Osho on Patience

Friends, here are some beautiful words of OSHO on Patience & Perfection.....

“.....Patience has been used as part of an exploitation of people in every field, but patience itself is a beautiful quality. You should not allow your patience to be exploited. But to be patient, to me means trust -- trust in nature, trust in existence, trust in yourself. Things are going to be better every day; whatever happens, your patience finds in it something better for you. It is a very great alchemy; it changes suffering into blessing. It is a great instrument in your hands, you just have to understand that the instrument has to be used by you, not by others on you. There are continuous changes in life -- life is a flux.

Heraclitus says, "You cannot step twice in the same river." I say to you, "You cannot even step once in the same river."
The river is continuously moving... There are ups, there are downs, there are days and there are nights. 

Patience consists of seeing things in a way that everything becomes a joy to you. For example, you can see that every day has been sandwiched between two dark nights. That will give you good misery and sadness .... what a life it is... just a small day and two big, dark nights. A man of understanding will see that every night is so small between two beautiful sunny days. Life is the same -- your outlook changes.

There are people who will not look at the rose flower, they will look at the thorns. They will be in deep despair that existence cannot even produce roses without thorns, but they are paying more attention to thorns than to roses. A man of understanding will love the rose, and will take the thorn as a protection for the rose. It is a protection; the same rosebush is supplying juice to both .... to the rose and to the thorn. The thorn must have some natural function. Its function is to protect the rose .... it is a soldier, a guard.

Once you see life just from a different angle, your heart starts throbbing in a different way. Everything can be looked at with negative eyes, and there are people who will think about everything with negative eyes; they may become good critics, but they will be utter failures in life. There is a way to see life with positive eyes.

In life nothing is perfect, everything has some imperfection. Imperfection means life is still growing, evolution is still happening. The day everything is complete will be the worst day in existence, because that day everything will become dead. There will be no growth, no need for evolution; everything will be stuck. Don't look to the imperfections; look at so much beauty that surrounds small imperfections.

It is a change of perspective that brings patience to you. Then you know that everything is good, and everything is going to be better because it has been going on for centuries becoming better and better. There is no need to be worried about tomorrow; tomorrow is going to be better. The whole existence is involved in bettering itself. You have to be just a little patient, you should not be in a hurry. You should not ask that everything should be given to you right now.

Everything comes in its own time. Everything comes when you are ripe. Everything comes when you deserve it .... this is my experience.

I have seen that everything goes on becoming better. Existence itself is involved; we are part of it ..... there is no need to worry. Even something that looks dark today may prove just the beginning of a new dawn. Before the dawn the night is the darkest. Just watch life. Try to understand life and patience will come to you on its own accord....!”

Have a Lovely Day Friends !

Sangeeta Hegde

Be more alert

The salesman for a junior Encyclopedia got his foot in the doorway and was trying to fast-talk the young mother of a five-year-old into buying a set of the books.

"These books will answer any question your child will ever ask," he assured her, "You will never be at a loss for an answer with these."

He patted the boy on the head, "Go ahead, sonny. Ask me a question, any question, and I'll show your mother how easy it is to answer by looking in one of these books."

The little fellow thought for a moment, and then asked, "What kind of car does God drive?"

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, life is like the child and our mind is like the salesman and the Encyclopedia.

Mind goes on accumulating things, cataloguing all the experiences .... categorizing, classifying, filing, so that, in future when the time comes these references can be used. But life is so alive that it never asks the same question again. If one lives too much in one’s mind, then whatsoever one answers is not to the true answer ....it can never be.

Life goes on changing every moment, just like the small child asking, "What kind of car does God drive?"

One can manage to find some answer but the child is not going to ask the same question again. Next moment it may ask something else. The child's curiosity is more than any Encyclopedia. Similarly, life is also so innovative that no book can answer any real situation.

Friends, one has to be more alert rather than more knowledgeable. If one becomes too much knowledgeable, one will only go on collecting pictures, references and notes and will go on comparing the notes, without finding any relevant answers...!

Self Knowledge

Once it happened in a bank that, a robber approached and shoved a note across to the cashier, which read, "Put the money in a bag, you sucker, and don't make a move."

