Laughinging Buddha

In Japan, a great mystic, Hotei, is called the laughing Buddha. He is one of the most loved mystics in Japan, and he never uttered a single word. As he became enlightened, he started laughing, and whenever somebody would ask, Why are you laughing? he would laugh more. And he would move from village to village, laughing.

A crowd will gather and he will laugh. And slowly -- his laughter was very infectious -- somebody in the crowd will start laughing, then somebody else, and then the whole crowd is laughing -- laughing because.... Why are they laughing? Everybody knows, "It is ridiculous; this man is strange, but why are we laughing?"

But everybody was laughing; and everybody was a little worried, "What will people think? There is no reason to laugh." But people would wait for Hotei, because they had never laughed in their whole life with such totality, with such intensity that after the laughter they found their every sense had become more clear. Their eyes could see better, their whole being had become light, as if a great burden had disappeared.

People would ask Hotei, "Come back again," and he would move, laughing, to another village. His whole life, for near about forty-five years after his enlightenment, he did only one thing and that was laughing. That was his message, his gospel, his scripture.

And it is to be noted that in Japan, nobody has been remembered with such respect as Hotei. You will find in every house, statues of Hotei. And he had done nothing except laugh; but the laughter was coming from such depth that it stayed with anyone who heard it and triggered his being, created a synchronicity.

Hotei is unique. In the whole world there is no other human being who has made so many people laugh -- for no reason at all. And yet, everybody was nourished by the laughter, and everybody was cleansed by the laughter, felt a well-being that he had never felt. Something from the unknowable depth started ringing bells in peoples' hearts.

”What is happening?

This is what happened in the famous story of Subhuti. He was sitting under a tree with no thought, not even the thought of no-thought. Suddenly, flowers showered. He was amazed – ”What is happening?” He looked all around; flowers and flowers from the sky.

Seeing that he was amazed, gods told him that ”Don’t be amazed. We have heard the greatest sermon on emptiness today. You have delivered it. Celebration we are making, and we are throwing these flowers on you as a symbol, appreciating and celebrating your sermon on emptiness.”

Subhuti must have shrugged his shoulders and said, ”But I have not spoken.” The gods said, ”Yes, you have not spoken, neither have we heard – that is the greatest sermon on emptiness.”

If you speak, if you say ”I am empty,” you have missed the point. Up to the thought of no-thought it is nirvichara samadhi, with no contemplation. But still the last part... the elephant has passed; the tail has remained – the last part – and sometimes the tail proves bigger than the elephant because it is so subtle. To throw away thoughts is easy. How to throw emptiness? – how to throw no-thought? It is very, very subtle; how to grasp it? That’s what happened when the Zen Master said to the disciple, ”Go and throw this emptiness!” The disciple said, ”But how to throw emptiness?” Then the Master said, ”Then carry it away; go throw it, but don’t stand before me with emptiness in your head. Do something!”

It is very subtle. One can cling to it, but then the mind has deceived you at the last point. Ninety-nine point nine you had reached; just the last step, and hundred degrees would have been complete and you would have evaporated.

By avoiding any situation one cannot face the challenges of life

Once upon a time, there was a tortoise who lived on a ship. One day the ship sank. After swimming for a long time, the tortoise reached a deserted land surrounded by water on all three sides. The landward side led up to a big, steep, craggy mountain.

The tortoise was tired from the long swimming, looked. For food, but there was nothing in that land for the tortoise to eat. To avoid starving to death, the tortoise decided to climb to the top of the mountain, hoping that on the other side of the mountain he would find something to eat.

As he got to the snow-covered summit of the mountain, he was freezing cold. Suddenly a snow storm started. He struggled hard and managed to make out a small pathway leading towards the other side of the mountain.snow

But the path was guarded by a big monster which were making lots of noise. The tortoise was terrified to death hearing the noises and wanted to hide his head inside his shell, but he controlled his fear and looked around him. He saw that many other animals were lying dead. The tortoise understood that those animals had died due to the unbearable cold. So the tortoise didn’t go into his shell for he understood that he too would die if he did not find a way to escape from that place.

He rallied his spirit and gathered courage to make his long journey towards the other side, which meant he had to cross the monsters.

