Wealth of Wisdom - Day 5

                                                       Week 2 - Day 5

There were two son's of a man who stayed in the same family. One son has such a good life that we cannot express in words and the other had such a worst life. There was such a big difference between both the brothers who stayed in the same family. A journalist too the interview of the brother who had a very bad life and asked, "Why is your life so bad?" . The son replied,"I am experiencing what my father has experienced in his life. I drink, smoke, get angry, beat my wife". The journalist then asked the other brother the secret to his good life. He replied," It was due to his father". The journalist was shocked that one brother blamed his father for his bad life and the other gave credit to his father for his good life. The brother who had a good life said that his father used to drink, beat his mother, consumed tobacco and lost all money in business. He had kept his father's life in front of his eyes and the results of what his father had done and made his life better. He did not take the path his father had taken and hence had a good life.

Today we are going to discuss the Community of Life and the following points are worth thinking about and community of life means:

1. SPACE:
In which phase of life do we want to be?
 a. Progress Phase(विकास)
 b. Rest Phase(विश्राम) or
 c. Destruction Phase(विनाश)

In this worldly life, there are many things we need to do. We have to do business to progress in life and that is Progress phase. In spiritual life, when we go the temple and saints, we are in the Rest phase. When anything disturbs us in our life we are in the destruction phase. Which is more attractive to us?

In which of these phases do we like to be longer - Progress phase, Rest phase or Destruction phase? Which one do we pray for? Which one gives us more happiness? Do we like to sit and watch TV, play games, go to disco, hotels, clubs etc. These are all the destruction phase. Do we like to sit with friends who talk wrong or with Saints who talk good and pure? When do we feel light? Where do we want to go? Community of life is what decision do we want to take for our life? Which path do we want to choose for ourselves? Where are we? A saint's life is pure because of the Rest Phase. There is nothing to hear, do or see wrong.
We are actually more towards destruction phase as we feel that gives us happiness. A smoker knows that smoking can affect his health but he still smokes as he feels good for time being. A person who drinks wine also knows it is bad for health but still drinks. This is all self destruction. Can we give time to temple as much as time we give for TV?  Let us observe ourselves and choose the right for ourselves.

2. LITERATURE:

"We know too much, and are convinced of too little. Our literature is a substitute for religion, and so is our religion"

What is our mentality in the field of literature. What is the standard of the newspapers, magazines, books that are lying on our table? What is the first impression of the guests who visit our house - do they think that we have such good morals and culture?

The day Bhagat Singh was about to be hanged to death, he was reading a book. The jailor asked what he was reading and that it was time for his death. Bhagat Singh replied that," Sir, I am reading a book on our country and only two pages are left. Let me finish this and then I am ready to die".
So what kind of Literature do our family members read? We just have mobiles and TV.  We read all kinds of books but don't read literature on purity! The biggest strength of a Saint's life is Literature. We are never interested to read these kind of books. Today, magazines with vulgar supplementary are a part of our literature.

A lady once decided to commit suicide as her husband was in some trouble and everything had ended. She wrote a suicide note. She went to her friend's house to give the note so that her friend and give it to her husband after her death. Her friend was having a bath and it was taking some time. In the mean while the lady found the book,"Muskaan Bhari Mrutyu" by Acharayaji. After reading few pages of the book, she dropped her suicide plan and decided that she will face any difficult situation but will not commit suicide. Her friend then came and asked her the reason she had come. The lady replied that she had just come to meet her and left. A good book saved a life!

"The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation"

3. PERSON:

What type of person do we like to sit with? What is our company like? What type of friends do we have and like to have? Do we like a person who speaks about donation or about making money? What is our inner attraction towards? Would a beggar like to be friends with a beggar or a rich man?
We should never be friends with people who break our relations and our family, who give us wrong ideas and thoughts. We have to leave anything that disturbs our peace, purity and happiness.

"You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him"


4. THOUGHTS:

What type of thoughts give us happiness? We are independent to choose our thoughts and what we think. There are no restrictions in what we would like to think.The one who resides near a gutter can never get the fragrance of a rose! Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.

"We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves"


Let's be alert and change our lives!

Wealth of Wisdom - Day 4

                                                             Week 2 - Day 4

Once the President went to the jail and called four different prisoners and asked them if they had any issues. Prisoner number 1 said, "We don't get Bajra Roti in our lunch and I expect that". Prisoner number 2 said, "There are too many mosquitoes in the jail and I definitely want a mosquito net for protection". Prisoner number 3 said, "I have heard that I will be transferred from barrack number three to barrack number four. I want to be in barrack number three only as I am more used to this". Prisoner number 4 said, " Before coming to the jail I had my own goodwill in the society and I was in a big post. I might have come to the jail for whatever reason, but I am not being treated as per my post and my goodwill. I want to be treated right".
The first prisoner only had an expectation of what he required, second prisoner was insistent about what he wanted, third prisoner had an attachment towards the barrack and the fourth prisoner had ego problem.

There are four things:
1. Expectation(अपेक्षा)
2. Insistent(आग्रह)
3. Attachment(आसक्ति)
4. Ego(अहंकार)

If we notice that there is no peace in our life and there is a lot of struggle, then the reason for it would be one of the above.
Today we are going to discuss Communication of Life.

Communication

First let us understand the meaning of communication.
If ash falls in milk, there is struggle. If water falls in oil, there is connection, if sugar falls in milk, relationship is born.

So there are three things to keep in mind:
 Struggle(संघर्ष)
 Connection(संपर्क)
 Relations(संभंध)
In business, how are our relations with everyone - with our customers, with our employee's, and with our parents and society. What is our relation like? Is it a relation with struggle, connection or good relation?

We have to focus on four things:

1. Social Life: What is our social life? What is our connection with the society? What is our biggest contribution of society towards us? It is that, society has kept us in limit and reminded about our principles. Society has taught us civility. What is our tuning with the society? As our wealth increases, our communication with the society starts ending.

Social Life

A man came to meet Gurudev. He said he had killed 17 people. He said that there was a society of criminals where he stayed. They had a rule that if they killed any man, they would meet his wife the same day and promise that they would give her monthly Rs 3000/- until she got married again. It was their responsibility to take care of these women. Their rule was that they would not touch any woman. Society has taught us what kind of food to eat, what to drink and what type of clothes to wear. The parents who are insistent that their kids follow the morals and culture are sad today as this generation is not ready to listen to their parents. Today's generation want to go their own way. So what is our social life like?

2. Family Life: Is there any communication left with our family - with parents, husband, wife, daughter-in-law, son etc? We simply say that there is a generation gap. Generation gap will always be there between a father and his son. They cannot be of the same age for sure. There is no communication at all! What is our family life like? A son feels good to sit and talk to his friend rather than his father. Facebook has become such an addiction that no one has time for their family members.

Happy Family

Why is there such an environment in our family? There is no love between anyone. We need heart for communication and not intelligence. It might happen that our thoughts might not be alike but there has to be communication. Have we ever seen parallel rail tracks meet? But the rail tracks are always together and they help a train reach its destination.

The center of both Ramayana and Mahabharata is family. What is our family life? If we have ten minutes in the evening after all work is done, why don't we have the heart to sit with our family members. What do we wish - Do we want to achieve something good or become good?

" In Life's Journey, what we have achieved is not important but what we have become is important"