Saturday 15 November 2014

Listen to Heart: 39. Listen to Heart – Un-Due Advantage is Not Adva...

Listen to Heart: 39. Listen to Heart – Un-Due Advantage is Not Adva...: Hari Bol... 39. Listen to Heart – Un-Due Advantage is Not Advantage….. Advantage and Un-due advantage is a very commonly used word...

39. Listen to Heart – Un-Due Advantage is Not Advantage…..

Hari Bol...


39. Listen to Heart – Un-Due Advantage is Not Advantage…..

Advantage and Un-due advantage is a very commonly used word by all of us. Advantage is a state or opportunity or circumstances especially favorable to success, interest, or any desired end. It is used as similar to benefit, gain and profit. When a person has benefited more than his counterpart in a business deal he says that he had an opportunity to take advantage so as he did and thus gained more profit. One is in advantageous position if he is superior to the other. The superiority could be due his experience, his position, his wealth, his health, his knowledge, and many more. Advantage, benefit, profit all mean something that is of use or value. Advantage is anything that places one in an improved position, especially in coping with competition or difficulties. It is to one's advantage to have traveled widely. Benefit is anything that promotes the welfare or improves the state of a person or group, a benefit to society. Profit is any valuable, useful, or helpful gain, profit from trade or experience. Avantage (later altered to advantage on the model of words beginning with Latin ad-), from Old French avant before, from Latin abante from before… Undue advantage is exceeding, what is appropriate or normal. The situation could be unwarranted for. It is not taking a proper or inappropriate benefit of the circumstances. It could be due to influence and not capability. It is lacking of justification or authorization. It could be due to desire for undue profit and benefit. It may lead to unwarranted limitations of freedom. It represents beyond normal limits. Generally advantage is in positive sense whereas undue advantage is in negative sense as it may hurt someone physically or emotionally. When one wants to run away from the facts he focuses on taking undue advantage of the situation. Taking advantage is a positive thought from within which leads to positive action i.e. action with ethical intension but taking undue advantage is vice versa.

·        People take advantage of people, but Heaven does not. - Anonymous
·        Although the left hand may conquer the right, no advantage is gained - Anonymous
·        The advantage of love at first sight is that it delays a second sight - Natalie Clifford Barney

I was going through an article which I would like to share with all because we all are part of it, even in today’s world of different thinking and it is up to all of us individually to take a call and decide is it advantage or undue advantage….
A heart touching message by a woman...
"Someone asked her......., “Are you a working woman or a house-wife? She replied: Yes I am a full time working house-wife. I work 24 hours a day.....

I'm a "mum",
I'm a wife,...
I'm a daughter,
I'm a daughter-in-law.....
I'm an Alarm clock,
I'm a Cook,
I'm a Maid,
I'm a Teacher,
I'm a waiter,
I'm a nanny,
I'm a nurse,
I'm a handyman,
I'm a Security officer,
I'm a Counsellor,
I'm a comforter,
I don't get holidays,
I don't get sick leave,
I don't get day off......
I work through day and night.....
I'm on call......
all hours and get paid with a sentence..... "What do you do all day?"


·        Woman has the most unique character like salt - her presence is never remembered but her absence makes all the things tasteless!!

In today’s world, people are taking spirituality as their business. There are cases which we see on TV screens everyday about frauds who declare themselves as Gurus and they are the people who serve God directly. By giving false examples they attract simple people and cheat them and they even go for dirty practices. These gurus (fraud), so as they call themselves take undue advantage of simple people who believes in God and who hast faith in God and trust God for everything in life. So called gurus take undue advantage of spirituality with people and give a bad name to spirituality. Let us all stand together to get free from these entire fraud spiritual guru. I am not capable of saying how to know, who the real spiritual guru is. I would like to share an article which may help us.

I would like to share a story for your judgment. One Saint asks everyone who comes to pay obeisance to him their name and age. Once that is told he says, “Both the answers are wrong. The name and age belong to the body. You are the soul. It has neither a name nor age”. Then he speaks on Spirituality and asks, “Are you doing spiritual practice?” If someone happens to reply in the affirmative, he asks “What spiritual practice?” If one replies, “The one recommended by my Guru”, he says “You were not able to answer simple questions about your name and age. Then what has your Guru taught you? Only a real Guru can reply to these questions. Come to me. I will tell you.” One should tell such fake Gurus, “Actually your questions were meaningless! You asked me my name and age only because of your awareness of the body (dehabuddhi), so I too replied with awareness of the body”. What kind of Guru is he who is unable to make out at the first glance whether one has a Guru, or if one’s spiritual practice is going on appropriately or not?