As the tortoise started towards the monsters, the monsters changed their shapes. The tortoise came very close to the monster. Suddenly, the tortoise realized that it was actually a large pile of rocks and not monsters at all. The rocks were actually formed in the shape like monsters. As for the, the tortoise realized this was just the sound of the wind blowing through a small cave.

The tortoise felt confident and carried on with journey, and eventually descended into a beautiful valley. The valley was filled with woods, and plenty of food. The tortoise lived in that valley very happily, and became known to the others in the valley as the Brave Little Tortoise.

By avoiding any situation one cannot face the challenges of life. Something or the other will challenging us. It will create fear and insecurity in us. The only way to deal with the fear is to face it with all strength and faith. Most of the fears will be imaginary. Every problem has a solution. When our mind is clouded with fear we cannot act rationally and wisely.


This is the need of the hour. Let us face the Corono19 with all our might


Most of us are aware of the story on how once a troop of monkeys surrounded Swami Vivekananda making him unable to move. He managed to run and to his disbelief even the monkeys ran after him. He fastened the speed and so did the monkeys. He couldn’t find a way to escape and continued running. An old monk called out to him and said, “Face the brutes!” And what happened later is a well-known part of the story. Swami Vivekananda stopped running, turned back and faced the monkeys for which the monkeys fled away. And hence proving that the best way to get out of fear was to face the fear itself.

What if he had not turned to face the monkeys, let’s say he would run for kilometres and find those monkeys not behind him anymore. What would he feel? He would have thanked God for saving him, maybe discover a new way to get rid off monkeys for the next time or maybe even decide not to take the route again in his life.

But what he felt after facing the monkeys has added much more to his attitude than what he would have got if he had escaped. The sense of self-belief, the feeling of handling fear, a changed insight on how to handle problems better and much more. What he earned by facing the monkeys was much more than what he would have earned by escaping. The decision to face fear set the perfect end result for him. It sure is a very small incident, but not to forget the same small incident brought a major impact in his life.

We are offered with the similar kind of incidents in life where we let the moments of fear conquer us. At first it slowly comforts you and eventually it consumes you.

It’s absolutely ok to be afraid of something, it’s ok to let that emotion comfort you, but make sure not to get carried away by the same emotions. Decide to face it and that’s where you bring in the difference for your life. Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it is the way you handle the fear. It’s never easy to face your fears all at once. It takes time, it takes practice and not to miss, yes! it takes more fears, but once you face it you realise why it’s worth facing it. And every time you face it you realise how much more strength you have within.

Hindu Monk

Mrikandu was a great rishi. Marudvati was his wife. For a long time they had no children. The rishi prayed to lord Siva. Lord Siva appeared to him, and said, "I am pleased with you, Mrikandu. Tell me, do you want a hundred sons, who will live for a long time, but will all be foolish? Or, do you want one very intelligent son, who will live for only sixteen years?"

The rishi at once said, "Lord, give me that one intelligent son."

Lord Siva said, "Good! You shall have him."

Soon the rishi got a son. He named him Markandeya. The boy grew to be very intelligent and handsome. The rishi invested him with the sacred thread. Markandeya learnt the Vedas and Sastras, easily. Everyone liked him.

As the boy was getting on to be sixteen, Rishi Mrikandu became sadder and sadder. One day Markandeya asked his father: "Father, why do you look so sad?"

The rishi said, "Son! What shall I say? When Lord Siva gave you to me, he said you would live only sixteen years. You are now about to reach that age. How can Iand your mother bear to lose you as we will at the end of this year?"

Markandeya said, "Father! Is that the reason? Lord Siva is very kind to His devotees. You yourself told me that. He has saved many from death before. I have read about it in the Puranas. I shall therefore worship Lord Siva day and night from today. I am sure, He will save -me too! "

RishiMrikandu was very happy to hear his son say this. He blessed his son. Markandeya built a Siva-Linga at a spot on the sea-shore. He started worshiping Lord Siva morning, noon and night. He sang bhajans, and often danced in joy.

On the last day, Markandeya was about to sing bhajans, when Yama, the Lord of Death, came to him. Yama rode on a buffalo. He held a noose in his hand. He spoke to Markandeya, "Stop your bhajan! You boy! Your life in this world is over. Be ready to die."

