Naham!!!!

We are so entangled in the web of life and caught up with so much else that it takes a minimum forty years or more for us to wake up and ask ourselves the question, 'what is the purpose of my life?? why am I here,who am I'??

Naham Deham Koham Soham.....

These four simple sounding words are not as simple as they seem to be.They set you thinking into finding the truth about ourselves.

Naham deham .........I am not the body,

Koham..........Who am I???
Soham......Iam the Self,I am the Brahman....

Sadguru Ramana Maharishi taught this truth alone to whoever came to him seeking his guidance and relief.Infact it is said that even to animals Maharishi imaprted this knowledge,Sometimes his disciples asked him why he was preaching this highest truth to ignorant illiterate people,and he used to reply saying "this is all that I know",so this what I teach.....Let us others who know something else teach that.....
There was a tender little three year old girl who was very dear to Sri Ramana Maharishi and he taught her too this ultimate truth of life which the girl accepted and always kept chanting to herself 'Nahaam Deham, Koham, Soham'.......It is said, once this girl had come to Ramanashram with her father and stayed there for a few days.The day she was to leave the ashram Maharishi saw her playing in the mountains,he too played with her for a while and told her "now you go your way,and I will go mine, but always remember what I told you, 'Naham Deham,Koham Soham'....,the little girl left her body soon after at her home,all the while remembering this.
In Srimad Baghavatham too there is a beautiful story of a yogi who in spite of his very high yogic practices gets blinded by 'Maya',and is attracted to a deer,which involves him so much that he is unable to concentrate on anything else. After years,the deer when it grows up and is on his own goes off to the forest leaving the yogi very upset and in deep sorrow. Finally the yogi realises his mistake of involvement with the deer and thinks of measures to get over his attachment,while he is just getting out,the deer returns back and looks at him with such longing eyes that he is once again attracted to the deer and it is said that the yogi gives up his body, thinking about the deer. This story of the yogi in Baghavatham is to bring to our notice that the deer is quoted only as an example,but in reality we are totally attached and involved all our lives in one thing or the other.The story goes on in Baghavatham that the yogi is reborn as a realised soul,and from the day he is born,he never opens his mouth,he never talks,never expresses any feelings any hunger or any emotion whatsoever. He is hence considered an insane person and is used by one and all to get all their work done.One day he is taken by a group of people who are in search of a person whom they can sacrifice for Devi. Since he does not protest or express any opinion of his own,they think he is the best to offer to Devi.After all the procedures involved in making sacrifice,when they are about to offer him Devi appears there and kills all the people in the group.The yogi walks away from there as if nothing happened.He is later made to carry the palanquin of the king,which he again does without any thought.The king irritated that the palanquin is not going fast looks out and questions the yogi and even makes fun of him, saying that since he is so weak and fragile(the yogi is actually very well built) he is unable to walk fast.The yogi probably for the first time may be in his life looks at someone.He looks the king in the eye and tells the king "I am not the body,I am not walking.....and so on so forth,goes on to tell the king that I am not this body.The king jumps down from the palanquin ,falls at the yogi's feet and asks forgiveness for whatever he said and asks him to give him the highest knowledge.The story goes on................
It is important to now and understand this physical body which we are given is not me....,if that is not me then who am I ?This is a question which we all need to ask ourselves...and the day we ask this question to ourselves then we can be sure the search has begun and it will sure help us go within ourselves and look within and may be reach the I within sometime.........................
Jai Guru Dev!!!!

Faith Can Move Mountains!!

This morning I got up from bed thinking about how when you want something with utmost sincerity and earnestness it does happen.I recently took the Art Of Living Basic Course.It was indeed a wonderful and joyous experience.There were about 10 others who took the course with me then.One of them was a very, very shy and quiet person Subbu.

