Escaping from the Self!

Two old Jewish men were sitting on a park bench.

“Well, what do you do now that you are retired?” asked one.

“I have a hobby … I raise pigeons,” replied the other.

“Pigeons? Where do you keep them? You live in a condominium!”

“I keep them in a closet.”

“In your closet? Don’t they shit on your shoes and on your clothes?”

“No,” said the man. “I keep them in a box.”

“In a box? How do they breathe?”

“Breathe? They don’t breathe,” said the man, “they are all dead.”

“Dead?” exclaimed the friend, shocked, “You keep dead pigeons?”

“What the hell, it is only a hobby!”

Moral of the Story ….

Friends, if we watch carefully, all our hobbies are basically ways and means to keep escaping from ourselves.

One should learn to be utterly blissful with oneself. To be alone, to be without doing anything is such a profound experience that once we develop a taste for it, it surely helps us to drop all the stupid activities called hobbies. Friends, all our hobbies are basically pseudo occupations and when there is no real occupation, most of us get into pseudo occupations.

Rather than searching for hobbies, one should learn to use these opportunities. Whenever one has some time, when one is utterly unoccupied, one should remain with oneself without moving out of it and a great miracle starts happening!

Have a Meaningful Day Friends!

Shooting

Harry had married his elderly, ugly wife only for her money.

Of course, Harry found plenty of ways to spend it, like the present safari trek through the African jungle. 

Suddenly a huge alligator slipped out of the marshes, grabbed his wife between its teeth and started to pull her away. But, Harry did not move a muscle.

“Quick! Shoot it!! Shoot it!” screamed his unfortunate wife.

Harry shrugged, “I would love to, dear, but I haven’t any film in my camera….!”

Moral of the Story …

Friends, our mind has the tendency to hear what it wants to hear.

What we are hearing, may not be the actual fact. Most of the times we go on manipulating it in many ways. When something enters into our head, we do not listen to it directly. First, we mix it up with our own ideas, then we change it a little here and there. We drop a few things here and we also add a few things there which suit us.

…And, when it starts to suit us, we convince ourselves that, this was exactly was what was said by the other.

Have a Wonder filled Day Today & Everyday Friends!

Ancient story on Planning

Long time ago in ancient India, there existed a very peculiar village.  It was a very prosperous state and had everything in abundance. The peculiarity about it was the way they chose their king. 

One of the kingdom's priced possessions was a white elephant called "Airavat".

 Every 5 years Airavat was given the responsibility of choosing the king. So on the decided day after every 5 years Airavat would walk down the streets of the state with a crown in his trunk. Airavat would bless anyone on the street with the crown and that person would be declared king for next 5 years. 

But there was also a flip side, whoever becomes the king, after the tenure of his reign, was deserted and taken to the jungle across the large river. It was a dense forest and once he was thrown to the jungle there was no chance for him to survive. So whoever became the king would feel happy, but also sad, because he knew he would die after 5 years.

This was going on, until a very wise man, "Mansukh" became the king. He was very happy with the opportunity and did some phenomenal work during his reign. And then the destined day came, like every time guards walked in his room with ropes, to tie him up and take him away. But to everyone's surprise, Mansukh readily got up and asked the soldiers not to bother. 

Unlike every time, where the king would plead everyone to leave him, Mansukh was actually happy to go with the soldiers. He walked down the streets proudly and reached the boat, which was to carry him across the river. For the boatman also, it was utterly surprising. He expected the king to be carried forcibly by the guards, tied in rope in the most helpless condition, but here was Mansukh, who was walking down calmly, with a pleasant smile on his face.

When he got on the boat, the boatman could not resist, but ask him the secret of this calmness and happiness. What Mansukh told him really revealed his reason for the smile? He said that like every king he knew what is going to happen. So from the day one he started preparing for it. 

He said in the first year, he got the jungle cleaned and made it a habitable place. 

In the second year he invited the best of architects and got the best township constructed. 

In the third year, he invited scholars and other institutions to open universities. 

In the fourth year, he invited various traders and business people to start trade. 

In the fifth year he had lot of families and people moving in to this modern town and living happily. 

Mansukh explained to the boatman, here I was king only for 5 years but when you drop me on the other side, there would be people standing to welcome me and there I will be a king for life time

This is as simple as it can get. This all what you should have in mind, when you are planning for your retirement. 