The word ‘Guru’ is derived from the Sanskrit language and has a deep spiritual meaning. Its two syllables Gu and Ru stand for; ‘Gu’ denotes the spiritual ignorance that most of humankind is in. ‘Ru’ represents the radiance of spiritual knowledge that dispels the spiritual ignorance. In short, the Guru is the One who dispels the darkness of spiritual ignorance in humanity and bestows upon them spiritual experiences and spiritual knowledge.
There are many psychological benefits for a student to have a spiritual guide in the human form where he can take advantage of his preaching’s and guidance.
·        Unlike God and deities who do not display their existence and potential, the Guru displays His form through the human Guru. This way the student of Spirituality has a tangible guide to take care of him on his spiritual journey.
·        The Guru in human form is omniscient just as the un-manifest Guru and is able to perceive everything about his disciple. He knows through His access to the Universal Mind and Intellect whether the student is sincere or not and where he is making mistakes. As a result, the student being aware of this ability of the Guru, often refrains from doing bad deeds.
·        The Guru does not allow the disciple to develop an inferiority complex from the fact that he is lesser than the Guru. He eradicates the inferiority complex in the deserving disciple and grants him the all-pervading nature of the Guru.
·        A Guru is beyond organized religion and He looks upon all of humankind as the same. He does not discriminate on the basis of culture, nationality or gender. He only seeks the student who intensely desires spiritual growth.
·        A Guru will never ask one to convert from his religion. He will lift the student to comprehend universal spiritual principles that underlie all religions.
·        Whichever spiritual path or religion one follows, they all finally lead to the path of grace of the Guru.

We really, to find a real Guru; who does not take undue advantage of our poor knowledge and blind belief. Salvation follows a difficult process of self-transformation. It demands many personal sacrifices on the part of aspiration, both physically and mentally to undergo a vigorous self-cleansing process without any guarantees and promise of solace. It is a journey through a course of unknown risks and destabilizing forces, in which the path appears and disappears as you move forward, filled with distraction and demons of deception, which is why we must need a Guru. Only a Guru can show us the way through this densely population of delusion and protect us from harm by taking responsibility for our lives and actions. He neutralizes our karma and saves us from evil. A fake guru does just the opposite. He throws us to the demons of doubts and despairs and leaves us to our fate. With his ignorance and incompetence, he compounds our problems and leads us into the darkness of ignorance and incompetence. According to Hindu beliefs, a Guru comes to us by the grace of the God, according to our preparation, readiness, aspiration, karma and faith. Just as the aspirant are eager to find their gurus, the gurus are also eager to find their follower. Their coming together is said to be an event of great significance for both of them and also the world in general, as it happened in case of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, because their association has the potential to elevate the entire earth consciousness by suffusing it with powerful positive vibration and the promise of great progress.

I would like to share a story of a cup of coffee, which you all must be aware and heard of it. This story tells us in a simple way that we choose to take undue advantage of life and then suffer with the pain. Let the life be simple, do not make it complex. This is how we make our life complex which is simple because we do not ‘Listen to Heart’ and we want to take undue advantage in life whereas undue advantage is not advantage….

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain-looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to hot coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice-looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain
and cheap ones. It is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves. That is the source of your problems and stresses in life. "What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other's cups."  

Now if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold Life, but they don't change the quality of Life. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it. "So, don't let the cups drive you. Enjoy the coffee instead!"

Arjuna was taking undue advantage of the situation by sayings, that how can he fight with his guru, brothers, uncles, relatives before he surrendered to Krishna. He forgot that he was a khashtriya as his duty was to fight. This battle was a battle of righteous and righteous. He was not supposed to grieve and he should not have mourn for those who are not worthy of grief. Arjuna was taking a wrong approach to life by taking undue advantage of relatives and friends by treating opponents not as opponents but as relatives and friends. So Arjuna surrendered himself to Krishna for his guidance as he was confused and dejected.


All Glories to Lord Krishna & All His Loving Devotees….. Hari Bol……
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 2 : Text 11 , www.google.com, Wikipedia. www.krishna.com, www.krishna.org, en.wikipedia.or, womensera, www.spiritualresearchfoundation.org, www.hinduwebsite.com

Saturday 8 November 2014

Listen to Heart: 38. Listen to Heart – Wisdom is Deemed As One of t...

Listen to Heart: 38. Listen to Heart – Wisdom is Deemed As One of t...: Hari Bol... 38. Listen to Heart – Wisdom is Deemed As One of the Greatest Gifts Humankind Can Enjoy…. Wisdom is the judicious applica...