Subbu hardly ever spoke and just had mono syllabic answers(someone always translated what he had to say) whenever our teacher asked him a question.One day during the session our teacher was asking each one of us what wish we wished for.When it was Subbu' s turn he said he wished a couple of things,he had a baby girl who had some congenital defects,he wished she will get ok,he wanted to buy a house &also get his sister married. The last day of the course it was pretty amazing to see Subbu come up in front and actually take the mike and say a few things.I was so moved when he said that his sisters marriage was fixed and also house booked.Truly Awesome I thought.The most amazing thing that all observed was Subbu coming up in front and actually talking.

Later on the last day of the course our teacher had something even more beautiful to share with us.She was telling us how Subbu came to do the AOL basic course.Subbu works as a labourer here in Abudhabi.Every Saturday he would join another friend of his (who has done the basic course and also asking Subbu to take the course) and distribute AOL flyers,(he knew nothing about AOL),just sincerely handing out flyers to people. (Subbu thought that hewould never be able to take the course because it meant paying dirhams550 which was beyond his reach for sure).One Saturday his friend introduced him to our teacher and said that he has no money to do the AOL course but he would like to do it.She asked him to enroll for the course and said let's see, about the fees.Wonder of wonders,that same night she said she had two volunteers who called her and said that they want to sponsor fees for two people who earnestly want to do the course and have no money.Subbu's fees was taken care of this way.I was indeed touched to hear this.I believe this is probably what faith is.

The last time I met Subbu at the follow up session and enquired about his baby girl, he sounded so positively happy and told me she is now able to stand with support and in fact is reassuring him over phone that she will very soon start walking and he should not worry about her.Isn't that great!!!See what sincerity and faith can do,simply amazing stuff.

The most important thing about faith is, if you don't have it you can't understand it. And if you do, no explanation is necessary.

Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.

I just happened to read a few quotes on faith by some renowned people and thought should put it down here.

"Love is faith, and one faith leads to another."

Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.--Bible

Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into. -- Mahatama Gandhi.

Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.--Rabindranath Tagore

Let me conclude this with a quote from the Baghwad Gita:

In the Baghwad Gita chapter XVII Sri Krishna says: the faith of each is in accordance with one's own natural disposition (based on Karmic impressions). A person is known by the faith. One can become whatever one wants to be (if one constantly contemplates on the object of desire with faith). (17.03)
One can attain success in any endeavor if one perseveres with firm determination (MB 12.153.116). Whatever a person of purified mind desires, one obtains those objects (MuU 3.01.10). The doer of good acts becomes good, and the doer of evil becomes evil. One becomes virtuous by virtuous deeds and vicious by vicious acts (BrU 4.04.05). One becomes what one constantly and intensely thinks of; irrespective of the reasons that may be reverence, fear, jealousy, love, or even hatred (BP 11.09.22).
We are the product of our own thoughts and desires, and our own architects. Where there is a will there is a way. We should harbor noble thoughts, because thoughts precede deeds. Thoughts control our physical, mental, financial, as well as spiritual well-being.

Whatever is done without faith; whether it is sacrifice, charity, austerity, or any other act; is called "Asat." It has no value here or hereafter, O Arjuna..

Anger

Many of us have read or heard the story of Sant Eknath.His story is always quoted as an example for any one and everyone who wants to conquer his temper.Some vagabonds from his village decided to test his patience.One of them waited at the banks of the Godavari river for Eknath.Sant Eknath after a dip in the Godavari walked towards the temple for his regular prayer when the vagabond waiting for him at the banks spat out on the saint.Without a sign of anger Eknath went and had another dip in the Godavari.This continued all daytill dusk and the guy spitting on Sant Eknath got tired and restless but not the saint.Sant Eknath very patiently walked backed to the Godavari and had a dip everytime the fellow spat on him.Finally the vagabond was surprised to see that Sant Eknath was as fresh and smiling as he was in the morning,whereas his mouth was aching stiff due to spitting.He came and fell at Sant Eknath's feet and the saint blessed him with so much love and compassion.The vagabond asked the saint how it was possible for him to be so calm and composed,Eknath replied ,"brother if you can stick so stubbornly to this vice of harrassing a sadhu,then it is isn't the least surprising that I should on my part stick to my virtue of not losing my temper".He goes on to say the dirt in the body can be cleansed by taking a dip in water but if anger enters the mind it defiles the mind and no amount of bathing in any river can cleanse one of that impurity.

