Passion

Do you experience Monday blues? Is Monday just another day? Do you believe Friday is the only way out from the week? If your answer to all these questions is a definite YES, then you might just be missing something essential in your work life – Passion.

Passion; is it only about loving what you do? No, it’s more. It’s when you look at work with a sense of enthusiasm, a belief of being able to achieve something while you are working, being positive of it. It’s working those extra hours by choice because you are engrossed into it not because you are forced by the timelines. It’s being inspired. It’s having energy and intent to continue inspite of setbacks. It’s about going just that extra mile.

Does Passion have variants? Oh yeah, it does - the Good Passion & the Bad Passion. Both make you go that extra mile you need, when others are jumping out of boat. In both, you will associate work with passion. The only difference is how you understand when to switch-off work. People with Good Passion, can unlock self from work and enjoy other things in life. They enjoy life and let others enjoy too. They experience positives in their lives. On the other hand, people with Bad Passion can’t understand when to disengage from their work. They constantly work to prove things to others. They experience negativity about what they work on. In the end feel burned out, stressed out.

So how should you bring in the Good Passion?
a.       Spread your passion. Don’t keep it to yourself, you too may need others to inspire and lead you. If no one buys your passion, at least you will be happy that you are furthering the cause you passionately believe in. But don’t be idle waiting for others to motivate you. Be your own motivator.
b.      Set your goal and be ready to try different paths. Temporary setbacks can’t stop you from achieving the greater purpose.
c.       Be Flexible. Be ready to lock-on & lock-off from your work.
d.      Keep upgrading yourself else you may lose interest your work.

 “Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it” - Buddha

India SA 5th ODI & Life

What a match it has been so far. Indeed a very intriguing match being played at The Centurion park ground. Students in my hostel are cheering for every run being scored, elated for every four and intoxicated for every sixer. What a match. All are glued to the TV set in the common area. Yusuf's made the second fastest century in the Indian batting history. India still strugling at the looming danger of losing the match and the series. What hopes remains?

Just during this cheering a thought crossed my mind, what is happening?
For every run cheers and after the wicket fell gloom and later normal. Drawing a parallel to life with this match isnt this quite similar to our experience.

In your life you will get so many people and items which will be cheering you all through your life. Some of them will be just part of your life for few years or maybe months, but then what boils down is just one thing Nothing Remains. All this will be finished some day, then why do we need to be entangled to them? Why do we need them? People wont care who you were and what you did after you are gone. Then whats the use of being longing to these attachments, these things?

Then the answer dawned upon me, Indeed to make the path till your end a bit more pleasurable. Everyone will not give you company till your end, there will be few who will remain till your end. Life gives you the experience to be able to find those who care for you till end. Then why do need materialistic pleasure? Indeed it remains useless when you have the greatest treasure which you will relish till the end.

But continuing the thought, what will happen to your cherished few after you are gone? I am clueless at this thought. Help Me!!

Induced Spending

The buzz word doing the rounds from the advent of "recession" is how to induce the consumer spending when they are quite skeptical about the future security. America is the leading example in this. America has brought in various fiscal and monetary policies which induce the people to spend more and save less. Policies are reducing the borrowing rate, reducing the value of the currency so that more money is spent constructively. But how much of it is actually done? American investors are sending their money to overseas markets where there are more returns on investments. How much is actually been spent to improve the economy?

As a parallel to this, India in the ancient times was very rich. Most of the population was wealthy and had some occupation to perform. There was no urgency in spending the money to buy items of desire. They had enough liquidity with them to spend as and when required. Also the people believed in savings and longevity of material goods.

This situation can be seen as an issue to the country's financial circulation. If people do not spend much and there is no consistent demand, then how can enterprises define their raw material pipeline? And as raw material for enterprise A is the output product of enterprise B, with this vicious circle there can be a devastating crumble of the system. With this crumble citizens tend to save more and spend less as there is no future security.

