Use All Your Strength

A young girl and her father were taking a walk in a garden when they came across a large tree branch that had fallen on the ground.

The girl asked her father, "If I try, do you think I can move this branch?"

Her father replied, "I am sure you can if you use all your strength."

The girl tried her best to lift or push the branch, but she was not strong enough and she could not move it.

She said, with disappointment, "You were wrong, dad. I can't move it."

"Try again with all your strength", replied her father.

Again the girl tried hard to push the branch. She struggled but it did not budge an inch.

"Dad, I cannot do it", said the girl, frustrated by now, "what are you trying to do?"

Finally, her father said, "Young lady, I advised you to use all your strength. You didn't. You didn't ask for my help, which was available to you."

In this simple story lies a big lesson about importance of interdependence.

We all like to be independent - "I can do it on my own", which is good, but our real strength lies in interdependence - "We can do it much better together". None of us may have all the strength, capabilities, and wisdom required to attain a big goal alone, but if we work together and combine our talents in a team, no goal is too hard to achieve.

Remember, when we ask for help and support, it is not a sign of weakness, but it shows our wisdom.

Just a Few Days to Go

Sant Tukaram had a very serene nature – he was never provoked and always spoke softly. Sadashiv was one of his disciples who was just the opposite.

Sadashiv came to the sant and asked, “Guru ji, How do you manage to stay calm all the time? You never get angry and raise your voice, treat everyone with equal respect and we have never seen you criticizing anyone. I find myself getting angry so often that it is hard to control. What is the secret of your serene attitude? 

The sant said, “Son, I do not know my secret, but I have a bad news for you!”

“What’s the bad news about me guru ji?” Sadashiv asked, obviously surprised.

“Unfortunately you have just seven days to live. You are going to die next week”, Tukaram said with a serious expression on his face.

Sadashiv was shocked. He could afford to ignore if the remark was made by anyone else, but this was a forecast from Sant Tukaram, it was sure to be true. He became very sad and did not say anything.

From that very moment, Sadashiv was a changed man. He started spending most of his time on meditation and prayer. He began greeting everyone with respect, avoided arguments, and stopped being angry on anyone. He even went and apologized to the people with whom he had misbehaved in the past.

After spending the whole week in this manner, he thought of seeking final blessings from his guru before his death. Sadashiv met the sant and said,”Guruji, my time is over. Please give me your blessings.”

“My blessings are always with you, son. How did last seven days go for you? Did you notice any change in you or was it as usual?” the sant asked.

“Lots of changes guruji, I am surprised to see the recent improvements in me. No more conflicts for me. I had only seven days to live, how could I waste my precious time on fruitless things?” Sadashiv said.

The sant smiled and said,”Son, you just found the secret of my calm attitude. I know that I can die any moment. That’s why I behave well with everyone and do not get angry.”

Sadashiv realized that the great sant had shown him the fear of death so that he can get this vital lesson, he heaved a sigh of relief, and took a resolve to continue with the peaceful attitude.

Come to think of it, all of us have just seven days – Monday to Sunday. We have little time to spend on earth. Let us take a lesson from this story and realize the futility of anger and fights. Let us resolve to stay calm and behave well with others.

Be Happy in spite of Problems

Jatin, who worked in a private job, was not happy with his life. He used to feel hounded by one problem or other all the time.

He came to know about a guru camping with his convoy near the town who was very famous for his wisdom. Many people were approaching him with their troubles. Jatin decided to meet the guru and seek solution to his unhappiness.

When he went to meet the guru, he had to wait for his turn as there was a big crowd of people wanting to meet him.

He described his situation to the guru, “Baba, I am fed up with my life. I have so many troubles – stress of work at office, fights at home, financial and health issues. Please guide me how can I tackle my problems and regain my happiness.

The guru heard him patiently, smiled and said,” Son, it is already late today. I will answer your query tomorrow, in the meantime, I want you to do something for me. My convoy has hundred camels. Please stay awake and keep a watch on them tonight till all of them sit down.”

The guru retired to his tent leaving Jatin to watch the camels.

Next morning, the guru called Jatin and asked, “How did your night go?”

Jatin replied, “It was horrible baba. I could not sleep at all. I tried my best, but I could not get all the camels to sit down. One or the other kept standing up throughout the night.”

The guru said,” son, you discovered last night that you cannot get all the camels to sit together howsoever hard you try. As one of them sits down, another one stands up. If you stay awake waiting for all the camels to sit, you will not get to sleep at all.