Markandeya was not afraid. He clung to the Siva-Linga as one clings to one's mother.

Yama threw his noose round the boy's neck, and pulled him along with the Siva- Linga.

Then the Siva-Linga burst open and Lord Siva came out of it, Lord kicked Yama in the chest, and said, "Yama, begone! Don't touch this boy. He is my beloved devotee. He will live forever!"

Yama went away crest-fallen. Markandeya then prayed to Lord Siva more fervently than ever. This prayer says at the end of each line, "What can Death do to me?" Many people recite this prayer even now.

Markandeya came home, and fell at the feet of his parents. They embraced him, and wept with joy.

Markandeya became a great rishi, and lived very long.

God helps those who help themselves

The rain gods had been smiling the whole night. The roads were muddy and the potholes were filled to the brim. It was the day for the market and Raju the farmer was riding his cart along the country road. He had to reach the market early so that he can sell his hay. It was very difficult for the horses to drag the load through the deep mud. On his journey suddenly the wheels of the horse cart sank into the mire.

The more the horses pulled, the deeper the wheel sank. Raju climbed down from his seat and stood beside his cart. He searched all around but could not find anyone around to help him. Cursing his bad luck, he looked dejected and defeated. He didn’t make the slightest effort to get down on the wheel and lift it up by himself. Instead he started cursing his luck for what happened. Looking up at the sky, he started shouting at God, “I am so unlucky! Why has this happened to me? Oh God, come down to help me.”

After a long wait, God finally appeared before Raju. He asked Raju, “Do you think you can move the chariot by simply looking at it and whining about it? Nobody will help you unless you make some effort to help yourself. Did you try to get the wheel out of the pothole by yourself? Get up and put your shoulder to wheel and you will soon find the way out.”

Raju was ashamed of himself. He bent down and put his shoulder to the wheel and urged on the horses. In no time the wheel was out of the mire. Raju learnt his lesson. He thanked God and carried on his journey happily.

Moral: God helps those who help themselves.

In this world, there's not one person who is Useless

Once there was a man who did not make it to university. So, his mother got him a wife. After the marriage, he worked as a teacher in a primary school. Due to the lack of experience, he was squashed by the students in less than a week. When he returned home, his wife dried his tears. She comforted him with these words. 'When one is too full, he could either pour it out what's in him or he just could not pour it out at all. You should not be too sad about it. Probably there is a more suitable job waiting for you out there.'

Later on, he found another job and not for so long, he was fired due to his slowness. This time, the wife commented. 'There are always people who are skilful and non skilful. Some have experience from their years of work. As for you, you were in school all this while. So, how could you acquire these needed skills?'

He went for a number of jobs but never stayed long in those jobs. Each time, he would return home with a dejected spirit. His wife would always comfort him and never for once, she was disappointed or resentful.

He was in his thirties when he acquired a flair in languages. He became a counselor in a school for the deaf and mute. Later on, he opened a school for the disabled. A few years later, he set up chain stores in different cities and provinces selling apparatus & equipment for the disabled. He became a multi-millionaire.

One day he asked his wife. 'When I was looking bleak at my own future, what's the reason that you have so much faith in me?' His wife gave him a very simple reply. She said, 'When a piece of land is not suitable for planting wheat, we could try planting beans. If the beans are not growing well, we could try planting fruits or gourds. If the vegetation is not economical, we can instead scatter buckwheat seeds. These seeds will one day bloom into flowers. On this land itself, there will be one seed that will germinate and grow.'

After having listened to the wife's explanation, he cried. His wife's faith, love, patience, and persistence in him is liken to the one seed in the land. This is the seed that persists and creates the miracle on this piece of land.

"In this world, there's no one person who is useless. It is just that they have not positioned themselves firmly in right place.

An Old Man Lived in the Village

An old man lived in the village. The whole village was tired of him; he was always gloomy, he constantly complained and was always in a bad mood. The longer he lived, the viler he became and more poisonous were his words. People did their best to avoid him because his misfortune was contagious. He created the feeling of unhappiness in others.

But one day, when he turned eighty, an incredible thing happened. Instantly everyone started hearing the rumor: “The old man is happy today, he doesn’t complain about anything, smiles, and even his face is freshened up.”

The whole village gathered around the man and asked him, “What happened to you?”