With this situation in mind and the recent festivities doing the round, I was amazed at the rituals which were formulated for all the festivals of our nation. There are numerous festivals, effectively making someone celebrate a festival or occasion everyday. All these occasions require people to invite guests and also give some money as "shagun". Now with this kind of raw money changing hands, the system is finally able to run the mill. People are spending during the festive seasons and saving during the odd seasons. These festivals are an imbibed feature of us Indians. We cannot live without it. Its our culture.

So without blaming any culture, I will say that if the festivities are made about such that people are compelled to spend, then you have your financial machinery running smoothly. There won't be any need of fiscal or monetary policies to Induce Spending.

Day of Shiva

Hindustan Times, 12th February, 2010

H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Shivaratri is the day of Lord Shiva. Shiva is the lord of meditation and, therefore, the lord of awakening.

Shiva is called Mahakala - grand time. Shivam also means innocent. Shiva is a very simple Lord, but in this simplicity there is a deep message.

Shiva, in His Nataraja form, symbolises the union of nature and the Divine. Natraja holds fire in one hand, representing the fire element. A damru (conical musical instrument) in the other hand depicts the space element. Shiva's hair is open and flying, representing the air element.

One foot on the ground symbolises prithvi (earth element), another in the air. One hand is the symbolic abhaya hasta offering protection and the other points to his feet symbolising surrender. With one foot already in the air, he has already taken a step towards the devotee. He says, "You are dear to me" even before beginning.

Shiva is dancing. Life should be like this. If both feet are stuck in the ground, then you cannot dance. Even to walk, you need to take one foot up.

Underneath his feet, there is Apasmaar (demon representing ignorance.) He is standing with his foot on top of desires. Only when we rise above desires, then it is a dance of joy and bliss. The Divine energy pervading the entire creation is eternally dancing.

Shiva represents Ananda Tattva (bliss) that the whole world longs for. We can only know the secret of Shiv tattva by going within. Feeling His presence all the time is the essence of Shivaratri. It is an occasion to awaken one's self from slumber. It signifies being aware of everything you have and - being grateful about it.

Be grateful for the happiness which leads to growth, and also for sadness which gives depth to life. You have to surrender the positives and negatives of your life to Shiva and become carefree! The greatest offering is your self and the greatest power is in surrendering to the divine. This is the right way of observing Shivaratri.

asato ma sadgamaya

asato ma sadgamaya
tamaso ma jyotirgamaya
mrtyorma amrtam gamaya

Lead me from the asat to the sat.
Lead me from darkness to light.
Lead me from death to immortality.

(Brhadaranyaka Upanishad — I.iii.28)

This is true prayer—the seeker’s admission of his sense of limitedness and his heartfelt cry for assistance in transcendence. It is not a prayer for the things of the world. It is not a pray for food, shelter, health, partnership, riches, success, fame, glory or even for heaven1. One who recites these three mantras has realized that such things are full of holes, soaked in pain and, even in abundance, will forever leave him wanting. It is in this full understanding that one turns to this prayer. The essence of each of these three mantras is the same: "O, Guru, help me free myself from my sundry misunderstandings regarding myself, the universe and God and bless me with true knowledge."

The first mantra—asato ma sadgamaya—means, "Lead me from the asat to the sat." In fact, it is best to not translate sat (nor its negative counterpart asat) for, as with many Sanskrit words, sat has many meanings and not only are most of them applicable here, their deliberate combined import provides a depth that no one of them could hold independently. These co-applicable meanings include: existence, reality and truth. (Co-applicable meanings for asat being: non-existence, non-reality and untruth.)

We often speak of religion or philosophy as a search for Truth. But only in India’s philosophy of Advaita Vedanta has the concept of "truth" been so meticulously and successfully dissected. According to Advaita, for something to be considered true in the ultimate sense, it must be true not just at one given moment, but always be true—true in all three periods of time: the past, present and future. In fact, Advaita goes one step further. It says if something does not exist in all three periods of time that it does not truly exist, it is not ultimately real. Thus, truth, existence and reality are one and the same. That reality, Vedanta says, is what we call God.

