THE SQUARE WATERMELON - A Management Lesson

                                             

Japanese grocery stores had a problem! They are much smaller than shops in the USA and therefore don't have room to waste. Watermelons, big and round, wasted a lot of space.                             Most farmers would simply tell the grocery stores that watermelons grow round and there is nothing that can be done about it.                                              That is how majority of people would respond.  But some Japanese farmers took a different approach. If the supermarkets wanted a square watermelon, they asked themselves, 'How can we provide one?' It wasn't long before they invented the square watermelon.                                 The farmers did not assume it was impossible - they simply asked how it could be done.   They found that if you place the watermelons in a square box when they are growing, they will take on the shape of the box - and grow into square fruits.                         This made the grocery stores happy and had the added benefit that it was much easier and cost effective to ship the watermelons.  Consumers also loved them because they took less space in their refrigerators which are much smaller than those in the US meaning that the growers could charge a premium price for them. DOES THIS MESSAGE HAVE ANYTHING TO DO IN LIFE? YES!!!  DON'T ASSUME:   The major problem was that most people had always seen round watermelons so they automatically assumed that square watermelons were impossible before even thinking about the question..  Things that you have been doing a certain way your entire life have taken on the aura of the round watermelon and you likely don't even take the time to consider if there is another way to do it.  Breaking yourself from assuming this way can greatly improve your overall life as you are constantly looking for new and better ways to do things. QUESTION HABITS:   The best way to tackle these assumptions is to question your habits. If you can make an effort to question the way you do things on a consistent basis, you will find that you can continually improve the way that you work. Forming habits when they have been well thought out is usually a positive thing, but most of us have adopted our habits from various people and places without even thinking about them. BE CREATIVE: When faced with a problem, be creative in looking for a solution. This often requires thinking outside the box. Most people who viewed this question likely thought they were being asked how they could genetically alter water melons to grow square which would be a much more difficult process to accomplish. By looking at the question from an alternative perspective, however, the solution was quite simple. Being creative and looking at things in different ways in all portions of your live will help you find solutions to many problems where others can't see them. LOOK FOR A BETTER WAY : The square watermelon question was simply seeking a better and more convenient way to do something. The stores had flagged a problem they were having and asked if a solution was possible. It's impossible to find a better way if you are never asking the question in the first place. Get into the habit of asking yourself, 'Is there a better way I could be doing this?' and you will find there often is. IMPOSSIBILITIES JUST DON'T EXIST:   If you begin with the notion that something is impossible, then it obviously will be for you. If, on the other hand, you decide to see if something is possible or not, you will find out through trial and error. Take away the lessons from the square watermelons and apply them to all areas in your life (work, finances, relationships, etc) and you will find that by consistently applying them, you will constantly be improving all aspects of your life.  I AM SURE WE CAN BRING ABOUT CHANGE IF WE REALLY WANT TO. YOU ARE WHAT YOU BELIEVE; BELIEVE IN YOURSELF.   Wish you a better, creative life.

 

From an email forwarded by B. Venkatesh

Asking for pain

Abraham, an Islamic mystic used to pray to God every day saying, 'I don't ask for pleasures and I don't ask for happiness, but please give me a little pain. Always continue to give me a few gifts of suffering...!'

Another mystic once heard him praying and asked, 'What nonsense are you asking? You know that God is ‘Rahim’, the compassionate one and He will give you whatever you ask!'

Abraham said, 'I have come to God through my pain and my suffering, but when I am happy I always tend to forget Him, hence I am asking for a little pain, so that, I don’t forget Him.'

Food for Thought....

Friends, although Abraham was saying a great spiritual truth, actually there is no need even to ask for anything. Because even if we ask for a pain or a suffering, it is only for our pleasure. 

Remembering God in our suffering can be our innermost desire for pleasure. So, one should only accept whatsoever is there in one’s life and a subtle change starts happening.

Through understanding when we learn to accept pain without any complaint, almost ninety percent of it disappears. Pain comes but somehow it misses the mark and we rise higher and higher. Pain moves around the periphery but cannot penetrate to the centre, thus a distance arises.

Friends, total acceptance can be a great opportunity for us to grow. One who can accept pain becomes incapable of being unhappy, and that is the goal of all the spiritual effort.

Have a Meaningful Day Friends!

Thought Cloud!

Friends, there is a meaningful story about a famous Zen Master Tozan....

