5. Listen to Heart - Believe Trust, Prevent Rust ………..

Hari Bol....

5. Listen to Heart - Believe Trust, Prevent Rust ………..

 

 

Trust is firm belief in the reliability and truth or ability of someone or something. It leads to confidence. You Trust a person because you believe him. Trust is free from suspicion or doubt. It emphases on certainty and assurance, it is ‘conviction’. This leads to reliability & thus faith. We all believe in the Supreme Power & thus have faith in him (Lord). Trust is the foundation of Mutual Trust & Respect.

 

 

Marriage is a big and important event in every family and so was in my friend’s home when his brother’s marriage was finalized. The atmosphere started changing. A positive vibration with excitement started. The works of the marriage preparation was decided. We could observe people coming and going now and then. It was a happy going atmosphere. The elders planned all events and distributed responsibilities after several round of discussions. During those discussions certain changes were also made. The responsibility was decided based on the individual ability which was required for that particular activity. This is Trust. Various functions were organized. You could participate in sangeet samelan (Music & Dance), Mehandi (Henna) decorations, leg-pulling, jokes, etc. The final day of Barat came. An open car was decorated so that everyone could have a look at bride. In all this happy moments my friend’s mother called his son. She made him to sit next to her. Slowly he kept his head in his mother’s lap. He told his mother that I would like to talk to you and reply to this she said “I know beta something is troubling you, so speak out“. His mother got a shock after hearing him. He told her that he is committed to someone else and he cannot say “No now”. She was shocked to listen this. The whole atmosphere became quiet and did not know what would be the next course of action. She conveyed this to the father of the boy & her father in-law. The whole atmosphere changed within a minute. There was silent in the whole house. The positive vibration got disturbed. It was a tense situation.

 

 

Let us now see what Trust is. The boy is committed; it means he Trusts his girlfriend and the Girl Trust her boyfriend. The two families had trusted each other which were leading to family tie up. We all will agree that relationship is always built on Trust. Now if the marriage takes place between the two lovers then the Trust builds between them but the two families’ relationship starts getting rusted. If the marriage continues then the Trust is built within two families but the Trust gets not their between the two lovers. As a normal human being we will start finding who is to be blamed and tag him or her. It is up to you all to decide and find a solution. But this is a situation which is increasing in our country. Is it taking us in Positive direction? Is it taking us in Negative direction?

 

 

Duryodhana was full of negative thoughts and ideas. Duryodhana had committed to Pandavas that he would return the Kingdom which they lost in Poker but for that Pandavas had to stay exile for thirteen years. Pandavas trusted Duryodhana and agreed to his terms. The Kingdom was under Duryodhana’s control. The terms were agreed only on Trust. But after the said tenure was over Duryodhana refused to stick to his terms. This lead to mistrust and the relationship got rusted which resulted in Mahabharatha.

 

 

Courtesy : Bhagavad-Gita As It Is (by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada ) ,  Srimad Bhagavad-Gita ( by A. Parthasarathy  & www.gitadaily.com ) Chapter 1 : Text 23

4. Listen to Heart - Over Confidence Leads to Lack of Confidence ……..

Hari Bol.....

4. Listen to Heart - Over Confidence Leads to Lack of Confidence ……..

 

 