The universe and its things are in a constant state of change. The planets are in constant motion, their positions in relation to each other and the other astral bodies are in continuous flux. The seasons similarly are ever-shifting. Scientifically, we can easily understand that our bodies (and the cells within them) come into existence, are born and then go through periods of growth, sustenance, deterioration and death. In fact these six modifications are part-and-parcel of everything in creation. On the level of emotions, we move back and forth between happiness, sorrow and anger. Even our intellectual convictions rarely stay fixed for very long. So, according to Vedanta, we cannot call this world ultimately real. It is not ultimately true. Ultimately, it does not exist. It seems real etc. but it is not. Such a thing is called asat.

The second mantra—tamaso ma jyotirgamaya—means "Lead me from darkness to light." When the Vedas refer to darkness and light, they mean ignorance and knowledge, respectfully. This is so because ignorance, like darkness, obscures true understanding. And in the same way that the only remedy for darkness is light, the only remedy for ignorance is knowledge. The knowledge spoken of here is again the knowledge of one’s true nature.

Currently, in the darkness of our ignorance, we believe ourselves to be bound and limited (otherwise we would not be reciting these mantras in the first place). But the Guru and the scriptures are telling us that, in truth, we are not, never will be and never have been bound. Eternally we sat-cit-ananda. The only thing that can remove our ignorance regarding our true nature is a spiritual education at the hands of a True Master like Amma. At the culmination of such an education, light floods the room, as it were; darkness vanishes.

The final mantra—mrtyorma amrtam gamaya—means: "Lead me from death to immortality." This should not be taken as a prayer to live endless years in heaven or on earth. It is a prayer to the Guru for assistance in realizing the truth that "I was never born, nor can ever die, as I am not the body, mind and intellect, but the eternal, blissful consciousness that serves as the substratum of all creation."

It is important to remember that, with all these mantras, the leading is not a physical leading. The Atma is not something far away that we have to make a pilgrimage to, nor is it something we need to transform ourselves into. Atma means "self." We don’t need to transform our self into our self. Nor do we need to travel to it. We are it. The journey is a journey of knowledge. It is journey from what we misunderstand to be our self to what truly is our self. What the mantras really means is "Lead me to the understanding that I am not the limited body, mind and intellect, but am, was and always will be that eternal, absolute, blissful consciousness that serves as their substratum."

Once, when discussing these mantras, Amma said the first step in attaining the knowledge for which one is praying when they chant these mantras is satsang: listening to spiritual talks, reading spiritual books and being in the company of spiritual seekers and, of most importantly, spiritual masters. "We need to continuously be fed the knowledge that our true nature is the Atma and not the body mind and intellect," Amma said. Through satsang, our attachment to the asat gradually lessens. "Slowly as you understand that everything in the world—all worldly relationship, all worldly things—are ever-changing an impermanent, your attitude towards the world changes. We gain detachment." As we become more and more detached, our desires also naturally decrease, because we know that the things of the world are impermanent and cannot bring us lasting happiness. As the desires decrease, the mind becomes less and less agitated. It obtains serenity, stillness, peace. Then, with this stilled, subtle, penetrating mind we can finally come to realize our true nature.

Excellence

A man once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. "Where is the damage?" he asked. "There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work. "Where are you going to install the idol?" The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked.

The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I will know it."

The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not.

"Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside.

Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction and excellence.

This is how we miss out something called "LIFE"

THIS IS HOW WE MISS OUT SOMETHING CALLED "LIFE"

A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and the boy was the gem of their eyes. When the boy was around two years old, one morning the husband saw a medicine bottle open. He was late for office so he asked his wife to cap the bottle and keep it in the cupboard. His wife, preoccupied in the kitchen totally forgot the matter. The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to the
bottle fascinated by its color and drank it all. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small dosages. When the child
collapsed the mother hurried him to the hospital, where he died. The mother was stunned. She was terrified how to face her husband. When the distraught father came to the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered just five words.


