NPL - Day 19
Life is not complex. We are complex. Life is simple and the simple thing is the right thing. Sometimes we just need to know where to look for it or how to look for it. Nature is pleased with Simplicity.
A Shepard was once going with the flock of his goats. On the way the Shepard found a piece of glass. He tied it to the goats neck. After about 50 steps, a man stopped him and asked," Can you give me the piece of glass that is tied to your goats neck?". The Shepard asked," How much will you pay?" The man said Rs 1/-.
The Shepard disagreed to give the glass piece. The man then asked it for Rs 5/-, yet the Shepard disagreed and said he would not give for anything less than Rs 50/-. The man still asked for Rs. 25/-. The Shepard disagreed and went away. As he walked further, another man came to him and gave Rs. 5000/- and took the glass piece from him. The first man who had asked for the glass piece came to the shepard's house and asked the same for Rs. 50/- The shepard replied that he has already sold the glass piece for Rs 5000/- to another man. The man said," You have been cheated as the glass piece was real diamond worth Rs one lakh. and you were given only Rs 5000/- for it." The Shepard was smiling and he said," I was not foolish to give the diamond for Rs 5000/- but you were as you knew the value of the diamond but still had asked me for Rs 50/- only!"
So what is the price and value of our life? God wants us to follow his path and principles and become like Him. Today all of us in the society want a high standard of living, but what about the standards of our thinking, feelings and Sharing. Having standards is essential for determining the quality of the life we intend to live in.
1. Standard of Thinking:
People strive to increase their standard of living, but not their standard of thinking. A rich man wears only real diamonds and not imitation. If there is no space in the airport for landing a plane, the plane roams around in the sky until there is space in the airport. If there is no parking area for our car which is worth lakhs, would be park it in a garbage area? We don't. Then why is our thinking so poor? We have wealth, cars, bungalow, good clothes and all the luxurious items in life but our standard of thinking is low. We should have so much strength in us that we do not think or do bad no matter what happens. If someone driving a car splashes dirty water on us, what is our reaction?
Once two friends met after a long time. One of them told the other that he has become healthier and is looking obese from far. As they came nearer, the friend said that he is not become obese but his body is swollen up. Likewise, a person with high standard of living might have a completely different personality. Our house, car, furniture, clothes, food are all of top class. Our standard of thinking should be of top class.
For eg. There was a man going on a cycle and another man was coming in his car from the opposite direction. There was no way to go. The man in the car got angry and said," Can't you give side to me? I do not give side to scoundrels." The man on the cycle replied that he gives side to scoundrels and gave way to the man in the car. This shows our level of thinking.
If we go to God's temple and wish to put Rs 100/- in the donation box, and an old note and a new fresh note comes in your hand, which note would you feel like putting in the box? The new one or the old one? What is our mentality behind putting the old note in the box and keeping the new one?
In life, we have thought enough about what others have said or done to us, now it is time to think about ourselves and improve our standard of thinking.
2. Standard of Feelings:
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. What are our feelings when we see a poor man? What were our feelings when thousands of people died in the Tsunami and the Kutch(in Gujarat) earthquake? A 26 year old boy was dead and his family members were crying, and some people were eating tobacco. Someone's dead body is being cremated, and some people are playing with the mobile. Where are our feelings? Our feelings are gone. There is no sorrow in our hearts for any of them. Just by wearing good clothes, we consider ourselves to be Gentlemen.
In the Gujarat earthquake many people died. Someone's mother, someone's wife, someone's son were all dead. Some of their relatives from Mumbai went to Acharyaji to ask for the Chandan powder (वासषेप ) to sprinkle on the people who were stuck in the earth quake. They said their family members are dead but they don't want any sympathy . They want to immediately reach the place of earthquake to at least save other lives even if they lose their lives as there is no one behind them! Are our standard of feelings so high? We have so many cars, bungalows and all the luxuries in life but our feelings are NIL.
3. Standard of Sharing:
Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Likewise, Happiness never decreases by Sharing and there is no delight in owning anything unshared. So what is the mentality in the field of sharing? Are we rich in this area? If there are extra chapati's left in the night after everyone's dinner, do we feel like giving those chapati's to the needy person or we roast them and make khakra's? If there is extra milk, do we feel like making curd with it or feel like giving it to some dog or cat? If there are old clothes in the house, do we give them to buy new vessels or give them to the needy?
Once Acharyaji asked everyone to collect all the old clothes from people so that they could donate it among the needy. One boy came to Acharyaji and gave his bag and told to specially take care of it. Acharyaji asked what was special in his bag? The boy replied," I don't want any privilege but I thought why not donate new clothes instead of old cothes." When the bag was opened, there were such good shirts and pants and each pant had Rs 500/- in it pocket. When Acharyaji had asked him why he had kept Rs 500/- in all the pockets he replied that the needy person who wears these good clothes should also have money in his pocket. This is called standard of sharing!
Advanced technology had ended all the goodness in us. We say we cannot live without our mobiles, but have we wondered what had happened after mobiles have come into our lives? There is no relations, no time, no health, no understanding, no shame and no virtues.
What would we like to be? God wants to be rich in the area of thinking, feelings and sharing rather than think of having a good standard of living. What we do when everyone is watching us defines our personality and what we do when no one is watching us defines our character.Circumstances do not make a man, they reveal him. Do we want to improve our personality or character? If standard of living is our major objective, quality of life almost never improves, but if quality of life is our number one objective, our standard of living almost always improves! This is the strength in simplicity!