The cashier quickly wrote out a note and shoved it back, "Straighten your tie, you stupid. Your picture's being taken."

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, even at the moment of death, most of us will be straightening our tie because our picture is being taken.

We remain interested in mirrors. We remain interested in what others are thinking about us, what others are saying about us. We just go on creating a beautiful image about ourselves. That is our whole life’s effort. And one day we will disappear and our image will fall into the dust. Dust unto dust, nothing will remain.

Friends, one should be aware that, one should never be too much interested in the image. Instead one should be interested in the real - and the real is within us; it is our energy. It has nothing to do with the others opinions.

No mirror is needed for self-knowledge, as self-knowledge is not a reflection. Self-knowledge is a direct, immediate encounter. One comes face to face with one’s own being.

ENJOY THE PRESENT MOMENT FRIENDS!

Wisdom is practical

Friends, here is a small Arabian story....

Once a man died. He had three sons. The man left a will which read that, the seventeen camels which he had should be distributed to his three sons in such a way that, one half of the camels should go to the first son, one third to the second and one ninth to the third.

The sons were nonplussed, what to do? Seventeen camels ....one half is to go to the first son. So should one camel be cut in two? And that too won't solve the problem, because one third has to go to the second and one ninth has to go to the third. Thus, the many of the seventeen camels would be killed.

They went to the man of the town who was most knowledgeable ...the Mulla, the scholar, the mathematician. He thought hard, tried hard, but couldn't find any solution. The Mulla said, "I have never divided camels in my life. The whole thing seems to be foolish. But if the will of the old man is to be followed exactly, then the camels have to be cut and then divided."

The sons were not ready to cut the camels. So what to do now? Then somebody suggested, "It is better that you go to someone who knows something about camels, not about mathematics." So they went to the Sheikh of the town who was an old man, uneducated but wise and experienced. They told him about their problem.

The old man laughed and said, "Don't be worried. It is simple!"

He loaned one of his own camels to them. So now there were eighteen camels. Then he divided them as per the will. One half... so nine camels were given to the first and he was perfectly satisfied. One third... six camels were given to the second, he was also happy. One ninth... so two camels were given to the third, he was also satisfied.

The last camel was left, which was loaned by the old Sheikh. So, he took his camel back and said, "The distribution is as per the will of your father. Now you may leave."

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, wisdom is practical and knowledge is impractical. Knowledge is abstract, wisdom is earthly. Knowledge is just words, wisdom is experience.

Don't be deceived by its simplicity. In the simplicity is the wisdom of the ages.

Have a Nice Day!!

Tibetan story: Witnessing

There is a famous story in Tibet. A man wanted to learn the art of miracles, so he started serving a saint residing in a temple. The saint was thought to be a knower of all the secrets. The man served the saint day in, day out, although the old saint told him again and again, “I don’t know anything. You are unnecessarily wasting your time.”

But the man said, “You cannot avoid me so easily. I will die sitting here, but I will learn the secret from you.”

Finally the saint said, “Listen ..., I am giving you a simple secret mantra. Just go on chanting ‘Om, Om, Om....’ and all the secrets of the miracles will be available to you soon.”

The man was very happy and started rushing towards his home. While he was going down the steps of the temple the saint said, “Wait a minute! I have forgotten one thing. There is one condition. When you will sit and chant the mantra, remember not to think of any monkey.”

The man said, “Do you think I am mad? In whole of my life no monkey has ever entered into my mind, not even in my dreams! So don’t worry!”

The saint said, “I just wanted to make you aware of the condition....!”

The man rushed back home. But as he was moving towards his house he was amazed to see that, slowly the monkeys started appearing on the screen of his mind ... big monkeys, small monkeys, jumping and giggling.... He tried to push them away. It was not one monkey, but a never ending crowd of monkeys, rushing from all the sides....

When he sat for chanting, the monkeys were all over the room. He closed his eyes, but they were sitting all around him. A few were inside the mind, and a few were sitting all around him. They pushed him and jumped on him from all the sides and kept giggling. One big monkey was even sitting in front of him and was chanting Om...Om ...Om.

