Complaints and the Mind

An aspiring monk was searching for a Guru. He went to a monastery and there his preceptor told him, "You can Study and Meditate here but we have one important rule that, all the students have to observe complete silence. You will be allowed to speak only once in 12 years time." The young monk agreed.

After meditating, studying and practicing in silence for 12 long years the day came when the student could say any one thing or ask his one question. So the monk said, "The bed is too hard."

Then he kept going for another 12 years with silent meditation and got the opportunity to speak once again. He said, "The food is not at all good."

Twelve more years of hard work and he got to speak again. Here are his words after 36 years of difficult spiritual practices, "I quit!!"

The Master of the monastery quickly answered, "Good, anyway all you have been doing was nothing but complaining!"

Moral of the Story ....J

Friends, although externally we seem to be silent, we remain busy with our internal dialogue of complaining and feeling sorry for ourselves. For most of us, this is the way of life ….complaining, judging, blaming, feeling unfairly treated, disrespected, etc. etc.…. all the usual rubbish that the mind loves to chew on.

The feeling of deep gratitude can arise only when we become aware of what existence is giving to us. In fact, we have nothing to give in return. We may not be worthy of it at all, we may not deserve it, still the flowers bloom, the sun rises, the moon shines, the stars twinkle and the clouds keep showering rains…. The existence goes on giving, whether we take any note of it or not….It just showers on us….

Friends, our attitude towards life is our own choice. Whether we choose gratitude or complaint, that is exactly what life will reflect back to us. A complaining mind is never at peace….!!

Have a Blissful Day Friends, without any Complaints!! J

Butter & Stones. Buddhist Story

In Buddha’s days, Priests of a certain religion used to charge money for a ritual prayer that promised to release a dead person’s soul from hell, so that he could go to heaven. At one point in the prayer they struck an urn full of stones with a ritual hammer. According to their teaching, if the urn broke and the stones were released, it was a sign that the soul was also released. (Of course, the brittle clay could not withstand the blow of the heavy metal hammer).

Once a young man, distraught over his father’s death, went to the Buddha, believing that the Buddha's teaching was a newer, greater form of religion, and asked him for a ritual which would release his father’s soul. The Buddha told him to obtain two of the ritual urns from the priests, and fill one with butter and the other with stones. The young man, believing he was about to get a more powerful ritual, was very happy and did as the Buddha asked him to do.

When the young man returned, the Buddha told him to place the urns carefully in the river, so that the rim of the urn was just below the surface. Then he instructed him to recite the usual prayer of the priests, and strike both urns under the water with the hammer, at the usual point in the prayer, then come back and describe what happened. The young man, very excited to be the first person to be given this wonderful new ritual, more effective than the old, did exactly as he was told.

On his return, the Buddha asked him to describe what he saw. The young man replied, "I saw nothing unusual. When I smashed the urns, the stones sank to the bottom of the river and the butter was washed away on the surface of the river."

The Buddha said, "Now please ask your priests to pray that the butter should sink and the stones should float to the surface!"

The young man, shocked by the obvious ridiculousness of the Buddha’s request said, "...But no matter how much the priests pray, the stones will never float and the butter will not sink."

   

The Buddha smiled and replied, "Exactly so. It is the same with your father. Whatever good, kind, caring actions he has done during his life time will make him rise towards the heaven, and whatever bad, cruel, selfish actions he has done will make him sink towards the hell. And remember, there is not a thing that all the prayers and rituals of the priests can do to alter even a tiny part of the results of his actions! ..."

Moral of the Story ...

Friends, a man wandering in immense darkness, groping his way, clings to anything that gives a little hope, a little light.

Certainly each action has its result, but not somewhere far away in a future life. The action and the result are continuous, they are part of one process. What begins in sowing the seed, grows, and one day the one seed has become thousands of seeds. That's what we call our crop. It is the same seed which has exploded into thousands of seeds.