In my school we had lots of extra-curricular activities. As a student I also enjoyed sports. We had lots of matches & competitions.  The season was of soccer. A friend of mine came very excitedly that a match has been decided with Marigold House. Immediately the group assembled at a place. We knew that Marigold House was better than our Lavender House. They had better players. In fact it is tough for their captain to decide the first 11 players. It means his extra players are also better than our playing 11. We were discussing among ourselves that we should refuse for the match. The message went to House Master who was himself a good soccer player & was Coach for the school team also. We call were called & were asked to take up the challenge. He asked us to finalize the date. It was decided to be played on 27^th July. Today was 3^rd July. He started guiding us. We were working out. The practice started every day with some extra time & the extra tips. We analyzed the opponent strength & weakness and started acting on ourselves to their weakness as our strength. The coach decided the strategy. On the other hand Marigold House was confident that they had a better team which would no doughtily lead them to success. The final date was getting closer & our anxiety was on upward trend. Finally on the great day of 27^th July the field was packed. The house flags were flying. A big crowd gathered including the students from other houses also. The team of Lavender House entered in line after taking the blessing from their Guru but the team members of Marigold entered from different locations. 2 Players of Marigold House were not in football boot. The teams arrayed in the field. The teams were formally introduced to the chief guest. There was a sound “Buck up Marigold” and to that was a reply “Buck up Lavender”. The sound of Buck up Marigold House was full of over confidence and it was not a sound of team togetherness on the other hand the other team cheering was full of confidence as a team. The team decided to follow the coach guidance. Finally the match referee blew the whistle. The kick was taken by Marigold house. The Center Forward (CF) passed the ball to right-in & then to Center Half (CH). He took the ball single handedly & managed to reach near the goal post. The game was going on and the first goal was shot by Lavender House in the 18^th minute of the game. The game became tense. Whistle blew for half time. Our coach told us to continue to cover the key opponent players and play the way we were playing i.e. by passing ball and moving ahead as team. The second half started. The opponent players were getting annoyed & were losing patience due to which they were irritated. They were continuing making the same mistake of not playing by passing ball and moving ahead as team. They were playing individual game with over confidence. Due to anger & fear of losing they were not able to control themselves and continued to make same mistakes. Finally the match was over.

 

 

Both team played well & the match was interesting. Everyone enjoyed watching the match. No one expected the Lavender house to play so well. But the team followed almost all what was told by the coach with strong belief & confidence. I still remember the words of our coach – “Enjoy the Game.  Do your Best (Karma) & play as a Team”. Really hats off to the coach. On the other hand they were over-confident, less disciplined, full of ego (all negative vibrations surrounded them). The Lavender House followed the coach & they believed the Master.

 

 

Duryodhana had many great warriors. Bhishma was with Kauravas. Bhishma was referred as Grandsire. He was respected by both Pandavas & Kauravas. Duryodhna was in fear so he needed the support of Bhishma. Duryodhana due his materialistic mind he chose Krishna’s formidable armed forces. He knew his force was full of strength but lacked strength & conviction to face the Pandavas as Pandavas had chosen non-combatant Krishna on their side. The world is pointless without Krishna not that Krishna is pointless without the world as positive vibration is always with Krishna. Bhishma observed the fear in Duryodhana & to cheer him he blew his Conch with great force. In reply to the conches were blown by Krishna & Pandavas. The sound of conches of Pandavas was deep. It gave a signal of threat to Kauravas. Sanjay warned Dhritrashtra about the steps taken by him & Duryaodhana due to their deep blindness. Due to Dhritrashtra & Duryaodhana over confidence of winning they lacked confident due to which Duryadhana was in fear & his senses & intellect was not acting in positive, due to which they could not recognize that Krishna was with Pandavas. The power of supreme was not considered. They forgot that the Powerful was with Pandavas. Arjuna requested Krishna to place the chariot in the middle to observe them with whom he had to fight.

 

 

 

Courtesy : Bhagavad-Gita As It Is (by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada ) ,  Srimad Bhagavad-Gita ( by A. Parthasarathy  & www.gitadaily.com ) Chapter 1 : Text 12 - 22

3. Listen to Heart - Knowing Myself by Knowing Others…….

3. Listen to Heart - Knowing Myself by Knowing Others…….

 

We all are interested in enquiring about others. I do not want to discuss if it is Right or Wrong. But let us find - Why do we do so? When do we do so? ……..

 

We all do so every now & then. In our friend circle we generally enquire about others. We ask how he is placed in Life. We start comparing me with him. We find result in both directions. Some of my friends are placed much better in life than me & in some cases I find myself better. A person has two way of looking at it. In the second case he is happy which leads to no fear & some of you might say it leads to complacency. But it may also give a new challenge to set his new bar to maintain his headiness. In the first case, one gets disturbed. He starts thinking what he should do to improve. He starts thinking where did he lack and what is required to be done by him cover up & move ahead.