Life is not complex. We are complex. Life is simple and the simple thing is the right thing. Sometimes we just need to know where to look for it or how to look for it. Nature is pleased with Simplicity.
The Shepard disagreed to give the glass piece. The man then asked it for Rs 5/-, yet the Shepard disagreed and said he would not give for anything less than Rs 50/-. The man still asked for Rs. 25/-. The Shepard disagreed and went away. As he walked further, another man came to him and gave Rs. 5000/- and took the glass piece from him. The first man who had asked for the glass piece came to the shepard's house and asked the same for Rs. 50/- The shepard replied that he has already sold the glass piece for Rs 5000/- to another man. The man said," You have been cheated as the glass piece was real diamond worth Rs one lakh. and you were given only Rs 5000/- for it." The Shepard was smiling and he said," I was not foolish to give the diamond for Rs 5000/- but you were as you knew the value of the diamond but still had asked me for Rs 50/- only!"
So what is the price and value of our life? God wants us to follow his path and principles and become like Him. Today all of us in the society want a high standard of living, but what about the standards of our thinking, feelings and Sharing. Having standards is essential for determining the quality of the life we intend to live in.
1. Standard of Thinking:
People strive to increase their standard of living, but not their standard of thinking. A rich man wears only real diamonds and not imitation. If there is no space in the airport for landing a plane, the plane roams around in the sky until there is space in the airport. If there is no parking area for our car which is worth lakhs, would be park it in a garbage area? We don't. Then why is our thinking so poor? We have wealth, cars, bungalow, good clothes and all the luxurious items in life but our standard of thinking is low. We should have so much strength in us that we do not think or do bad no matter what happens. If someone driving a car splashes dirty water on us, what is our reaction?
Once two friends met after a long time. One of them told the other that he has become healthier and is looking obese from far. As they came nearer, the friend said that he is not become obese but his body is swollen up. Likewise, a person with high standard of living might have a completely different personality. Our house, car, furniture, clothes, food are all of top class. Our standard of thinking should be of top class.
For eg. There was a man going on a cycle and another man was coming in his car from the opposite direction. There was no way to go. The man in the car got angry and said," Can't you give side to me? I do not give side to scoundrels." The man on the cycle replied that he gives side to scoundrels and gave way to the man in the car. This shows our level of thinking.
If we go to God's temple and wish to put Rs 100/- in the donation box, and an old note and a new fresh note comes in your hand, which note would you feel like putting in the box? The new one or the old one? What is our mentality behind putting the old note in the box and keeping the new one?
In life, we have thought enough about what others have said or done to us, now it is time to think about ourselves and improve our standard of thinking.
2. Standard of Feelings:
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. What are our feelings when we see a poor man? What were our feelings when thousands of people died in the Tsunami and the Kutch(in Gujarat) earthquake? A 26 year old boy was dead and his family members were crying, and some people were eating tobacco. Someone's dead body is being cremated, and some people are playing with the mobile. Where are our feelings? Our feelings are gone. There is no sorrow in our hearts for any of them. Just by wearing good clothes, we consider ourselves to be Gentlemen.
In the Gujarat earthquake many people died. Someone's mother, someone's wife, someone's son were all dead. Some of their relatives from Mumbai went to Acharyaji to ask for the Chandan powder (वासषेप ) to sprinkle on the people who were stuck in the earth quake. They said their family members are dead but they don't want any sympathy . They want to immediately reach the place of earthquake to at least save other lives even if they lose their lives as there is no one behind them! Are our standard of feelings so high? We have so many cars, bungalows and all the luxuries in life but our feelings are NIL.
3. Standard of Sharing:
Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Likewise, Happiness never decreases by Sharing and there is no delight in owning anything unshared. So what is the mentality in the field of sharing? Are we rich in this area? If there are extra chapati's left in the night after everyone's dinner, do we feel like giving those chapati's to the needy person or we roast them and make khakra's? If there is extra milk, do we feel like making curd with it or feel like giving it to some dog or cat? If there are old clothes in the house, do we give them to buy new vessels or give them to the needy?
Once Acharyaji asked everyone to collect all the old clothes from people so that they could donate it among the needy. One boy came to Acharyaji and gave his bag and told to specially take care of it. Acharyaji asked what was special in his bag? The boy replied," I don't want any privilege but I thought why not donate new clothes instead of old cothes." When the bag was opened, there were such good shirts and pants and each pant had Rs 500/- in it pocket. When Acharyaji had asked him why he had kept Rs 500/- in all the pockets he replied that the needy person who wears these good clothes should also have money in his pocket. This is called standard of sharing!
Advanced technology had ended all the goodness in us. We say we cannot live without our mobiles, but have we wondered what had happened after mobiles have come into our lives? There is no relations, no time, no health, no understanding, no shame and no virtues.
What would we like to be? God wants to be rich in the area of thinking, feelings and sharing rather than think of having a good standard of living. What we do when everyone is watching us defines our personality and what we do when no one is watching us defines our character.Circumstances do not make a man, they reveal him. Do we want to improve our personality or character? If standard of living is our major objective, quality of life almost never improves, but if quality of life is our number one objective, our standard of living almost always improves! This is the strength in simplicity!
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