Friends, nothing can be done about the past, but much can be done about the future. To change the future is to change everything. If we start changing our ways of life, our ways of awareness and when we start understanding the laws of life... the fundamental laws, the law of karma ...whatsoever we do, we will have to reap.

No death is intervening, no afterlife is needed, it is just a continuum....!!

Have a Great Day Friends !

No Mind

There was a rich man in a town, who once decided to go on a long pilgrimage. He had a big palace and many servants. Before leaving on his journey, the rich man called all his servants and told them, “I am going on a long pilgrimage, so one by one, in a rotation you all will have to be on guard. I am not sure about how long my journey will take. The pilgrimage is hazardous, and I may come back or may not come back, but this palace, the beautiful garden and everything has to be as it is.”

The servants said, “Of course Sir. Whatsoever you say we will do.”

The man went away. Days and months and then years passed … and slowly the servants started forgetting that they were only the servants, the caretakers. The master was missing for so long…. Each servant slowly started pretending that he was the master of the palace. Many years passed and then the servants completely forgot about the master. They declared to the whole town, “We are the masters” and even the people started believing them.

And one fine day, the master suddenly returned and stood at the door. The servants looked at him, came back to their senses and fell at his feet, “Sir, you are back…!”

The rich man replied, “Why? I had told you that my pilgrimage may take a long time...!”

All the servants cried out, “Forgive us Sir! We had forgotten you completely and became the masters of this palace. We enjoyed being the master so much that, we declared in the town that we are the masters. Even the people started believing that we are the masters….!”

Moral of the Story ….

Friends, the same is the case with most of us. We are absent but our mind, which is supposed to be just a servant, a slave, is acting as the master. In fact, there is no question of the master going anywhere, because once he arrives, he never goes. In our case, perhaps the master has never been at home. Our thoughts which we call our mind, certainly and confidently believe that they are the masters.

Can a servant watch another servant? Similarly, a thought cannot watch another thought …. that is impossible. Therefore, even if a thought arises in the mind that, “I am watching,” one has missed. It was only a thought. If the watcher is present, one will never even have the thought that, “I am watching it”. This means, one was just on the verge of getting it and missed it completely. The mind has entered in….

It is always the mind that gets a thought, the real watcher simply watches with total silence, without any activity. In such a moment, the actual seeing, knowing and experiencing happens ….without indulging in a thought process.

Why are we not in a position to experience Life simply as a watcher, without any thought?

Friends, one needs to learn this knack. For past many lives, our mind has been trained, conditioned, to think every experience in words…not in silence….!

Wish you a Blissful Life with “No-Mind” Friends!

Japanese Cups

A student asked the Zen Master, Suzuki Roshi, “Why do the Japanese make their teacups so thin and delicate that they break easily?”

"It's not that the cups are too delicate," the master answered, "but they break easily just because you don't know how to handle them. You must adjust yourself to the environment, and not vice versa! The delicate Japanese cups are the reminders for you to be aware of this fact!"

Moral of the story ....

Friends, most of our miseries arise because we are not ready to adjust ourselves according to our surroundings or we don't allow the change to happen. We cling to our ideas.

A man of awareness knows that life means constantly changing. To accept the nature of life, to accept this existence, with all its seasons and moods, this constant flow which never stops for a single moment, only leads to bliss! Most of us want to live without any change in our lives, which means we are asking for the impossible.

Friends, a man of awareness becomes courageous enough to accept the phenomenon of change and in this very acceptance is the bliss. Then everything becomes good, and one never gets frustrated ....because one has never asked for anything.

Live a Meaningful Day Friends !

Prayer: Buddhist story

A woman called Nuyen used to recite Buddha’s name daily. Although she was reciting Buddha’s name for over 10 years, she was still quite mean, aggressive and used to often shout at people all the time. She usually used to starts her practice by lighting incense and hitting a little bell.

Once her friend wanted to teach her a lesson, so as she began her chanting and prayer, the friend came to her door and called out, "Miss Nuyen, Miss Nuyen!".

As this was the time for her prayers and chanting the woman got annoyed, but she said to herself, "I have to struggle against my anger, so I will just ignore it."