The man could not sleep the whole night, so at midnight he rushed to the temple, woke up the old saint and said, “What kind of mantra have you given to me? I see only monkeys everywhere!”

The saint said, “That’s why for so many years I didn’t tell this to anybody. No one can fulfill the condition.”

The man said, “I don’t want any miracles, any secrets. But please help me to get rid of these monkeys....!”

The saint smiled and said, “Simply drop the idea of miracles and those monkeys will disappear. They are the guardians of the miracles.”

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, even if we try to stop thinking for a few minutes, more thoughts will rush in than ever. This indicates that we are not the master. The way to become the master is not to stop the thoughts but to watch the whole thought process.

If the man had been simply a witness, the monkeys would have gone. They would have seen that this man is absolutely indifferent, not interested at all.

The moment you make a point to be indifferent towards the thoughts, you have attained a tremendous victory. Just watch. Don’t judge. Don’t condemn. Just by watching, a moment comes when there is nothing to watch. Thoughts disappear....

Friends, our mind is tremendously powerful instrument. But the result of this immense gift to man has not been beneficial, because the master is absent and the servant is running the show. Watchfulness is the key. Mind can be immensely creative. It can make this very earth paradise....!!

Enjoy the Day !

Sangeeta

The unending desire for more

"Is something wrong Sir?" asked the bartender to the young, well-dressed customer, who sat staring sullenly into his drink.

"Yeah, two months ago one of my uncles died and left me eighty-five thousand dollars," said the man.

"That does not sound like anything to be upset about," said the bartender, polishing a glass. "It should happen to me!"

"Yeah," said the sour young man, "but last month another uncle from my mother's side passed away and he left me hundred and fifty thousand dollars."

"So why are you sitting there looking so unhappy?" asked the bartender.

"Try to understand," said the sad looking young man, "just ten days back one more uncle from my father’s side died. He has left me three hundred thousand dollars."

"Oh! That is great! You should be in the best of your spirits, but why are you so sad....??"

“....Because, there are no more uncles left...!!”

Moral of the Story.....

Friends, most of us can never be satisfied by anything, because the mind goes on asking for more. The desire for more always creates sorrow, makes one a slave.

The desire for more never allows one to live according to the universal law. One starts fighting for more. Whether it is something outward or inward does not matter. When one goes on fighting for something more, it means that, one is going against the law of existence.

One should learn to trust the existence, be relaxed within. Existence takes care of everything. It always provides with whatsoever is really needed by us. When it does not provide something, that means it is not really needed by us.

Enjoy every Moment of Life, Friends!

Sangeeta

The Law of 3 in the morning.

This story is about a monkey trainer, who went to his monkeys and told them, "As regards your chestnuts, you are going to have three measures in the morning, and four in the afternoon."

On hearing this all the monkeys got angry. So, the keeper said, “All right then, I will change it to four measures in the morning, and three in the afternoon."

...And the animals were satisfied with this arrangement.

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, the story is quite significant, with multiple layers of meaning. Obviously, very simple but still very deeply indicative of the human mind. The first thing to be understood is that the human mind is monkeyish...

Both the above arrangements put forth by the monkey trainer were the same. The total number of chestnuts did not change, but in one case the monkeys were displeased, and in the other case they were satisfied. The keeper was willing to change his personal arrangement in order to meet the objective conditions. In the bargain he lost nothing.

Similarly, a truly wise man, considering both the sides of the question without partiality, sees them both in the light of Awareness. This is called following two courses at once.... The Law of Three in the Morning!

Sangeeta

Just Stay

From the net....
Just Stay

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside. 


"Your son is here," she said to the old man.


She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened.


Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.


The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed.All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.

 

He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.


Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.


Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.


Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.


"Who was that man?" he asked.

 

The nurse was startled, "He was your father," she answered.

 

"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in my life."


"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"


"I knew right away there had been a mistake,

 

but I also knew he needed his son, and his 
son just wasn't here.

 

When I realized that he was too sick to tell

 

whether or not I was his son,

 

knowing how much he needed me, I stayed."