38. Listen to Heart – Wisdom is Deemed As One of the Greatest Gifts Humankind Can Enjoy….

Hari Bol...

38. Listen to Heart – Wisdom is Deemed As One of the Greatest Gifts Humankind Can Enjoy….

Wisdom is the judicious application of knowledge. Wisdom is prudence, sagacity, discernment, or insight. Wisdom is very respectable by itself. It is an ability to think. When we say think it automatically means an ability to think positive. The thought is generated due to knowledge of a person, due to his experience in life, due to his understanding of various things and life, due to his common sense and due to his insight thoughts and belief. It is a habit or disposition to perform the action with the highest degree of adequacy under any given circumstance. It is an understanding of people, things, events, situations, and the willingness as well as the ability to apply perception, judgment, and action in keeping with the understanding of what is the optimal course of action. It often requires control of one's emotional reactions. Wisdom is a disposition to find the associated truth with an optimum judgment as to what actions should be taken in order to deliver the right, optimum and correct outcome.


In many cultures the name for third molars, which are the last teeth to grow, is etymologically linked with wisdom, e.g., as in the English wisdom tooth. In 2009, a study reviewed which brain processes might be related to wisdom. Wisdom is the coordination of "knowledge and experience" and "its deliberate use to improve well-being." The word ‘sapience’ is derived from the Latin sapientia, meaning "wisdom". Related to this word is the Latin verb sapere, meaning "to taste, to be wise, to know". Every religion talks of wisdom.


Buddhism scriptures teach that a wise person is endowed with good bodily conduct, good verbal conduct, and good mental conduct. A wise person does actions that are unpleasant to do but give good results, and doesn’t do actions that are pleasant to do but give bad results. Wisdom is the antidote to the self-chosen poison of ignorance. The Buddha has much to say on the subject of wisdom including:

·        He who arbitrates a case by force does not thereby become just (established in Dhamma). But the wise man is he who carefully discriminates between right and wrong.
·        He who leads others by nonviolence, righteously and equitably, is indeed a guardian of justice, wise and righteous.
·        One is not wise merely because he talks much. But he, who is calm, free from hatred and fear, is verily called a wise man.
·        By quietude alone one does not become a sage (muni) if he is foolish and ignorant. But he, who, as if holding a pair of scales, takes the good and shuns the evil, is a wise man; he is indeed a muni by that very reason. He who understands both good and evil as they really are is called a true sage.


To recover the original supreme wisdom of self-nature covered by the self-imposed greed, anger and ignorance; Buddha taught to his students the threefold training by turning greed into generosity and discipline, anger into kindness and meditation, ignorance into wisdom. As the Sixth Patriarch of Chán Buddhism, Huineng, said in his Platform Sutra,” Mind without dispute is self-nature discipline, mind without disturbance is self-nature meditation, and mind without ignorance is self-nature wisdom."

 

In Hinduism Wisdom is considered a state of mind and soul where a person achieves liberation. The God of intellect (wisdom) is Ganesha and the goddess of knowledge is Saraswati. The Sanskrit verse to attain knowledge is (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.28);

Sanskrit
English ( Meaning )
Om Asato maa sad-gamaya;
tamaso maa jyotir-ga-maya;
mrtyor-maa amrutam gamaya.
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih.

"O Lord Lead me from the unreal to the real.
Lead me from darkness to light.
Lead me from death to immortality.
May there be peace, peace, and perfect peace".




Wisdom in Hinduism is ‘knowing oneself as the truth, basis for the entire Creation, i.e., of Shristi’. Wisdom simply means a person with Self-awareness as the one who witnesses the entire creation in all its facets and forms. Further it means realization that an individual through right conduct and right living over an unspecified period comes to realize their true relationship with the creation and the Paramatma who rules it.


In Islam, Wisdom is deemed as one of the greatest gifts humankind can enjoy. The Quran states: "He gives wisdom to whom; He wills, and whoever has been given wisdom has certainly been given much good. And none will remember except those of understanding." - Qur'an


We agree that Wisdom is a state of mind and soul. Wisdom is self - awareness. We will have to control ourselves. No external person can change our wisdom. We need to be positive in our thoughts and actions. We need to Change ourselves rather than expecting others to change. So I will not be wrong if I again say, “Change Yourself Rather Changing Others….” We are the reflection of ourselves and of our inner thoughts. We are ourselves responsible for everything in our life. We can personally change the situation. Every relation is a mirror. Whatever judgments we have about others are reflected inside us. Do not ever feel bad for making a decision about your own life that upsets others. We are not responsible for others happiness. We are responsible for our own happiness. Anyone who wants to live in misery for their happiness should not be in our life to begin with.