She continued reciting Buddha’s name. The man also continued to call her name, as she became more and more oppressive. But the woman kept struggling against her anger and wondered whether she should stop the recitation to give the man a piece of her mind, but she continued reciting.

The man outside also continued shouting her name, “Miss Nuyen, Miss Nuyen, Miss Nuyen...."

The woman could not stand it anymore, so she stopped her chanting of Buddha’s name, jumped to her feet, slammed the door and went to the gate and shouted at the man, "Why do you have to behave like this? I am doing my recitation and you are shouting my name over and over!"

The gentleman smiled at her and said, "I called your name just for five minutes and you are so angry. But you have been calling Buddha's name for more than ten years now. Can you imagine how angry he must be by now...!"

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, prayer means only listening to god. Even if one has to say something, one can only thank the God with tremendous feeling of gratitude. 

Prayer is not a technique, not a ritual or not a formality. It is only a spontaneous outpouring of the heart. Prayer is not in the expression or in the container, it is always in the content. Prayer is a silence.

Friends, God does not speak from the outside, he speaks from our innermost core, he is already there. And to remain connected with our innermost core is the true prayer.

Have a Nice Day Friends !

 

Find Your Starfish!!

Ryokan was a Zen teacher of repute.

One day a fisherman saw him walking on the beach soon after a storm. 
                
The storm had washed up thousands of starfish on the shore, and they were beginning to dry up. Soon all of them would be dead.

Ryokan was picking up starfish one by one and throwing them back into the sea.

                
The fisherman caught up with Ryokan and said, “Surely, you cannot throw all these starfish back into the sea. They will die in their thousands here. I’ve seen it happening before. Your effort will make no difference.”

“It will to this one,” said Ryokan, throwing back another starfish into the sea.....and he continued doing so....!

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, there is something very special in each one of us.

We may not be able to please everybody, but we have all been gifted with the ability to bring in a difference in other’s life. If we can only become aware of this gift, we can gain the power to infuse life in others and can shape many futures through the strength of our visions.

Friends, each one of us should find our starfish. If we throw our starfish wisely and well in time, I am sure, the world will be blessed.

                                            

Have a Blissful Day !!

Mrs. Sangeeta Hegde

Osho: Pleasure & Bliss

 

What is the difference between bliss and pleasure?