It seems the Gods wanted to see him, but they couldn't see him because he was just an emptiness. They would enter into him from this side and that, they would pass through him, but he was nowhere to be found. He was a ‘nothingness’.... completely empty of himself. the Gods were quite curious to see this empty man, so one day they played a trick.

As Tozan was returning from his morning walk, the Gods picked up a handful of rice and wheat from his kitchen and threw it on his path. In a Zen monastery this is almost a sin because it is very disrespectful to the rice and wheat. 

Everything in the existence should be respected as it is divine and this principle has nothing to do with our ordinary economics. In a Zen monastery nothing is wasted. One has to be careful and alert.

So, the Gods played this trick. When Tozan saw the rice and wheat thrown on his path, he could not believe that, any of his disciples could do this....”Who could be so careless and disrespectful?”

This thought arose in him and suddenly his ‘self’ was there. The gods could see him because, now the ‘emptiness’ was no more empty. Suddenly there was a thought, an idea had crystallised, an attitude, a mind had entered. For a moment a cloud appeared in the blue sky and the Gods could see Tozan....

....And then the cloud disappeared because the thought disappeared....!

Moral of the Story ...

Friends, whenever there is a thought, there comes the mind and a cloud arises. And there is not only one cloud, but many thoughts and ideas and millions of clouds which continuously haunt us, covering us in multiple layers of clouds. The inner sky is completely hidden and one can't even have a glimpse of it.

Just a small curious thought, 'Who could be so careless?' but that was enough! 

For example, when one sees the morning sun and thinks, 'How beautiful!' This small fragment of a thought creates an inner pressure, which needs to be released by verbalizing this experience to others. Only then one feels good that one has expressed it to others. And if we cannot find anybody, the thought will haunt us more.

Friends, our mind is thus continuously over-flooded with thoughts, ideas, emotions and sentiments, which do not allow us to achieve the essential ‘emptiness’. Thus for most of us life always remains in chaos.

Have a Great Day Ahead Friends!

The Smallest Prayer!

Please reflect on these wonderful words of OSHO ….

“ …One of the most beautiful and the profoundest prayers is found in the Upanishads. It is the smallest prayer ever uttered, yet it contains all the scriptures….

Asatoma Sadgamaya — lead me from the world of untruth to the world of truth.

Tumasoma Jyotirgamaya — lead me from the world of darkness to the world of light.

Mrutyorma Amrutamgamaya — lead me from the world of death to the world of the deathless.

It is a three-dimensional enquiry….

We have to drop all that is untrue. The moment we drop the untrue the truth is revealed of its own accord. You need not go anywhere in search of it, it is found within. The moment we become aware of our inner darkness, that very awareness creates light. Awareness is light and when the light is there darkness starts disappearing. And the moment there is truth and there is light suddenly one becomes absolutely certain of one’s immortality. There is no way to die. Death is the greatest illusion. Nobody has ever died, people just believe that they die. It is a belief, it has no relationship to the truth. Those who know, know that life is eternal, always ongoing; there is no end to it — no beginning, no end. It has always been here, it will always be here.

There is no other space and no other time. Now and here … these two words contain the whole of existence.

Begin by dropping all that is untrue, all that you have believed but you have not known …that is untrue, so drop it. And become aware of your inner unconsciousness so that awareness starts dispelling the darkness. And then the third happens on its own …one suddenly enters into a new dimension, one goes beyond time. And to go beyond time is to go beyond death.

To know that life is eternal is the beginning of rejoicing….!!”

Have a Meaningful Day Friends!

Osho: Tathata...Total Acceptance!

Dear Friends, here is the Spiritual Meaning of “Let Go…!” – By Osho.

Please reflect on these wonderful words …

                                                   

“…Acceptance is one of the most beautiful words. Buddhists, the followers of Buddha, have a term for it which is even deeper than the English word ‘acceptance’; it is “Tathata”. Which means saying ‘yes’ so totally that, in your being there is no division. You become one in your yes. You say ‘yes’ so totally that, there does not exists ‘no’ inside you, no denial.

                      

Tathata, is “total acceptance”. It is not that the major part of your mind, the major part of your being decides on “yes”, and the minor still goes on saying “no”. Then it is conflict. Any day the majority may become a minority, and the minority may become a majority. There exists an inner politics. 

Acceptance, total acceptance, Tathata, means without any political decision …total. 