QUESTIONS :

1. What were the five words ?

2. What is the implication of this story?



ANSWER :

The husband just said "I am with you Darling"

The husband's totally unexpected reaction is a proactive behavior. The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point
in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if only he had taken time to keep the bottle away, this would not have happened.. No one is to be blamed. She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that moment was consolation and sympathy from the husband. That is what he gave her.

If everyone can look at life with this kind of perspective, there would be much fewer problems in the world. "A journey of a thousand miles
begins with a single step". Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears. And you will find things are
actually not as difficult as you think.

 

 

MORAL OF THE STORY:

This story is really worth reading. ..... Sometimes we spend time in asking who is responsible or whom to blame, whether in a relationship,
in a job or with the people we know.
By this way we miss out something called L.I.F.E

Some good advice

The heart is always right—if there's a question of choosing between the mind and the heart—because mind is a creation of the society. It has been educated. You have been given it by the society, not by existence.

The heart is unpolluted.

Who is HINDU?

Got this article in mail. Interesting though!

Am I a Hindu?

 Four years ago, I was flying from JFK NY Airport to SFO to attend a meeting at Monterey, CA. An American girl was sitting on the right side, near window  seat. It indeed was a long journey - it would take nearly seven hours!

  I was surprised to see the young girl reading a Bible - unusual of young Americans! (Later I came to know that September 11 has changed mind-set of lot of US citizens. They suddenly turned religious, it seemed.) After some time she smiled and we had few acquaintances talk. I told her that I am from India.

 Then suddenly the girl asked: 'What's your faith?' 

'What?' I didn't understand the question. 'I mean, what's your religion? Are you a Christian? Or a Muslim?' 

 'No!' I replied, 'I am neither Christian nor Muslim'. 

Apparently she appeared shocked to listen to that. 'Then who are you...?'

 'I am a Hindu', I said. She looked at me as if she is seeing a caged animal. She could not understand what I was talking about.

  A common man in Europe or US knows about Christianity and Islam, as they are the leading religions of the world today.

 But a Hindu, what?

 I explained to her - I am born to a Hindu father and Hindu mother. Therefore, I am a Hindu by birth. 

'Who is your prophet?' she asked. 

'We don't have a prophet,' I replied.

'What's your Holy Book?'

'We don't have a single Holy Book, but we have hundreds and thousands of philosophical and sacred scriptures,' I replied.

 'Oh, come on...at least tell me who is your God?'

 'What do you mean by that?'

 'Like we have Yahweh and Muslims have Allah - don't you have a

 God?'

 I thought for a moment. Muslims and Christians believe one God (Male God) who created the world and takes an interest in the humans who inhabit it. Her mind is conditioned with that kind of belief.

 According to her (or anybody who doesn't know about Hinduism), a religion need to have one Prophet, one Holy book and one God. The mind is so conditioned and rigidly narrowed down to such a notion that anything else is not acceptable. I understood her perception and concept about faith. You can't compare Hinduism with any of the present leading religions where you have to believe in one concept of god.

 I tried to explain to her 'You can believe in one god and he can be a Hindu. You may believe in multiple deities and still you can be a Hindu. What's more - you may not believe in god at all, still you can be a Hindu. An atheist can also be a Hindu.'

 This sounded very crazy to her. She couldn't imagine a religion so unorganized, still surviving for thousands of years, even after  onslaught from foreign forces.

 'I don't understand...but it seems very interesting. Are you religious?'

 What can I tell to this American girl?

 I said: 'I do not go to temple regularly. I do not make any regular rituals. I have learned some of the rituals in my younger days. I still enjoy doing it sometimes.'

  'Enjoy? Are you not afraid of God?'

 'God is a friend. No- I am not afraid of God. Nobody has made any compulsions on me to perform these rituals regularly.'

 She thought for a while and then asked: 'Have you ever thought of converting to any other religion?'