		Pleasure is physical, physiological.  Pleasure is the most superficial thing in life; it is titillation. It can be of the senses, it can become an obsession with food, but it is rooted in the body. The body is your periphery, your circumference; it is not your center. And to live on the circumference is to live on the mercy of all kinds of things that go on happening around you. The man who seeks pleasure remains at the mercy of accidents. It is like the waves in the ocean; they are at the mercy of the winds. When strong winds come, they are there; when winds disappear, they disappear. They don't have an independent existence; they are dependent, and anything that is dependent on the other brings bondage. Pleasure is dependent on the other. Then you have created a bondage for yourself. You have created a prison, you are no more in freedom. The more you demand, desire, the more you feel yourself lacking something, the more hollow, empty, you appear to yourself. It makes you a slave.  Pleasure is peripheral; hence it is bound to depend on the outer circumstances. And it is only titillation. The mind is always hankering for something new. That's how mind keeps you always tethered somewhere in the future. It keeps you hoping, but it never delivers the goods -- it cannot. It can only create new hopes, new desires. Just as leaves grow on the trees, desires and hopes grow in the mind. Once you have achieved your goal, your mind is no longer interested in it; it has already started spinning new webs of desire.  Pleasure keeps you in a neurotic state, restless, always in turmoil. So many desires, and every desire unquenchable, clamoring for attention. You remain a victim of a crowd of insane desires -- insane because they are unfulfillable -- and they go on dragging you into different directions. You become a contradiction. You feel a split, divided, torn apart, falling into pieces. Nobody is responsible. It is the whole stupidity of desiring pleasure that creates this.  A life which might have been a celebration becomes a long, drawn out, unnecessary struggle. Happiness is psychological and pleasure is physiological. Happiness is little more refined. You can say that pleasure is a lower kind of happiness and happiness is a little higher kind of pleasure -- two sides of the same coin. Pleasure is a little primitive, animal; happiness is a little more cultured, a little more human -- but it is the same game played in the world of the mind. You are not so much concerned with physiological sensations; you are much more concerned with psychological sensations. The third is joy and joy is spiritual. It is different, totally different from pleasure and happiness. It has nothing to do with the other; it is inner. It is not dependent on circumstances; it is your own. It is not a titillation produced by things; it is a state of peace, of silence, a meditative state. It is spiritual. There is still one thing that goes beyond joy, it is called bliss.  Bliss is total. It is neither physiological, nor psychological, nor spiritual. It knows no division, it is indivisible. It is total in one sense and transcendental in another sense. Bliss means you have reached to the very innermost core of your being. It belongs to the ultimate depth of your being where even the ego is no more, where only silence prevails; you have disappeared. In joy you are a little bit, but in bliss you are not. The ego has dissolved; it is a state of nonbeing. Buddha calls it nirvana. Nirvana means you are just an infinite emptiness like the sky. And the moment you are that infinity, you are reborn. Pleasure is momentary, of time, for the time being; bliss is non-temporal, timeless. Pleasure begins and ends; bliss abides forever. Pleasure comes and goes; bliss never comes, never goes -- it is already there in the innermost core of your being. Pleasure has to be snatched away from the other; you become either a beggar or a thief. Bliss makes you a master. This is the only misery of man: that he goes on looking outwards, seeking and searching. And you cannot find it in the outside because it is not there.
		..... By Osho - Excerpted from Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha Courtesy: Mrs. Sangeeta Hegde

Just Let Go!

It is said that, in Africa and in India, the natives use a technique to catch monkeys....

They hollow out one end of a coconut keeping a small opening at the top and put peanuts in there. When a monkey gets aroma of the peanuts, it immediately puts its hand in the coconut and grabs the peanuts in its fist.

Then the monkey tries to pull out its closed fist containing the peanuts, however, the closed fist gets trapped in the small opening of the coconut. The monkey does not want to open its fist or leave the peanuts, so it keeps trying to pull out the closed fist. It can not even run away with the coconut, as it is quite heavy ....And while this struggle is going on, the natives pull a string attached to the other end of the coconut and capture the monkey.

 

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, the truth is that the monkey was never trapped. All it had to do was open its fist and let go of the peanuts. But, greed is the nature of mind.

Mind is always greedy and wants to accumulate more and more. It may be food or money, it may be power or knowledge, whatsoever it is, mind means greed.

Clinging to the greed brings Bondage & Misery, ‘Let Go’ brings Liberation & Freedom !

Live a Blissful Day Friends !

De-Hypnotise yourself

There was once a rich magician who had many sheep. He did not want to hire shepherds, nor did he want to erect a fence about the pasture where his sheep were grazing, as he was a miser and mean. Consequently, the sheep very often wandered into the forest, fell into ravines, and above all, they used to run away, because they knew that the magician wanted their flesh and skins. The sheep used to be scared of all this.
                      

The magician had thus lost many of his sheep. Finally he had an idea, “Why don’t I use my expertise in the magic?” So, he hypnotized his sheep and suggested to them first of all that they were immortal, and that no harm was being done to them when they were skinned .... on the contrary, it would be very good for them and even pleasant.
                              

Secondly, he suggested that the magician was a good master who loved his flock so much that he was ready to do anything in the world for them. Further, the magician suggested to his sheep that they were not sheep at all. To some of them he suggested that they were lions, to some that they were eagles, to others that they were elephants.
                     

After this, all his worries about the sheep came to an end. They never ran away. No sheep went missing. From that day no sheep was behaving like a sheep. Some started roaring like a lion, some started behaving like a tiger, and some other like elephants. No sheep was afraid of being butchered …. the very question of getting killed became irrelevant to them. Thus, the magician kept butchering them every day for his food. They may have been roaring like lions, that did not matter … Thus the magician remained in absolute control.