I came here tonight to
find a Mr. William Grey.
His Son was Killed in Iraq
today, and I was sent to
inform him. What was this
Gentleman's Name?



The Nurse with Tears in
Her Eyes Answered,
Mr. William Grey.............

The next time someone needs you ... just be there. Stay.

**************

Osho: Power and Peace

"The will to power and to dominate arises only in the sick mind. It arises out of the inferiority complex. People who are not suffering from an inferiority complex do not care about power; their whole endeavour is for peace, because the meaning of life can be known only in Peace, Power is not the way."

-- Osho

Grow Wings

Friends, Attitude is everything….

Negative attitude negates life. Negative attitude is good only for dying but not good for living. Life needs Positive attitude; life feeds on it because it makes you not only happy but creative also.

Reflect on this story ….

There lived an old woman in a village. The older she became the younger she felt. Friends, youthfulness has nothing to do with age, it is an attitude, and with age and its richness one can really be younger than the young. The old woman was so cheerful and creative that, everyone use to wonder at her.

Once a visitor asked her, “…But you must be having some clouds in your life?”

"Clouds?" she replied, "Why of course!! If there were no clouds where would these blessed showers come from?"

The old woman further said, “In the presence of so called clouds …problems & troubles in life, Positive mind grows Wings but the Negative mind buy Crutches. ….Allow the Wings to Grow, do not buy Crutches!!"

Zen Story: Questions within

Once a Zen Master invited questions from his students.

A student asked, "What future rewards can be expected by those who strive diligently with their lessons?"  The Master replied, "Ask a question close to home."

A second student wanted to know, "How can I prevent my past sins from rising up & affecting me?" The Master repeated, "Ask a question close to home."

Then a third student raised his hand & said, "Sir, we do not understand what is meant by 'asking a question close to home'."  The Master said, "To see far away, first you should learn to see nearby. Be mindful of the present moment, for it contains the answers for the future and the past. Ask yourself, ‘What thought has just crossed my mind? Am I relaxed or tensed? Am I fully attentive to the present situation and the people?’ Come close to home by asking questions such as these. Close questions lead to distant answers ....!"

Moral of the Story :

Friends, this is the yoga attitude towards life. Yoga is not meta-physical. Don't bother about the distant or faraway questions, such as the questions about our past lives, future lives, heaven and hell, God and Evil, etc. Please remain concerned with the questions ‘close at home’. If one can ask the question closest to his self, there is every possibility that just by asking the question will be solved. Once the closest question is solved, one has already taken the first step. The pilgrimage has started. The r

eal journey can begin only from 'where one is'. Never ask intellectual or metaphysical questions of the beyond. One should ask the questions of the within.

Unless one understands the subject, which is one’s own nature, closest to oneself, how can one understand the object? If one doesn’t know himself, everything that one knows is bound to be erroneous, because the base is missing. Thus, one will operate only from faulty ground.

If one is not enlightened within, then whatsoever light one carries without, is not going to help. And when one carries the light within then there is no fear, because even if there is darkness outside, the light within will be enough. It will enlighten one’s path.

Have a Great Day Friends !!

Sangeeta

Mulla Nasruddin: Go Slow

Mulla Nasruddin used to work in an office and his residence was just a five minutes walk from the office. However, Mulla used to be always late.

The boss was fed up and one day he told Mulla, 'This is too much. I have been telling you again and again. Don't you understand? All your colleagues live far away but they are always on time, and you live just in front of the office and are always late.'

Mulla immediately replied, 'Sir, it is simple and logical. If they get late they can hurry... they stay far away. The gap... they can run, can take a taxi. But if I am late, I am late. I stay just in front of the office...nothing can be done... there is no way to hurry....!'

Moral of the Story ...

Friends, if we hurry we will never arrive. If we move slowly, there is a possibility of arriving. If we don't move anywhere at all, if we simply sit where we are, we have arrived. In spiritual practices, it is not a question of any distance that has to be travelled; it is not a goal far away. Naturally, if the goal is far away we can move faster.

Enlightenment is not somewhere else, neither in space nor in time, it is here-now. If we hurry too much we will go astray, we will go far away. The whole thing is to slow down .... to slow down so deeply that one day nothing moves in us.