 

Let us take an example of students’ life. In any class you will find having competition among the students. The more of competition pertains for top order position. Each one of those tries to find the weakness of others so that he / she can keep himself / herself ahead. A student may be good in math but may be weak in biology as compared to his competitor.  His strategy would be to score more in math to be ahead. Some might be good in Physics but weak in Math; his strategy would be to score more in Physics to keep ahead. Even the strategy could be allocating more time to the subject in which he is weak. He would practice more to sharpen his knowledge. So a student weighs himself by weighing his classmates and thus plans his further course of action.

 

This reminds of a movie – Border, which I think we all have seen and if not we should find time to watch it. It is movie directed by J.P. Dutta Saheb. We all Indians should watch and thank the entire team for an excellent movie. It was full of entertainment and messages to be learnt and practiced. It is based on war between India and Pakistan. The Indian army had less battalion than Pakistan. Major Kuldeep Singh was leading from Indian side. He demanded for more battalions but the war was declared. In the movie a scene is there that Major starts moving towards Line of Control (LOC) with Confidence. His subordinates ask him to be back but he continues and makes everyone astonished. All were discussing what the Major was trying to do. He then stands and starts challenging the opponent loudly and he returns confidently. By doing this he was just trying to test the confidence of the opponent. Now the war starts and the result was that India won. By this we learn that Major judged the opponent thus judged his army.

 

 

Duryodhna wanted to know about his & Pandavas’ army. Duryodhana ask Drona (his teacher) to tell about his army. He wanted to know his battalion. Drona told him about all his great warriors like Bhishma, Karna, etc . He even enquired about Pandavas’ army. On the other hand Arjuna asked Krishna to take the chariot in the middle of the battlefield. He also wanted to know the strength of his army & see against whom he had to fight. Duryodhna & Arjuna both enquired about his & about the opponent army. They both had great warriors like Yuyudhana, Viraoa, Drupada, Dhanoaketu, Cekitana, Kaciraja, Puruji, Kuntibhoja, Caibya, Uttamuja, Sons of Draupade,Kapa, Acvatthama, Vikarea, sons of Somadatta called Bhuricrava, many more. By this they came to know about their strength and weakness and about the strength & weakness of opposite army thus by knowing them better by knowing the other.

 

 

Courtesy : Bhagavad-Gita As It Is (by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada ) ,  Srimad Bhagavad-Gita ( by A. Parthasarathy  & www.gitadaily.com ) Chapter 1 : Text 4 - 11

2. Listen to Heart - Blind Fear ……………………………

2. Listen to Heart - Blind Fear ……………………………

 

In continuation to my thought about Blindness. Once a person achieves Blindness he is not able to see the difference between the Right & Wrong. This brings the Negative energy around him. His thoughts are Negative. He is surrounded by Negative Vibration. This leads to even Fear. Fear of not “ not Winning “ but Fear “ to Loose “.

 

26^th Nov 2008. Does this remind you of anything? 26/11 – I am sure this cannot be forgotten by anyone specially a True Indian. This was the Black Day for all Indians. There was hue & cry. You could just hear sound of bullet shots & Cry. This was the biggest attack on India. Taj Hotel ( Pride of India ) was on fire. People were shot in the hospital where one gets nursing. Passengers were shot at the CST railway station which turned their journey to be the last which was finally to heaven. Everyone was continuously attached to the TV screens. Teams were sent from Delhi. It was a true Indian team ( Positive Energy ) fighting against the Negative Energy. They were successful in killing all & even caught one of them alive. Finally salute to the entire Soldiers who laid their lives for us and also to those due to whom we are living freely and above all standing ovation to the parents of these soldiers. You must be wondering why am I talking about 26/11. It is just because we should never forget it  in our life time. This will remind us of our strength which will help us to strengthen ourselves further.