 Moral of the Story …

Friends, this tale is a perfect  illustration of our position today.

We have been hypnotized and conditioned to remain in misery. The trick is very subtle. We have been told that happiness exists only in the future, but in reality happiness exists here-now. We all bring it with us .... Happiness is a part of our innermost core.
              

We have been conditioned that unless we have a big house, a car, much fame, a fat bank balance and successful career, etc., we will not be able to be happy. In fact Friends, happiness does not depend on any external factors, because each one of us is born happy.

Our conditioning goes on creating ambitions and ambitions never keep us happy, they create only misery. Once the mind becomes ambitious the seeds of misery are planted deeply in us. The hope keeps hanging in the tomorrow ...the tomorrow which never comes. This whole exploitation is possible because most of us almost live in sleep.
                                     

Friends, only a miserable man can be exploited, who thus becomes more miserable and the more miserable man can be exploited even more .... It is a vicious circle... Therefore, one needs to remember that, only a happy person is rebellious....Nobody can exploit such a person!

Live a Meaningful Day Friends !

Managing Ego

Once there lived a very venomous snake in a hole in a garden. Young boys who frequented the garden to play were virtually scared of the snake and were extremely cautious while playing in the garden.

One day the boys informed about the snake to a sadhu who was passing by. The sadhu went near the hole where the snake lived. The snake as usual tried to harm the sadhu. The sadhu with his powers, quelled the wrath of the snake and advised the snake to take up the path of rightful living. The snake also lived by the words of the sadhu and gave up its ego and anger.

The boys realised that the snake no longer was violent and recognised its calm disposition. A little boy even became bold to stone the snake, who calmly receded to its hole. One day, one of the boys caught the snake by its tail, whirled it aroung and dashed it to the ground. The snake was badly hurt, but quietly bore the assault and slithered into its hole. It avoided to come out of its hole during day time. It became customary for it to hunt for its food at night. The snake hence became weak and frail.
One day the sadhu was passing by and paid a visit to the snake. On seeing the hapless condition of the snake, he enquired about the cause. The snake who had become calmness personified, with great difficulty described the harm that the boys caused to it.

The sadhu said, “You are a fool to ignore your body, the temple of God! Don't you respect yourself? You should have ignored your body at any cost!”

The sage further advised, “I only asked you not to harm anybody. However, I never asked you to allow others to harm you. There should be no problem to scare the others who harm you. I only asked you not to bite, but never asked you not to hiss! One should remain cool within while on the surface it should appear that one is angry. The knowledge of one's true self brings about this calmness within!"

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, the ego may be put to use in different ways, so that one does not become a door mat. At the same time. one has to be more alert so that, one is not used by the ego.

Live a Meaningfull Day Friends !!

Mind Trap

It seems, once the gods were so pleased with a poor man’s prayers and devotion that, they gave him a magic conch shell that would fulfil any wish expressed by him. Even if the man asks for a palace, immediately a palace would appear for him. If he asks for food, there would be a great feast laid out before him. The poor man was very happy, as he started enjoying all the good things in life.

One day a priest who was passing through the town halted at this man’s palace for a night’s rest. He had heard about the magic shell and wanted to possess it. He too had a conch shell which he called “Maha-shankha”, the great conch shell. So, the priest told his host, ”Your shell is nothing compared to mine. I too practiced many austerities and the gods favored me with this Maha-shankha. You ask for a thing and it gives you two.”

Now as is human nature, the man’s greed was awakened. He said, ”Show me the magic of your conch shell.”

The shrewd priest took out the Maha-shankha and placing it before him said, ”I want a palace.” The conch said, ”Why one? I shall give you two?”

The host was impressed. He immediately gave his conch shell to the priest and took his Maha-shankha in return. The priest took the magic shell and soon left.