Your troubles are like these camels. As long as we are alive, we get to face many difficulties. As we solve one issue, another one raises its ugly head. You can never get rid of all the troubles in one go.”

“What should we do then?” Asked Jatin curiously.

“Let us not wait for all troubles to go away before we enjoy life. Think again how it went last night:

• Many camels sat down on their own as the night descended.
• You managed to get some of them to sit down with your efforts.
• A few camels were really stubborn, and did not sit when your efforts. Many of them sat down on their own later on.

You can take a lesson from this about how to view your troubles:

• Some problems get resolved on their own.
• You can solve some of the issues with your efforts.
• Still there are problems that will remains unsolved despite your best efforts. Leave such issues alone and they will get sorted out with time.

Life will always have some difficulties. It does not mean that we lose the peace of mind thinking about them all the time. Don't wait for all the camels to sit down before you start to enjoy life. Relax and have a good night’s sleep. At the right moment, the problems will get resolved on their own.

Learn the secret of staying happy in the midst of difficulties.”

काँच और हीरा

एक राजा का दरबार लगा था।

क्योंकि सर्दी का दिन था इसलिये दरबार खुले मे लगा था.सभी सुबह की धूप मे बैठे थे।

उसी समय एक व्यक्ति आया और प्रवेश माँगा..

प्रवेश मिल गया तो उसने कहा, "मेरे पास दो वस्तुएं हैं, मै हर राज्य के राजा के पास जाता हूँ और अपनी वस्तुओं को रखता हूँ पर उन्हें कोई परख नही पाता, सब हार जाते है और मै विजेता बनकर घूम रहा हूँ।  अब आपके नगर मे आया हूँ |"

राजा ने बुलाया और कहा “क्या वस्तु है?”

तो उसने दोनो वस्तुएं एक मेज पर रख दीं..

वे दोनों वस्तुएं बिल्कुल समान आकार, समान रुप रंग, समान प्रकाश सब कुछ नख-शिख समान था।

राजा ने कहा ये दोनो वस्तुएं तो एक हैं |

तो उस व्यक्ति ने कहा,"हाँ दिखाई तो एक सी ही देती है लेकिन हैं भिन्न |

इनमें से एक है बहुत कीमती हीरा,और एक है काँच का टुकडा। लेकिन दोनों का रूप रंग सब एक है | कोई आज तक परख नही पाया क़ि कौन सा हीरा है और कौन सा काँच का टुकड़ा | कोई परख कर बताये कि कौन सा हीरा है और कौन सा काँच ?

अगर परख खरी निकली...
तो मैं हार जाऊंगा और यह कीमती हीरा मै आपके राज्य की तिजोरी मे जमा करवा दूंगा |

पर शर्त यह है क़ि यदि कोई नहीं पहचान पाया तो इस हीरे की जो कीमत है उतनी धनराशि आपको
मुझे देनी होगी |

मैं इसी प्रकार से कई राज्यों से जीतता आया हूँ |"

राजा ने कहा,"मै तो नही परख सकूगा |"

दीवान बोले,"हम भी हिम्मत नही कर सकते क्योंकि दोनो बिल्कुल समान हैं |"

सब हारे कोई हिम्मत नही जुटा पा रहा था |

हारने पर राजा की प्रतिष्ठा गिर जायेगी, इसका सबको भय था |

कोई व्यक्ति पहचान नही पाया...


आखिरकार पीछे थोडी हलचल हुई |

एक अंधा आदमी हाथ मे लाठी लेकर उठा और उसने कहा कि मुझे महाराज के पास ले चलो |

मैने सब बाते सुनी है, और यह भी सुना है कि, कोई परख नही पा रहा है|

एक अवसर मुझे भी दो...

एक आदमी के सहारे वह राजा के पास पहुंचा |

उसने राजा से प्रार्थना की, "मै तो जनम से अंधा हू, फिर भी मुझे एक अवसर दिया जाये, जिससे मै भी एक बार अपनी बुद्धि को परखूँ, और हो सकता है कि सफल भी हो जाऊं |"

राजा ने कहा क़ि ठीक है |

तो तब उस अंधे आदमी को दोनो चीजे छुआ दी गयी और पूछा गया |

इसमे कौन सा हीरा है और कौन सा काँच ?

कथा कहती है कि उस अंधे आदमी ने एक क्षण में बता दिया कि यह हीरा है और यह काँच !!

जो आदमी इतने राज्यो को जीतकर आया था, वह नतमस्तक हो गया और बोला..