 'Why should I? Even if I challenge some of the rituals and faith in Hinduism, nobody can convert me from Hinduism. Because, being a Hindu allows me to think independently and objectively, without conditioning... I remain as a Hindu never by force, but choice.' I told her that Hinduism is not a religion, but a set of beliefs and practices. It is not a religion like Christianity or Islam because it is not founded by any one person or does not have an organized controlling body like the Church or the Order, I added. There is no institution or authority.

 'So, you don't believe in God?' she wanted everything in black and white.

  'I didn't say that. I do not discard the divine reality. Our scripture, or Sruthis or Smrithis - Vedas and Upanishads or the Gita - say God might be there or he might not be there. But we pray to that supreme abstract authority (Para Brahma) that is the creator of this universe.'

  'Why can't you believe in one personal God?'

  'We have a concept - abstract - not a personal god. The concept or notion of a personal God, hiding behind the clouds of secrecy, telling us irrational stories through few men whom he sends as messengers, demanding us to worship him or punish us, does not make sense. I don't think that God is as silly as an autocratic emperor who wants others to respect him or fear him.' I told her that such notions are just fancies of less educated human imagination and fallacies, adding that generally ethnic religious practitioners in Hinduism believe in personal gods. The entry level Hinduism has over-whelming superstitions too. The philosophical side of Hinduism negates all superstitions.

 'Good that you agree God might exist. You told that you pray. What is your prayer then?'

 'Loka Samastha Sukino Bhavantu. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.'

 'Funny,' she laughed, 'What does it mean?'

  'May all the beings in all the worlds be happy. Om Peace, Peace,

 Peace.'

 'Hmm...very interesting. I want to learn more about this religion. It is so democratic, broad-minded and free...' she exclaimed.

  'The fact is Hinduism is a religion of the individual, for the individual and by the individual with its roots in the Vedas and the Bhagavad-Gita. It is all about an individual approaching a personal God in an individual way according to his temperament and inner evolution - it is as simple as that.'

 'How does anybody convert to Hinduism?'

  'Nobody can convert you to Hinduism, because it is not a religion, but a set of beliefs and practices. Everything is acceptable in Hinduism because there is no single authority or organization either to accept it or to reject it or to oppose it on behalf of Hinduism.' I told her - if you look for meaning in life, don't look for it in religions; don't go from one cult to another or from one guru to the next.

 For a real seeker, I told her, Bible itself gives guidelines when it says 'Kingdom of God is within you.' I reminded her of Christ's teaching about the love that we have for each other. That is where you can find the meaning of life. Loving each and every creation of the God is absolute and real. 

'Isavasyam idam sarvam' Isam (the God) is present (inhabits) here everywhere - nothing exists separate from the God, because God is present everywhere. Respect every living being and non-living things as God. That's what Hinduism teaches you. 

Hinduism is referred to as Sanathana Dharma, the eternal faith. It is based on the practice of Dharma, the code of life. The most important aspect of Hinduism is being truthful to oneself. Hinduism has no monopoly on ideas. It is open to all. Hindus believe in one God (not a personal one) expressed in different forms. For them, God is timeless and formless entity.

 Ancestors of today's Hindus believe in eternal truths and cosmic laws and these truths are opened to anyone who seeks them. But there is a section of Hindus who are either superstitious or turned fanatic to make this an organized religion like others. The British coin the word 'Hindu' and considered it as a religion.

 I said: 'Religions have become an MLM (multi-level- marketing) industry that has been trying to expand the market share by conversion. The biggest business in today's world is Spirituality. Hinduism is no exception...'

 I am a Hindu because it doesn't condition my mind with any faith system.

 How simply he explained the concept of HINDUISM, a way of living a life...

Everyone is special

Walking on the road, you pass so many people. Some look confident, purposeful, well-dressed, well-maintained.

But the majorities appear so ordinary, wear ill-fitting clothes, unfashionable footwear, have too much fat or too little, nothing remarkable about them, nothing attractive.

But yet someone somewhere eagerly waits for this unimpressive man to come home every evening.
Someone's entire world turns around the strength of this frail-looking woman.
Someone's very purpose in life hinges on this brash youngster cutting through traffic.
Someone knows only the shelter of these old arms each time their world begins to crumble.
Someone will count hours, minutes, and weep like a child when this pock-marked face alights from a long-distance train.
Someone will cave in, crack up, and never be the same again if this one person disappears from the face of the world.