The man asked the conch, “I want Rs. one lac.” The shell said,”Why only one lac, I will give you 2 Lacs.” The man said, “O.K. Give me 2 Lacs.” The shell said, “Why 2 Lacs, I will give you 4 Lacs....” And this went on. The conch only promised, but never delivered anything. All it could do was talking without any results.

The poor man frantically searched for the priest, but he had already disappeared into thin air along with the magic conch....

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, our mind is just like the “Maha-shankha”. Whatever God gives us, our mind says, ”Why only this much, why not more?”

The mind is only a babble of words. It is all lies. It can produce nothing. But we let go of God and cling to the mind. For the mind talks in a duplicity that sets fire to our greed. Just think friends, has our mind ever given us anything? Have we ever attained anything through the mind? One need not fall a victim to one’s mind trap.

The mind can give neither knowledge nor existence, it can only give promises, untruth. Thus, one who listens to the mind falls into falsity.

Love the pricks in your life!

Fable of the porcupine

It was the coldest winter ever. - Many animals died because of the cold. 

 

The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided to group together. 

This way they covered and protected themselves; but the quills of each one wounded
their closest companions even though they gave off heat to each other. 

 

After a while, they decided to distance themselves one from the other and they
began to die, alone and frozen. So they had to make a choice: either accept
the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth. Wisely, they
decided to go back to being together. This way they learned to live with the
little wounds that were caused by the close relationship with their
companion, but the most important part of it, was the heat that came from
the others. This way they were able to survive.

The best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people,
but the best is when each individual learns to live with the imperfections
of others and can admire the other person's good qualities
 

The Moral of the story..........LEARN TO LOVE THE PRICKS IN YOUR LIFE

OSHO on FRUSTRATION~Beautiful!

                                      

”Frustration is there because of your expectations. 

Expect, and there will be frustration. 

Don't expect, and there will be no frustration. 

Frustration is a by product: the more you expect, the more you create your own frustration. 

So frustration is not really the problem, it is the result. 

Expectation is the problem. 

Frustration is just a shadow which follows expectation. If you don't expect even for a single moment, if you are in a state of mind where there is no expectation, then it is simple. 

You ask a question and the answer comes; there is a fulfilment. 

But if you ask with any expectations you will be frustrated by the answer.

Everything we do, we do with expectations. If I love someone, an expectation enters without my even knowing it. I begin to expect love in return. I have not yet loved, I have not grown into love yet, but the expectation has come and now it will destroy the whole thing. 

Love creates more frustration than anything else in the world because, with love, you are in a utopia of expectation. You have not even been on the journey yet and already you have begun to think of the return home.

The same law applies to everything. 

There is so much frustration in the world that it is difficult to find someone who is not frustrated. 

It is very difficult to find a person who is not frustrated. 

And It makes no difference what the object, the cause, the source of frustration may be. 

One can be frustrated because of power, because of prestige, because of wealth. One can be frustrated because of love. One can even be frustrated because of God.  

Even in the search for the divine we have expectations. 

Expectation is the poison. 

That's why there is frustration; it has to be so. Realize the falsity, the poison in the expecting mind. If you can become aware of it, the expectations will drop and there will be no frustration. The world is frustrated -- that is a fact. But you go and try to find out why you are frustrated. You will find that it is because of your expectations. 

That is the seed, the root cause. 

Throw it out! 

Don't think about the world, think about yourself. You are the world and if you begin to be different the world begins to be different. A part of it, an intrinsic part, has begun to be different: the world has begun to change. We are always concerned with changing the world. That is just an escape. 

I have always felt that people who are concerned with others' changing are really escaping from their own frustrations, their own conflicts, their own anxieties, their own anguish. 

They are focusing their minds on something else, they are occupying their minds with something else, because they cannot change themselves. 

It is easier to try to change the world than to change oneself.... :)

...Remember to find out the cause of your own frustrations. And the sooner you do so, the better. 

Situations differ, but the source of frustration is always the same .... your expectations....”

                                          

                                                  

(sent by Mrs. Sangeeta Hegde).