So, to summarize here is what I learned from the story

· The inevitable is coming; there is no point in worrying about it

                 

Start early, any delay will have a big impact

 

via Paresh Mehta :bombaysalesagency@gmail.com

Story Fruit Salad !

A man was sitting in a compartment in a train. Across from him was sitting a priest who had a picnic basket beside him. The man had nothing else to do so he was just watching the priest.

After a while the priest opened the picnic basket and took out a small cloth which he placed carefully on his knees. Then he took out a glass bowl and placed it on the cloth. Then he took out a knife and an apple, peeled the apple, cut it up, put the pieces of apple in the bowl. Then he picked up the bowl, leaned over and tipped the apple out of the window. Then he took out a banana, peeled it, cut it up, put it in the bowl, and tipped it out of the window. The same with a pear and a little tin of cherries and a pineapple, and a pot of cream …. he tipped them all out of the window after carefully preparing them. Then he cleaned the bowl dusted off the cloth, and put them back in the picnic basket.

The man who had been watching the priest in amazement, finally asked, ”Excuse me, what are you doing?”

To which the priest replied coolly, “I am making fruit salad!”

”

But you are tipping it all out of the window,” said the surprised man.

”Yes,” said the priest, ”I hate fruit salad ….!”

Moral of the Story ….

Friends, we go on carrying things that we hate and live in our own world of hatred. We constantly carry the “fruit salad” of hatred, jealousy, anger, hurts and upsets within us and keep playing with these past wounds so that, they remain fresh in our memory. We never allow them to heal. Our whole life thus depends on our past.

Unless we learn to live in the present, we will never be able to forget and forgive the past. For this, one needs to be aware, to be in the present and that is the only positive way to approach the existence.

Friends, awareness knows only the present. If we learn to live in the present moment, all the negativity, the past and the future simply disappear on its own and one starts experiencing the real freedom, the bliss. This experience helps one to become whole, healthy and healed.

….This well-being is the beginning of one’s transformation!

Have a Blissful Day, Today & Everyday Friends!

Buddhist story: Awareness

There was a great Buddhist master, Nagarjuna. Once a thief saw him and experienced his infinite grace, so the thief asked Nagarjuna, “Is there any possibility of my growth? I am a thief and I cannot leave my profession, so please don’t ask me to leave it. I will do whatsoever you ask me to do, but I cannot leave my profession. I have tried to stop it many times, but it never worked. Now, I have accepted my destiny.”

Nagarjuna said, “Why are you afraid? Who is going to talk about your being a thief?”

The thief said, “But whenever I have gone to any teacher or a priest, they always ask me first to stop stealing.”

Nagarjuna laughed and said, “Then you must have gone to thieves; otherwise, why should they be concerned?”

The thief said, “Then it is okay. You are the right master for me!”

Nagarjuna accepted him as his disciple and said, “Now you go and do whatsoever you like. Only one thing has to be followed…. Be aware! Break into houses, steal, do whatsoever you like, but do it with full awareness.”

The thief couldn’t understand that, he has already fallen into the trap. He bowed down and left.

After three weeks the thief returned saying, “Now, I am in problem. If I am aware, I just cannot steal and if I steal, my awareness disappears. I am in a fix.”

Nagarjuna said, “No more discussion about your being a thief and stealing. I am not concerned. Now you decide whether you want awareness or stealing.”

The thief said, “Now it is difficult. I have tasted the flavor of awareness and I am ready to leave anything for it.” The thief further said, “Last night, for the first time, I was able to break in to the king’s palace. But when I became aware, suddenly there was no motivation, no desire. The diamonds looked like ordinary stones. When I lost awareness again the treasure was there. This happened many times. But finally I realized that the whole treasure was not worth it…now I can never be a thief again…”

Moral of the Story ….

Friends, once one has tasted awareness, nothing is worth it ….One has known the greatest bliss of life.

In awareness, many things simply drop; they become stupid, become foolish. There is no The motivation, no desire, the dreams have been dropped. The very awareness changes one’s acts. In awareness jealousy, hatred, anger, greed, all the negativities are simply dropped, simply disappear.

Without awareness, it is like groping in the dark, stumbling, falling….All the negativities are just like groping in the dark. One’s actions can never go wrong in presence of awareness…

Friends, hence our actions don’t matter, but our awareness, consciousness, mindfulness, is that which matters….!

Have a Blissful Day Friends!