 

These terrorists were full of arms & ammunitions. They were fully working as per their plan which was not known to others. But they were scared of the people. They were shooting - hiding & shooting – hiding, shooting – hiding,  …………. On the other hand the commandos were trying to get closer to the terrorists without knowing much about them & their plan. It was because the terrorists were blind by heart i.e. the soul was getting impure due to which they were in fear whereas the heroes were performing their duty ( Karma ) with Pride with no fear & confidence to Win.

 

Negative forces are always in Fear. It is a negative thought but they are not able to realize as they have lost the power of differentiating between the Good & Bad. Generally all the terrorists keep cyanide as they are in fear of being caught.

 

Let us try to understand how Fear was there due Blindness because of Negative vibration in case of Duryodhana. Kauravas’ army was stonger than Pandu. Kauravas army was full of great warriors. Infact Kaurava had Karna for Arjuna. Drona was also with Kaurava who was the teacher of Karna & Arjuna. Kauravas had Duryodhana for Bhima. There were many other great warriors like Bhishma. Kauravas had Eleven Aksauhinis ( Battalions ) as compared to Seven battalions of Pandu. But Duryodhna refers great / mighty army to opposite army i.e. Pandus’ army ( Mahatim ).  It was because of Fear due to Blindness achieved by Duryodhna as he was continuously doing wrong things. He stopped listening to his Heart ( Pure Soul ). Due to this Fear due to Blindness he was not able to listen to his inner conscious.

 

 

Courtesy : Bhagavad-Gita As It Is (by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada ) ,  Srimad Bhagavad-Gita ( by A. Parthasarathy  & www.gitadaily.com ) Chapter 1 : Text 2 & 3

 

1. Listen to Heart - Blindness not a medical disease ……

1. Listen to Heart - Blindness not a medical disease ……

 

He is Blind….. He is Blind…… He is Blind….. This is a very common 3 words sentence. When one hears this he turns towards the blind person to observe his physical activities & so as I do.

 

I was travelling to my village. I boarded the passenger train. There was lot of rush so I had to stand & travel. I could hear vendors selling Pea nuts, Samosa, etc.  I was enjoying the travel as I was getting closer to my birth place. After few station crossed, I happened to manage a seat. I was relaxed.  As usual we ( all co-passengers ) started chatting, happened to meet a young boy from my village. I could not recognize as he was a kid when I used to stay. Now the travel was becoming more interesting as could relate myself with the sweet memories. I was enquiring about all ( Dadajis, Dadijis, Chachajis , Chachijis, Bhaeyas, Bhabhis, & all who ever I could remember ). I heard a voice toffee, toffee,….  I turned myself & could recognize the vendor who had been selling toffee for years in the same train. I was excited. I asked him the price ( Bhaeya  kitne ke toffee hain ) ? He said 5 for Rs 5 ( Panch ke Panch ). I paid him & took 2 packets. He moved on selling. An elderly person called him asked him how more packets he had left with by now. The reply was 12. He paid him for all & said Thank You ( Dhanyawad ) for your service.

 

The young boy asked me if I was interested to taste Peanuts & I replied him in positive. With Penuts & Green Chille combination the journeys was enjoyable one. A group of young students were also enjoying in their group of 6-7. They asked the vendor to serve them peanuts & as expected he was asked to leave without taking money. The poor vendor moved on. By seeing this I was feeling bad but I kept quiet. I thought why should I get into it & invite trouble for myself. We all co-passengers were looking at each other. The eyes were saying something is going wrong but all were like dumb. In the mean time we saw the vendor who was selling the toffee stood up and requested on behalf of peanut vendor for the payment. He was continuously requesting.  Then I observed that another person also joined to pressurize to give the payment and so on others & even myself joined. Finally they paid.

 

I was feeling bad & then realized I am a weak person with having everything the God  has given me. I was weaker than the vendor who was selling toffee. Weaker may not be financially but yes weaker by mind, by heart, by humanity, … & I felt & realized that I was blind by all means mentioned where as the hero who made it happen  was basically blind physically. Still the question comes to my mind that, is blindness a medical decease or a mindset.  This reminds me of general incidences in our country happening day in and day out.

