get seated and browse the menu. As a server passes by we see delectable dishes. Our mouth waters and our tummy growls.
Last the third type of wisdom occurs when we receive our food. We taste and know it is good for ourselves . This is experiential learning / applied wisdom. This third type of wisdom is the most powerful , the one that leads to transformation and liberation.
असतो मा सद्गमय । Asatō mā sadgamaya तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय । tamasō mā jyōtirgamaya मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय । mr̥tyōrmā amr̥taṁ gamaya ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥ Om śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ – Br̥hadāraṇyakopaniṣat 1.3.28
“O Lord Lead me from the unreal to the real.Lead me from darkness to light.Lead me from death to immortality.May there be peace, peace, and perfect peace”.Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.28.
I share this because this is common for people who are interested in meditation to be drawn to intellectual understanding . This is how we learnt in school. We read, absorb, memorize and take a test.
Meditation is int like that. Sure it can helpful to read books and take proper courses to learn the correct technique but the deeper understanding can only come from Doing. With time and patience, through experiential learning we witness and realize the benefits for ourselves.
So read about mindfulness, have conversations about it and take courses by all means, but expect the deepest insights, the most everlasting wisdom to come from sitting down, closing your eyes, and discovering this practice for your selves.
Once, it so happened that Lord Krishna was standing in front of the mirror decorating himself. He was trying on different crowns on his head and putting on some fine jewelry while his charioteer waited outside with the chariot ready. His charioteer waited and waited and thought to himself – usually Krishna comes immediately, today he has still not come. So, out of curiosity he went inside to find out if the program was still on because Krishna was very unpredictable, anytime anything could change. So, the charioteer goes inside and he sees Lord Krishna standing in front of the mirror admiring himself.
He politely asked, “My dear Lord, tell me, why are you dressing up so much today. Where are we going?”
Lord Krishna said, “I am going to meet Duryodhana.”
The charioteer said, “You are dressing up so much to meet Duryodhana?”
Lord Krishna then said, “He cannot see my inside, he can only appreciate my outside. So how I am dressed will impress him because he cannot see my inside.”
Then the charioteer said, “You are going to Duryodhana? You should not go, he should come to you. This I cannot accept.”
Many times, the drivers and assistants give you more advise than needed. He continued to say, “This is not fair. Look at your status and look at him! You are the Lord of the world. You should not go, let him come.”
Krishna turned back, looked at him, smiled and said, “Darkness does not come to light, light has to go to darkness.”
Usually when we think about our work we think about our jobs, studies or the daily tasks/chores of living. When we get a good review from our boss, an ‘A’ on our exam , or a Tidy and organised home, we feel successful in our work. we thrive on seeing visible results and external achievements. Yet there are times when our energy and action needs to shift away from this type of external work and focus instead on inner work, Transformation of our thoughts, emotions and desires. the challenge with inner work that it is imperceptible. there is no gold star when our mindfulness practice helps us temper our reactivity. No one gives us an ‘A’ when meditation helps us improve our concentration. We don’t get a promotion when mindfulness helps us bring gratitude into our daily life. The inner work we do in this path doesn’t provide the visible external achievements we get from our job or responsibilities. But inner work no less difficult. In fact sometimes it is far more difficult and it’s certainly no less important.
A powerful example of this can be seen in the life of Psychologist Dr Carl Yang. Dr Yang was already an influential psychiatrist when he had a mental crisis of his own. overcome with intense emotions, dreams and even terrifying visions, he withdrew from his professional work for several years. However he wasn’t inactive. Yang used this period of illness to search deep within himself. from the outside he seems to be breaking down but inwardly he was breaking through. Years later Dr Yang wrote that this intense period of inner work led him to his most original and influential insights about human psychology.
So the lesson we can take here that inner work can be some of the most valuable work we do. Overcoming fear, addiction, rejection, regret or grief through patient inner work can lead to significant and long lasting improvements in our lives and the lives of those around us. So make a special effort to recognize and validate your inner-work – The hard effort of transformation, healing and growth.
As a guru writes ” peace and joy hither neither in the quietness of a forest nor out of the accomplishments of a market place, but only from within”
Krishna, more than a Hindu God he is the true spiritual guru that this universe has witnessed. In every sense he is a role model. motivator and a strategist from whom we have so many things to learn. Let’s have a look at the 8 management lessons that we can learn from the God himself.
Here are the 8 management lessons to learn from the Lord Krishna.