“एकदम सही है! आपने पहचान लिया ! धन्य हो आप !!

अपने वचन के मुताबिक यह हीरा मै आपके राज्य की तिजोरी मे दे रहा हूँ"

सब बहुत खुश थे कि कम से कम कोई तो मिला परखने वाला |

तब राजा ने उस अंधे व्यक्ति से एक जिज्ञासा जताई कि तुमने यह कैसे
पहचाना कि यह हीरा है और वह काँच ?

अंधे ने कहा:

"सीधी सी बात है राजन, धूप मे हम सब बैठे है | मैने दोनो को छुआ..
जो ठंडा था वह हीरा |
जो गरम हो गया वह काँच |"

मानव जीवन मे भी..
जो बात बात मे गरम हो जाये, उलझ जाये..
वह व्यक्ति "काँच" हैं

और
जो विपरीत परिस्थिति मे भी कूल रहे..
वह व्यक्ति "हीरा" है !!

My Recipe of Reducing Emotional Clutter

We have all experienced that when our work area is filled with a lot of unwanted clutter, it reduces our efficiency, and we work best when we keep our desk clean so that we can focus better on the work at hand. I remember the time when my email inbox got filled with hundreds of emails waiting for my attention. The huge backlog of emails gave me a feeling of being overwhelmed and out of control. I simply could not get anything done due to the nagging feeling. Only after I took two days to sort out all the pending emails to clear my inbox, I could regain my effectiveness.

This experience got me thinking. There are times when we find ourselves overwhelmed with the challenges in front of us, completely unable to handle them; while the real reason behind it could be that our problem solving ability is reduced by the emotional clutter filled in our mind. What to do if faced with such a situation? Simple, just as I worked on clearing my inbox, we should take time to get rid of the emotional clutter and then work at the problem. Here is how I go about doing it: 

Relax Yourself with Deep Breathing
First of all, relax yourself. Practice deep breathing for relaxation with the following steps:

• Close your eyes
• Slowly count to three as you inhale
• Hold your breath for a count of two
• Now exhale slowly as you count to five.
• After this, wait for a count of two before you inhale the next breath.

Observe the feeling of relaxation in your body as you exhale and after it. After doing it a few times consciously, you will get a knack of it and can use this deep breathing technique in any situation to relax yourself.  

Observe your Thoughts

While in relaxed state observe your thoughts and let go of negative emotions of guilt, worry, and hatred.

Guilt
If you get any thoughts of guilt, pay close attention to it. You may feel the body tense up when this thought passes your mind.  Note the exact reason behind your guilt and how you feel about it carefully. Whatever be the reason for it, you will find that your guilt is keeping you focused on the past and preventing you to take action in the present. You cannot go back and change the past. Once you recognize this fact, gently let the guilt flow out of your mind. As you get rid of your guilt, you will experience that your mind feels lighter and the body feels more relaxed.

Worry
It is very likely that you may have not one but multiple worries in your mind, that may be keeping you occupied all the time. Take a closer look at your biggest worry. You will find that you are worrying because you think about problems in the future on which you have no control at the moment.  Use a simple method to get rid of this worry. Think of the worst that may happen, and mentally accept the worst. This will immediately release your mind from the worry and will prepare you to take action in the present. As you drop your worry, you will feel a positive sensation in your mind and body. Repeat these steps to get rid of all your worries one by one from your mind.

Hatred
Are you holding a grudge against anyone for too long? Try this simple test. Think for a few moments about the person you hate the most. Does it results in some tightness in your jaws or elsewhere in your body? If yes, you need to get rid of this emotions of hate as well. Choose to forgive the person as all of us make mistakes. The moment you forgive, the emotion of hate will flow out of you  and you will feel a lightness in your heart.

Similar look for other negative emotions such as fear, anger, anxiety, frustration, envy, etc and get rid of them from your mind. After getting rid of the clutter of negative emotions, take time to be aware of the present, and be in touch with who you really are. Continue observing your thoughts. If some negative emotions re-appear, let go of them in the same way.

Now in this relaxed state, think of the most important problem you are trying to solve. You will find that a clutter-free mind works much more efficiently to come up with many possible approaches to attack the problem, and suddenly the issue no longer appears to be as formidable as it was when you tried to solve it with a cluttered mind.

So, this is my secret recipe of getting rid of the emotional clutter from my mind and helping myself deal with the challenges. It always works like a magic for me. Try it.. it may work for you equally well.