We should perform our duty honestly. We should focus on the process and not the results. As human beings we compete with others rather than competing ourselves. Competition is a consequence of fear, which fuels resistance, blame, rejection, control, and the need to prove it. If you feel any of these ways, you’ve given up your seniority to the very things you’re resisting, blaming, controlling and proving – making it more difficult to feel good about yourself and derive happiness from your creations. Limitation erodes enthusiasm and feelings of lacking prevent fulfillment; whereas gratitude generates an empowered vibration attracting more of what we want into our life. Find it and go for it. Desire of being perfect promotes apathy, be the beginner and enjoy the journey of life. Life is not a test, so there is no winning and losing. Life is a process, an evolution, a journey that started lifetimes ago and will continue beyond this one. There is nothing as a mistake or losing as every single person, event, and experience is an opportunity for us to get closer to understanding ‘who I am’, which the reason you have taken a human form is! Live in present, as joy, only exists in the present moment. If you are anxious or fearful, you are in the future. If you are resentful or sad, you are stuck in the past. Past is for understanding, future is for following but present is for living and performing. The idea that we can change anyone and everyone is an illusion. However changing yourself is immensely powerful. In doing this, you are a rock in the pond. Your vibration impacts those closest to you and those in the far corners of the earth. Every time you shift your vibration into one of greater permission and affinity for yourself, you are creating a ripple effect.  

·        We live in a time where we are drowning in information yet dying of thirst for wisdom. Be the solution. - Eiji Morishita
·        As I adjust to my new insights and feelings I am seeing the opportunities I desire coming my way. - Anonymous



In the chapter 2 verse 11, Krishan speaks these words to Arjuna, “You have been grieving for those that should not be grieved for and you speak words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.”


The process of departing soul is endless. The wise people understand this truth and accept it as inevitable process. The birth and death process are accepted by the wise, as part and parcel of life. The birth should not excite and the death should not deject. A person who gets excited and dejected lacks wisdom so as Arjuna and we all behave in the similar manner in this materialistic and misery world. The Kauravas lead an unethical life. They wanted the kingdom not with honesty but in a foul manner and with foul means. The emotion of Arjuna was due to his egocentric attachment. This battle was not between two families but between righteous and unrighteous, honesty and dishonesty, humanity and inhumanity, truth and untruth, etc.


Wisdom is State of Mind and Soul which we as human beings needs to control. It can be achieved only if our mind is not perverted and our soul is pure. It can only happen when we all listen to Heart. I wish to the All Mighty that may one and all be blessed with a vision of good health, happiness, and wisdom as wisdom is deemed as one of the greatest gifts humankind can enjoy….

All Glories to Lord Krishna & All His Loving Devotees….. Hari Bol……
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 2 : Text 11 , www.google.com, Wikipedia. www.krishna.com, www.krishna.org, en.wikipedia.org

Saturday 1 November 2014

Listen to Heart: 37. Listen to Heart – Laminate Lamentation….

Listen to Heart: 37. Listen to Heart – Laminate Lamentation….: Hari Bol.... 37. Listen to Heart – Laminate Lamentation…. Lamentation is the passionate expression of grief or sorrow. Lamentation...

37. Listen to Heart – Laminate Lamentation….

Hari Bol....

37. Listen to Heart – Laminate Lamentation….


Lamentation is the passionate expression of grief or sorrow. Lamentation leads to weeping. It is expression during sadness. It leads to cry of sorrow and grief. When one regrets for something deeply it is lamentation. It is a typical and specific behavior. This is a very typical behavior during mourning. It is an often vocal expression of grief or mourning. Lamentation usually occurs when someone dies or a tragedy occurs. At the funeral, you could hardly hear the speaker above the wails of lamentation. Lamentation is when grief pours out. If you lose a nice pencil that's no cause for lamentation, but if you lose all your money in a stock market crash that might be. If someone tells you you'll be late to your own funeral, you can always say: “At least I'll get to be part of the lamentation!” It is from the Latin word ‘Lamenta’, meaning “weeping” or “wailing,” lamentation means more than just shedding a few tears. It is recorded since 1375, from Latin lamentatio (“wailing, moaning, weeping”), from the deponent verb lāmentor, from lāmentum (“wail; wailing”), itself from a Proto-Indo-European *la- (“to shout, cry”), presumed ultimately imitative. It replaced old English ‘cwiþan’. Lament is a 16th-century back-formation.