1. Commitments first
True believer and preacher of Karmic philosophy, Krishna knew that the main purpose of his avatar is to kill demon Kamsa and to relieve Vasudeva and Devaki from the bitter hands of Kamsa. He was so committed to it that right from his birth he was prepared for it.
2. Be the first one to share your learning
Yes Krishna being a ‘Sarvagnya’ never hesitated to share his thoughts. It so happened once that Arjuna refuses to fight with his own relatives (Kowravas) then Krishna preached him the purpose of Mahabharatha war and today we read it in the name of Bhagwadgita.
3. Stick to Goals
Krishna had three definite goals and throughout his life he was stick to them.
Paritrayana sadhunam – welfare for good
vinashaya dushkritam – destroy evil (thoughts)
dharma sansthapana – establish and strength the principles
As a manager one should have clear cut goals in the organisation and never allow their senses to control him/her.
4. Strategic approach
Krishna is an authentic strategist who with his tactical skills won Mahabharatha war for Pandavas. To quote one of the incidents of his life, once Krishna insults Duryodhana for going nude in front of Gaandhari and makes him to cover his thighs with a piece of cloth. In the next scene Gandhari with her immense power make the body of Duryodhana as strong as a diamond except the thigh part. At the end of Mahabharatha, Krishna orders Bheema to hit on the thighs of Duryodhana which ultimately kills him.
5. Good manager
With all supreme powers inculcated in him, Krishna had all the ability to finish Mahabharatha in few hours but he stood as a teacher and made Pandavas to fight the war. This is the ultimate quality of a manager. The way he lead the team of 5 against 100 is extremely mesmerizing.
6. Never take side based on relations
Be it is in the time of killing Kansa or motivating Pandavas to kill the ballot of Kowravas, Krishna never took the side of Adharma even though they are his own relations.
7. Tactful communicator
Whenever Pandavas went demotivated Krishna was a motivation for them. Also in the event of negotiation between Pandavas and Kowravas, Krishna intentionally broke the negotiation because he wanted the war to happen. The reason was simple enough to demolish the evil and establish dharma in the country.
8. Down to earth behavior
Being the supreme of this universe, Krishna lived a simple life and he was a man of people. He played with Gwallas ( protector of cows), befriended with Sudhama and most importantly he became a charioteer for Arjuna that shows his down to earth behavior.
Krishna is a ocean and let’s all dip in this ocean to reach the pinnacle of knowledge.
When we’re strangers that pass each other
in the street, it will come down to this tilt
of the head — acknowledging another
version of events set in a new-build
years from now, a mess of a place filled
with books and records, our kids thick as thieves
redefining all notions of mischief.
Perhaps our paths will cross in a city
of seven hills as the light draws your face
out from the bliss of anonymity.
Maybe you’ll be stroking the goose-down nape
of a small child with eyes the exact shade
of those I met across a room at the start
of this pain-in-the-heart, this febrile dance.
“Contrary to what we usually believe, moments like these, the best moments in our lives, are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times—although such experiences can also be enjoyable, if we have worked hard to attain them. The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. ”
Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen. For a child, it could be placing with trembling fingers the last block on a tower she has built, higher than any she has built so far; for a swimmer, it could be trying to beat his own record; for a violinist, mastering an intricate musical passage. For each person there are thousands of opportunities, challenges to expand ourselves.
When somebody told me that he has failed in his exams, my question is, “Is it a law that you will pass every time?”
When someone told me that my boyfriend broke up with me, my question is, “Is it a rule that you will have successful relationships everywhere?”
When somebody asked me why am I in depression, my question is, “Is it compulsory to have confidence all the time?”
When someone cried to me about his huge business loss due to his wrong decision, my question is, “Is it possible that you take all right decisions?”
The fact is our expectation that life has to be perfect/permanent is the biggest reason of our unhappiness.
One has to understand the law of impermanence of nature.
After each sunny day, there has to be a dark night, after each birth there have to be certain deaths, for the full moon to come again it has to pass through no moon. In this imperfection of nature, there is perfection.
So stop taking your failures and bad part of your life soooo personally or intensely, even the divine energy does not like to give you pain but its the cycle through which you have to pass. Prepare yourself for one more fight after each fall because even failures cannot be permanent…!
Enjoy life…. 👍😊☺
Your breath comes to go.
Your thoughts come to go.
Your words come to go.
Your actions come to go.
Your feelings come to go.
Your illnesses come to go.
Your phases come to go.
Your seasons come to go.
You have come to go.
Then why do you hold on to your guilt, anger, un-forgiveness, hatred so so so tightly, when it too has come to go…