Friends, it is not a question of reaching anywhere, it is not even a question of arriving ... We should forget about the ideals, forget any future and let this moment be all. We should learn to enjoy every small thing in life. We should not project any desire into the future which is anyway absent...But just learn to Relax...!

Live a Meaningful Day Friends !

Carbon copies

Mulla Nasruddin was once introduced to a great philosopher by the Mulla’s friend. During the introduction Mulla’s friend said, “Among the other things, Mulla Nasruddin is also a great writer”, and the friend smiled knowingly.

The philosopher was very much interested and asked Mulla Nasruddin,“What have you written?”

Mulla replied, “I have just finished Hamlet!”

The Philosopher couldn't believe his ears. He asked Mulla again, “Have you ever heard of a man known as William Shakespeare?”

Mulla Nasruddin almost jumped and said, “Oh ! This is very strange, because earlier when I wrote Macbeth, somebody asked me the same question.” Mulla further enquired, “By the way, who is this man William Shakespeare? It looks like he keeps on copying me. Whatsoever I write, he copies it!” 

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, most of us think that everybody is copying us but the reality is that we go on copying others. We are a carbon copy, not a real person, because a real person never needs any display. And what do we achieve through this display? Just a false feeling that we are important, talented, extraordinary, etc.

Extraordinariness is not based on what we do, it is rather based on what we are. We all are already extraordinary, each one of us is unique, there is no need to prove it. Hence, when we try to prove it, we prove just the opposite. If something is already the case, how can one prove it? It simply indicates that we are not even ware of the uniqueness that has already happened to us.

Friends, proofs are needed only for lies, truth needs no proof....!

Enjoy the Day !

Buddha: Respond, don't react

Buddha was once passing through a village. 


The people of that village were against him and his philosophy, so they gathered around him to insult him. They used ugly, abusive words. Buddha listened. 


Ananda, Buddha’s disciple who was with him, got very angry, but he couldn’t say anything because Buddha was listening so silently, so patiently, as if he was enjoying the whole thing. Even the crowd became a little frustrated because he was not getting irritated and it seemed he was enjoying.

Then Buddha said, ”Now, if you are finished, I should move, because I have to reach the other village soon. People must be waiting for me just as you were waiting. If you have not finished with your abuses, I will be passing through your village again within a few days. You can finish it then.”

Somebody from the crowd said, ”But we have been insulting you, abusing you. Won’t you react? Won’t you say anything?”

Buddha said, “If you want reaction from me, then you are too late. You should have come at least ten years ago, when I used to react. But now I am no longer foolish. I see your anger, the fire burning in your mind. I feel compassion for you ...!”

Saying so Buddha started to leave the crowd.  Again he stopped and said, ”One thing more, in the previous village on my way, I met a huge crowd of villagers who had come to see me and they had brought many sweets for me, a gift from the village. But I told them that I don’t take sweets and they took the sweets back. Now I ask you, what will they do with those sweets?”

Somebody from the crowd replied, ”It is easy, they will distribute those sweets in the village and they will enjoy!”

Buddha smiled and said, ”Now you have brought only insults and abuses for me and I don’t take them. What will you do? You abused and insult me, it is up to you. But I refuse to take it, that is up to me!” He further said, ”I don’t take unnecessary, useless things. I don’t get unnecessarily burdened. I feel sorry for you!”

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, this is called ‘response’. When someone is angry with us and if we are present there without the past, we will always feel compassion for the person. Reaction becomes anger but response is always compassion.

We will be able to see through the person and it will become transparent that he is angry, he is suffering, he is in misery, he is ill. When someone gets a fever do we ask him, ”Why do you have a fever? Why does your body have a high temperature?” In fact, we serve him and help him to recover from the illness. Similarly Friends, an angry person is suffering from a psychological disease which is more dangerous than any physical disease.

If we can be in the present without any past, then the catharsis, the deep cleansing happens and we can attain to more clarity. We are without any wounds, hence no one can hurt us. Then it becomes easy to respond.

Friends, reaction is always from the past, response is here and now. 

Please reflect on this.