Above Picture: Beweinung Christi (Lamentation of Christ, 1509) by German painter Bernhard Strigel. The lamentation of Christ is a common subject in Christian art, and shows Jesus being mourned by his family and friends after his crucifixion and descent from the Cross.

I was going through an article about Book of Lamentation which I going through. Most modern day biblical scholars assert that the Book of Lamentations was written by one or more authors in Judah, shortly after the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BC; and was penned as a response to Babylonian Exile, the intense suffering of the people of Judah, and the complete and utter destruction of Jerusalem. Werner E. Lemke and Kathleen O’Connor point out “Lamentations is probably the work of a survivor (or survivors) of the nation’s destruction who poured out sorrow, anger and dismay after the city’s traumatic defeat and occupation by the Babylonians." The theological views that led to its author(s) writing the Book of Lamentations emanated from the cultural and religious attitudes of the people of Judah in the 6th and 7th centuries BC and was probably also influenced by non-biblical sources which originated from the cultural and religious attitudes of Judah's neighbors of differing religions.

The book consists of five separate poems. In chapter 1 the prophet dwells on the manifold miseries oppressed by which the city sits as a solitary widow weeping sorely. In chapter 2 these miseries are described in connection with national sins and acts of God. Chapter 3 speaks of hope for the people of God. The chastisement would only be for their good; a better day would dawn for them. Chapter 4 laments the ruin and desolation that had come upon the city and temple, but traces it only to the people's sins. Chapter 5 is a prayer that Zion's reproach may be taken away in the repentance and recovery of the people.

The Book of Lamentations reflects the theological and biblical view that what happened to Jerusalem was a deserved punishment; and its destruction was instigated by their God for the communal sins of the people. This theological viewpoint was also widespread among Judah’s neighbors of differing religions who believed the destruction of a particular city could be attributed to the city’s deity who was punishing the city for some communal sin or wrongdoing. The destruction of cities by foreign invaders, and its resulting catastrophic suffering, unfortunately, was very common in the ancient Near East and, therefore, we can observe examples of the lament form/genre concerning destroyed cities and temples from extra-biblical sources, particularly from early Sumerian Literature dating to the late third and early second millennia BC. For example, from Sumerian Literature we can see the same Genre that we see in the Book of Lamentations of the Funeral Dirge and Lament reflected in the Sumerian Lament: Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur which depicts the destruction of the cities of Sumer and Ur. Yet, as Lemke and O’Connor point out, The Book of Lamentations, while adapting several traditional literary, historical, and cultural Near Eastern elements, is a unique literary composition, scripted to a specific historical situation, in response to a historical catastrophe, addressing the survivors of this catastrophe in a distinctive religious context.

Above Picture: Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem" by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn.

Readings, chanting, and choral settings, of the book of Lamentations, are used in the Christian religious service known as the Tenebrae (Latin for darkness). In the Church of England, readings from Lamentations are used at Morning and Evening Prayer on the Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week, and at Evening Prayer on Good Friday. The Book of Lamentations is recited annually on the Tisha b'Av, the anniversary of the destruction of both of the Jewish Temples as well as numerous other unfavorable days in Jewish history. At the "Wailing Wall" in the Old City of Jerusalem, "the Jews assemble every Friday afternoon to bewail the downfall of the holy city, kissing the stone wall and watering it with their tears. They repeat from their well-worn Hebrew Bibles and prayer-books the Lamentations of Jeremiah and suitable Psalms." In the Coptic Orthodox Church chapter three is chanted on the twelfth hour of the Good Friday service that commemorates the burial of Jesus.

The Lord Krishna who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead said, “While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor for the dead.”

As Arjuna did not happen to be a very learned man, he was consequently lamenting for something which was unworthy of lamentation. A person who knows this is actually learned, and for him there is no cause for lamentation, regardless of the condition of the material body. The body is born and is destined to be vanquished today or tomorrow; therefore the body is not as important as the soul. One who knows this is actually learned, and for him there is no cause for lamentation, regardless of the condition of the material body.
Krishna says in Gita that give up lamentation. The nature of the world is such that events will sooner or later impel us to lament, but the Gita’s message takes our vision beyond this world of materialistic world to the Supreme, whose enduring love gives us the confidence to tolerate and transcend the unenduring storms of the world.

All Glories to Lord Krishna & All His Loving Devotees….. Hari Bol……
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 2 : Text 11 , www.google.com, Wikipedia. www.krishna.com, www.krishna.org, www.thefreedictionary.com, www.yourdictonary.com, en.wikipedia.org, www.answers.com, The Book of Lamentations