 

I reached my village & met my friends. Ramesh is colleague of mine who just bought a tractor to start his living. He got an order to deliver sugarcane of 5 tons from village to the town. He was happy about it. He placed his vehicle at field. The labours placed it well in the trailer of the tractor. It was placed along the length. It was tied up with a rope made in the field itself. It was weighed & a slip was handed over to the driver. He had bought this tractor on loan so he was happy when the order was confirmed. He started the journey. He was singing different songs on the drive so that the time passes away. He travelled about 40 kms then he stopped for a cup of tea & by 3.00 pm reached the destination. He handed over the slip. The vehicle got emptied. Sugarcanes were weighed. The store incharge asked him “ so 4.5 tons? “ . The driver said “ no it is 5 Tons ” . It was re-weighed but it was found 4.5 tons. The poor fellow was shocked. He said I have brought all which was loaded & have not left the vehicle alone. He was paid for 4.5 tons only.  The money was deducted from the agreed price. He was in pain. The days passed & he got the same order again of sugarcanes. He was careful this time. Fortunately his friend was accompanying him in this trip. He delivered the same quantity & got the full payment. He learnt in the process that people used to try to pull the canes from the trailer. Finally he kept a helper with him to ensure no one pulled on the way. He started enjoying his work and was able to earn well. This went on & on.  This again forces me to think, Is this not Blindness. We take others’ property without asking as if it is our birth right. This happens everywhere & we also do it & if not at least we never say “ Don’t Do “ to others. Having eyes we are doing wrong. , is blindness a medical disease or a mindset?

 

I happen to attend an Orchestra. I don’t remember the organization & the brand. I reached the auditorium. It was full. You could find all age of people ; Old, Middle aged, young & even the kids. It was a family gathering for all. We bought Popcorns, cold drinks, etc. The curtain was removed after the announcement. We were excited. This programme became special for me. I am not a music maniac guy but could observe the coordination of all the section at the stage. We were told at the end that this group has even represented at International level. The most astonishing & touching was that the whole group consisted of people who had lost their seeing ability physically i.e. they were blind by birth. They never let the audience feel that the group was special. , is blindness a medical disease or a mindset?

 

I was reading an article of Bhagavad-Gita. Dhritarashtra was blind. He asked Sanjay to explain him about everything taking place at Kurushetra. He knew that Duryodana was doing wrong with Pandavas to fulfill his needs but still Dhritarashtra was quiet. Was it because he was blind physically? He could have stopped the Mahabhartha but due to his blindness for the lust of material attachment & blindness for his son he could not see anything. He wanted to achieve the unachievable. He could not see the inevitable. He could not realize Krishna on the other hand. So his blindness went deeper into his thoughts & actions. We all know that Krishna spoke to Arjuna at Kurushetra  when Arjuna asked him to move the chariot at the center where Arjuna refused to fight & on the other  hand same was delivered to Dhritarashtra by Sanjay. Then why was Arjuna able to understand & was ready to perform his duty. But Dhritarashtra could not understand & was not able to perform his duty i.e. to stop the war & do justice to both Pandavas & Kauravas. It was basically his blindness had gone to the level of his mind. He realized his mistakes when it was too late. He lost all his hundred sons & his dignity.

We face similar situations in our day to day life. We move towards the same fate due to our blindness caused due to false material attachment, false dignity, false ego,…. A person should always try to practice humanity & the rest will fall in line. The question still remains open; for you to decide -  Is blindness a medical disease or a mindset?

Gita teaches us the way of Life. Dhritarashtra’s blindness is more of symbolic than actual. Infact it is believed that “ What did not happen in Maha ( Bharat ), does not happen in Bharat ( India ) “.

 

Courtesy : Bhagavad-Gita As It Is (by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada ) ,  Srimad Bhagavad-Gita ( by A. Parthasarathy  & www.gitadaily.com ) Chapter 1 : Text 1