There is nobody who says ‘no’ within you, not even a fragment, because even a fragment can be destructive. And even if part of you says ‘no’ you cannot receive the true teaching.

God is available, 
Truth is available, 
Light is available, 
but you are such a miser in receiving. 
You are not only a miser in giving, you are a miser in receiving also. 
                           
A miser has to be a miser whatsoever he does. You cannot give; you cannot receive. Giving and receiving are two aspects of the same coin. If you can give, you can also receive. Hence, so much insistence on giving away whatsoever you can give … give with love, so that you can become capable of receiving more and more.

It is just like inhalation and exhalation. 
If you exhale deeply, automatically you will inhale deeply. If you want to inhale deeply, you will have to exhale deeply ….there is no other way. And life is a balance between exhalation and inhalation. If you are afraid of exhalation your breathing will become shallow. Then your inhalation cannot be very deep …it is impossible. Exhalation is giving … giving whatsoever you can give. The more you give, the more you become capable of receiving.


                                               

…And when you give completely, utterly, totally, that is the moment of total acceptance, Tathata….!”

                          

Have a Blissful Day Friends!

Mrs. Sangeeta Hegde

Moving Closer!

Thomas Alva Edison was working on an experiment related to electric bulbs. He continuously worked for almost three years but failed more than seven hundred times. All his colleagues and students, were completely frustrated. Every morning he would come happy and bubbling with joy, and ready to start again. More than seven hundred experiments and three years wasted! Everybody was almost certain that, the whole thing is useless, just a whim.

One day all of them came together and talked to Edison, 'We have failed seven hundred times and we have achieved nothing. So, now we have to stop.'

Edison laughed loudly and said, 'How can you say we have failed? We have succeeded in knowing that those seven hundred methods won't work. If there are one thousand possibilities, we have closed seven hundred. So, we are nearing closer and closer to success every day! We have knocked on seven hundred doors and they were not the right doors. But there was no other way to learn that they were not the right doors and this is a great achievement!'

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, this is the basic scientific attitude. If one can decide that something is false, then one is moving closer to the truth. One needs to experiment, so that, one never loses the opportunity of learning something unfamiliar.

One should never cling to the past and always remain open for experimentation, always ready to walk on a path which one has never explored before. And even if it proves useless, it will be an experience.

One should never think that, whatsoever one is doing is perfect. It is never perfect. But, it is always possible to improve upon it to make it more perfect.

Have a Wonderful Day Friends!

Alchemical Outlook!

                                           

There was a great Sufi mystic called Bayazid, who used to pray every day and used to express his thanks and gratitude towards God, sometimes even without any reason.

                                            
Once he and his disciples had to starve for three days, without a drop of water and food. They were being driven out from one village to another by some people who were against them. However, that evening before going to sleep Bayazid again prayed and thanked God by saying, “You are so compassionate my Lord. Whatsoever we needed, you have always given to us. We are very thankful and obliged ...!”

                                           
His disciples were confused, so they asked him, “Now we can’t understand this! For what are you thanking God? For three days we have been hungry, thirsty, have been thrown out of every village and you are saying ‘Whatsoever is needed, you have always given to us!’ What has He given to us for last three days?'

Bayazid smiled and said, 'He has given us hunger, thirst and the people who have been running after our lives for last three days. Whatsoever is needed, He always gives! Probably this must be needed for us. He is very compassionate and knows it better about what exactly is needed for us!'

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, this attitude is alchemical ...it helps transform our lives. The baser metal is immediately transformed into gold once we have such an alchemical outlook. We touch anything and immediately the thing turns in to gold.

God comes to us in different forms and different ways. Sometimes He also comes as a misery, suffering, hurt or upset, to give us depth. 
Sometimes He comes as happiness, joy and bliss, to create ripples of laughter in us. Sometimes He also comes as a life, sometimes as a death. 
Only He keeps coming through different forms. Multiple are His forms, His ways and His faces. 
One needs special eyes to recognise Him in whatsoever form He comes to us. 

Even if he comes as a suffering, we should remember that it is also His image and probably this is needed at this time.

One should touch one’s miseries and hurts with a grateful heart and suddenly one will see the beauty even in the suffering. A silence will immediately settle around and one will feel thankful towards Him.

                                        
Friends, He always gives a right thing at the right moment, but we misunderstand....!

Have a Blissful Day Friends!