There are no ordinary people !!!

Things to come

In my next few blogs I shall be describing the people who have put an un-erasable mark on my life, my thinking and all the aspects of my life. I met all these people at variety of stages of my life. I met them when I had everything and was fully satisfied with the way the life was carrying me. And then I met a few when I was of the opinion to change the way of life. And yet some met me when I was a “Thinking Powerhouse - a psychologist” guiding people in their life and eventually getting highly influencing beyond the permissible limits. I had no intentions of influencing people’s lives, but I didn’t know what I was doing. It’s now when I analyse my behavior that I understand I had in some means influenced them and their decisions.

I feel I have done some mistakes. I feel that I was quite childish in the manner I behaved when I was a psychologist. I felt that I have grown up in the manner of thinking. But I still feel that I haven’t grown up. There is lots of childishness still left in me. I haven’t yet understood the worldly manners. I was the “frog in the well”, my whole world was confined within the very few people who were around me. I had made the circle of trust. I had made a very thick “Great Wall Of China” around me.

Now that I am getting of age, I feel that a maturity of thoughts of owning a family is still at large. I have a long way to go. Lets hope in around 2-3 years when I will finally get married. I wonder whether girls need to think this much or how do they cope with all the emotional and mental maturity expected in them at this age as mine. I am 24 and I require another 2-3 years for understanding life. Do the girls have this option? Do they acquire this maturity? Do they need? Of course they need. Idiot! Who does not need the maturity for living with a person who is known to the spouse just few months back and now they are living together and sleeping together? You have given a free ticket to a nearly stranger. The stranger is the person with whom you have to spend your life, your happiness and your sorrows. What all limits shall you pose to this stranger? Are you ready to become a responsible person? You have to become the person having the responsibility to handle another person.

But then there is another question of your life. “Why are you born?” “What’s the purpose of your life?” Looking at the life from a very top level it seems you go through these stages:
Study in the best school.
Study to get the best marks so that you can get into the best college.
Study to get the best marks so that you can get into the best graduation college.
Get the best marks to get the best company to work with
Get the best salary so that you become the best bachelor.
Get the best wife, so that you get the best kids.
And then pose the same steps to your kids.
---- The cycle continues.

I had put these questions to many people and none have given any satisfactory reply to these. I admit that I had started asking these questions right at the age of 10, but then what do you expect any parent to say? My parents said that I have to become a very big and successful person in life. That’s my destiny. Hah. I feel that’s the mouse race everyone is falling into. And it seems there is no option from it. But its just the feeling that there might be something, what it is, don’t know! Feel “The Matrix” like situation may be true. Maybe there is something higher than what it seems. Something more important, something more than just Life.

People who haven’t thought about these things may take it two ways:
Ohh! He has become mature.
Ohh! What a crap maturity. These things do not get along in this world.
So it means that there will be many people who can confuse. You will not know what you need to do or where you need to go.

Here comes in “The Spirituality” into existence. It’s the man’s answers to his own questions. He brings into existence the Gods. In all the religions there is someone or something which the human race must follow or accept. The meaning of your existence lies with your beliefs. You believe in something and live your life for that.

Your existence depends on your beliefs.
And beliefs is everything...




Regards,
http://antarikshv.blospot.com

Tools to Embedded -

Today onwards I am being given another job at my office. I have to look into the embedded code also. This is a total phase shift for my kind of people. I have a background of working and creating applications. I work at the highest level in the machine hierarchy. From today onwards I have to look into the world at the lowest ladder.

This world is the starting step for all the things to work. Here while coding we have to keep into mind even 1 byte of memory, we can’t waste that greatly. It was heaven while coding for the applications. The environment takes care of the memory management. The developer does not think twice about memory wastage, just keep on finishing the job assigned.

