How do we develop our personality?

Someone asked Sri Ravi Shankar about Personality Development 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

To develop your personality, you have to spend five days, to have these five experiences to really blossom in your life.
You have to sincerely play these five roles:

1. The first role which I would recommend to you is to be a School Teacher.
To teach lessons to children who are not learning, you need a lot of patience.
Being a nursery or primary school teacher, even for one day, you will see how you have to increase your patience.

2. Be a Gardener or spend a day with a Farmer.
If you are sowing the seeds,
if you are watering the plants,
you will know how you must care for water, the earth and the environment.
You will have a feeling for the environment.
You will value food and you will not waste it.
You know, what we do?
We bring so much food, and we put it in the fridge and, after a few days in the refrigerator, we throw the food.
We are wasting millions and millions of tons of food every day.
We should not waste food.
This we will learn if we spend one day being a farmer or a gardener.

3. You should spend a day in the mental hospital.
Whatever people talk in the mental hospital, you don’t mind.
If they scold you,
if they blame you,
if they curse you,
will you mind?
You don’t mind because you are aware that this person is mentally sick.
You know that many people are outside the hospital, but that does not mean they are mentally well.
So, in life, you come across people who blame you for nothing, who are jealous or angry, who say things that make no sense. Then, you know, you will have the patience to deal with them with a smile. You will not take the garbage inside and spoil your mind.
So one day if you spend in a mental hospital, you will know how to save your mind.
You will stop being a football of others’ opinions.

4. One day you must go to a prison. Maybe it is shocking to you.
You don’t have to do a wrong thing to go to a prison.
Just go visit a prison, spend a little time with the prisoners.
You will understand what compassion is.
What helplessness is.
Those people made a mistake without awareness.
So you will know how you must have a say on your emotions.

5. There are terminally ill people in the hospital.
One day with them, and you will realize how precious life is.
And you will start valuing health.
You will eat better,
you will exercise.
You will do all that is needed to be more vibrant in your life.

With these five days what would be the outcome?

I guess from these five days you will become
More Vibrant,
More Alive,
More Loving,
Compassionate
and Active.

                  ________________________________________

From a message shared by Purvi Joshi

Why Idol worship?

                                               

Once. Swami Vivekananda visited the King of Alwar in present day Rajasthan.

The king in an attempt to mock idol worship told Swamiji, "I've no faith in idol worship. How can one worship stone, wood and metal? I believe people are in an illusion and just wasting time!”
Swamiji smiled. He asked the king's assistant to take down the picture of the king that was hanging on the wall. Although confused, the assistant did so.

Then Swamiji ordered him, "Spit on the picture!". The assistant was shocked and looked at both of them. Swami repeated again and again, becoming sterner each time. The king was growing angry and the assistant started trembling. Finally, he cried out, "How can I spit on this? This picture is of our beloved and respected king!”

Swamiji then told him, "The king is sitting in front of you in person. This picture is merely a paper - it does not speak, hear, think or move. But still you did not spit because you see a shadow of your king in it, Spitting on it was like spitting on the king itself."

The king looked at Swamiji and bowed down, clearly understanding what he was alluding to.

This is the essence of idol worshiping. God is everywhere, but people want to pray to Him, ask favours, offer food, tell stories, bathe Him, play with Him and do what they do in their lives. Creating a human-like idol creates an image of God as a companion, a guide, a friend, a protector, a giver, a fellow being and so on.

An idol is just a concrete representation where they find Him. When I look into the eyes of an idol, I do not see stone or metal, but another pair of eyes looking affectionately at me, smiling.


From a message shared by Priti Sanghavi