It is of course not very easy to attain the level of Sant Eknath but surely we can make an attempt control our temper.There are bound to be instances when we are unhappy or angry with someone or for something.In fact this situation comes in front of us all the time in our lives.

When we are angry we blame everyone except ourselves and so express our anger by loud outbursts,little realising what the outburst has done to the other person.Self awareness is one important way of gaining control over our emotions.

If we just take a few minutes to think about some common reasons we get angry with others:
We get angry when others disagree with us,when they do not understand us,when they do not respect us ,when they obstruct us from doing what we want....,when they control us,(these are I think some of the reasons why we get angry).If we try to replace the word they with 'I' we will realise that the anger we feel towards others is actually a projection of the anger we feel towards ourselves.If we are able to understand and accept ourselves in those situations then we might understand and accept others too.We need to accept and agree that we all have faults.It is important to divert our energy towards correcting or changing that which makes us angry.We need to learn to forgive and forget and love others as we love ourselves,and accept everyone the way they are and not for what we want them to be.

We need to learn to look within ourselves and realise that we are responsible for whatever happens to us,we are the author of our life.


Let us become aware of ourselves and lead a happy and harmonious life.Let us realise that life is short and is not meant to be wasted.Let us try and lead a life of happiness,cheer and joy!!!!
Thinking negatively and indulging in negative acts will only put negative forces in our life.Thinking positively can certainly attract positive forces in our life and we will be able to enjoy abundance of happiness,peaceand prosperity.

Positive Mind!!!

A positive mind is a liberated mind.To be a true optimist it is very important to free and liberate ourselves from all pettiness and selfishness.Our life is a mixture of colours which we paint on an otherwise empty canvas.We see only what we want to see,believe only those we want to and ignore those who do not interest us.

In the graph of life there will be ups and downs without doubt.It is important for us to reassure ourselves during the low periods that there is light at the end of the tunnel.Happiness and sorrow should be treated with equality.

Our life is what we want it to be.If we want to be unhappy we will be, by cribbing all the time and being unhappy about one thing or the other,by finding fault in every act of others.

We spend or rather waste so much of our precious life in self criticism and unhappiness because of the feeling of inadequacy..We often injure others with our strong words and by being too critical of others.In the process we would have definitely lost so many of our relations. If we can be kind and loving to even those who have done us wrong then we would be doing a great deal of good to ourselves and our happiness.Forgive and forget.It is necessary to love yourself first to be able to give love.

A positive mind accepts and accomodates every thought however inimicable the thought may be.

Our emotions and feelings should not depend on what life has to offer us but on how we react and receive the information.

A positive mind reacts positively to all the events in his life.A positive person can control his reactions and interpretations and thereby his emotions an feelings.A positive mind knows that in order to be happy he must react positively to every event though it might be unpleasant to others.

When tragedy strikes a positive mind will for sure thank GOD for saving from a bigger calamity.

I would like to narrate an incident here.

"A few years ago I met with a road accident which resulted in two broken bones on my left hand.While at the hospital waiting for the doctor The CMO sitting in front of me asked me how I could smile when I was in such deep pain.I told him I thank GOD greatly because this is the least HE could have given me on such a busy road.For sure a great calamity was averted."

It is very important to think positively with our feet firmly on the ground and react positively to every situation to achieve peace in Life.

It is essential to balance our negative thoughts,doubts, anxieties and fear with positive thoughts like courage,confidence and cheerfulness.Though this might be difficult to begin with,if we do it consciously in the beginning it will become a habit in course of time.,and we realize that the world is becoming friendly cheerful and a happy place.

Happiness is a state of mind or rather an happiness is an invention of the mind and so let us do our little bit to spread happiness and cheer around us by being positive and ready to face the battles in life with a smile.