I was in a dilemma, as to should I go ahead or blatantly refuse to work on it. I was weighing the pros and cons of the action I take.
Pros:

• An un-chartered territory to be explored (60%)
• A possible chance to get into limelight of peers and superiors
• To prove that “I CAN DO IT”
• Added feature in resume

Cons:

• Performance & work pressure
• Scared of the unknown
• “CAN I DO IT”

The urge to get into something others don’t want to or to prove myself was more and so its the pros who win and I am into it. I am getting into the look and feel of it. Let’s see how the things appear at the bottom.

In the meantime I also resolved an application problem for one of my close friend. He had gone for some volunteering work in some deep village in Orissa. He was acting as a translator basically, but a knowledgeable translator. We are friends from years and these kind of deeds help strengthen the bond. He and his team were gratified for the opportune help I provided. It helps a lot to all. We get a chance to get in touch with different people and get to face more different kinds of problems. It adds to our knowledge and helps to improve your credibility.

I too have the urge to do some volunteer work for the benefit of the country as my friend has done.

*The Secret - Talk by Poojya Gurudev on Aug 24th 2007, Bangalore Ashram*

Our life runs through intention. Everything we do has either a desire or intention or unconscious habit attached to it. If you want to call it desire, as 'a desire arises in the mind', I have no objection. But there is a difference between intention and desire. People don't understand this. Even if you say 'I don't want any desire", it is a desire.

Why some people desire gets fulfilled, others don't? Desire is a feverishness attached to a wish or a thought. If not fulfilled, they make you miserable. Because desire doesn't seem to bring fulfillment.

Unfulfilled desire gives a void. Fulfilled desire gives a greater void. If desire is the mother of sorrow, then shouldn't we not desire?

[Here comes the knowledge. The secret knowledge of desire and intention.] Most of the people in the world do not know the difference between intention and desire. An intention has to be dropped. Have an intention, have an attention and consciously drop it. If you hold on to the intention, intention becomes desire and desire causes heartache.Intention, attention and manifestation. Your attention goes to fights, to problem. If your mind is clinging on to negative, that's what is going to grow. People don't understand this. Instead of attention, intention they turn the intention into a feverish desire and become depressed. Intention is beyond fleeting positive and negative thoughts. Only those thoughts that translates into intention becomes action.Let us see the distinction between desire and intention.

Intention has a purpose
Desire has feverishness.

Intention has a goal. If your attention is all the time on the negative, switch it to positive. The feeling of abundance, feeling you have abundance andabundance will grow. Your attention is not there. You never put your intention onit and you say it didn't manifest. Many people who say "I am poor" do notput their intention and attention on it. Clarity comes only through depth of meditation and meditation cannot happen when mind is feverish with desire.Bringing desire to intention, putting attention and allowing time to manifest is a really intelligent way to deal with desire.

*Question:* If you drop an intention, how can it convert into action?
*Answer:* Intention should go with a feeling. Intention is a need that comes withinyou. Then it becomes an intention. Like someone wants a car or transportation, they really need a car, then you just put an intention, sankalpa - I really need this.One is fantasy - it is not a real need, your heart, your soul is not longing for it. Like someone else has a car, I also want a car. Someone has a bigger house. I also want. This is not a need. It is not going to happen. If you say "Im so tired of moving houses, and more people are coming and I need a bigger hall", then it is an intention. And then you add the clause "Anythingbetter than this is ok". "This or anything better than this, I can accept".But if you have not kept your commitment, you are not sincere, you are cheating, nature will know that. It will also cheat you! Nature will also not give you the power to manifest what you intend!

Million reasons to smile

In one of the mails i received i found this "peaceful" story.

There once was a king who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures. But there were only two he really liked, and he had to choose between them. One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peacefully towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace. The other picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky, from which rain fell and in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all. But when the king looked closely, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on the nest--in perfect peace. Which picture do you think won the prize? The king chose the second picture. Do you know why? "Because," explained the king, "peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace." "When Life gives you a thousand reasons to cry, Show that you have a million reasons to smile.”