The old man replied, “Nothing special. Eighty years I’ve been chasing happiness and it was useless. And then I decided to live without happiness and just enjoy life. That’s why I’m happy now.”

Moral of the story: Don’t chase happiness. Enjoy your life.

Tell me your company!!!

A master; a guru taught his disciple all that he knew. Having taught all the scriptures, he told the disciple that for the final teaching he would have to go to a nearby ashram. He told the disciple to go to another guru there for the final teaching. The disciple was wondering why his guru would send him to another guru. He was much more knowledgeable than the other guru.

Though in a dilemma; he decided to obey his guru and went to the nearby ashram to meet the other guru. To his surprise; the other guru had stopped teaching. He was engrossed in serving food to his disciples with love, cleaning up the left overs as well as washing the dishes.

The disciple saw this and learnt what it meant to serve out of love. Later he noticed something profound. The guru himself washed the dishes and kept them in order before he went to sleep.

Next morning, he used to take out the dishes, washed them again and started cooking. The disciple was wondering as to why the guru should wash the dishes all over again in the morning while they were already been washed thoroughly earlier in the night and that dishes were not dusty either. He observed all such details and came back to narrate to his earlier guru.

He narrated, ‘I cannot understand this strange fact of why should the guru in the ashram wash the already cleaned vessels again in the morning, why should he do that?”

To which his guru replied, “Yes, this is the understanding that I wanted you to observe and get totally.”

You cleanse your mind regularly but your mind starts collecting dust along the way in the form of a clutter, foggy and unclear understanding. Please do not say that you do meditation once and stop at that. So long as your mind gathers dust it has to be cleansed. It is a constant process of cleansing and purifying our mind.

Essence

Goal of every human is to realize his/her true self and finally merge in Him or the source. When we are so much entangled in our daily duties, relationships and other activities of the world; we seldom have time or even bother to ponder about our actual self. We always associate ourselves with our body and relationships we have built around us. Later when we lose these relationships or even when this body suffers we are so unhappy.

This is because we chase after something which is impermanent. True, it is no easy to understand this and it is easier said than done. But ‘satsang’ or company of good, wise people at least propels us to think about who we are and what is the ultimate goal of life? Without a Master or good company it is not easy for one to proceed into this self inquiry. So company of good is the first step towards the path of self realization. If we begin now; we know not when or in how many lifetimes we will achieve our goal. But we would have at least begun the journey on this path.

For Students

It is said; “Tell me your company and i will tell who you are”. It is very important to have good company and friends from young age. One rotten fruit can spoil the entire basket of fruits. So one must be careful in choosing their friends. The values which children develop at a younger age remains with them throughout their lives. Hence company of good friends and value based education from an early age is very vital

Charity wrapped in Dignity!

She asked him, "How much are you selling the eggs for?" The old seller replied to her, "Rs.5/- for one egg, Madam." She said to him, "I will take 6 eggs for Rs.25/- or I will leave." The old seller replied, "Come take them at the price you want. May God bless us, and maybe this is a good beginning because I have not yet sold to anyone." She took it and walked away feeling she has won. She got into her fancy car and went to pick her friend, and invited her to a restaurant. She and her friend sat down and ordered what they like. They ate a little and left a lot of what they ordered. Then she went to pay the bill. The bill was Rs.1,200/-. She gave him Rs. 1,300/- and said to the owner of the restaurant: "Keep the change." This story may seem normal to the owner of the restaurant. But it is very painful for the eggs' seller.   ​​Flash   ​Why do we always show that we have the power when we buy from the needy and the poor? And we are generous with those who do not need our generosity ? Every time a poor child comes to me to sell something simple, I remember a tweet from the son of a rich man who said, "After every prayer my father used to buy simple goods for very expensive prices, even though he did not need them. Sometimes he used to pay more for them. I used to get concerned by this act and I told him about it. Then my father told me: 'It is a charity wrapped with dignity, my son.'" Compare these two stories of social hypocrisy. The first one is disappointing and the second one is inspiring. _May God enlighten our vision_.

Spilt Milk

This is a story about a famous research scientist who had made several very important medical breakthroughs. He was being interviewed by a newspaper reporter who asked him why he thought he was able to be so much more creative than the average person. What set him so far apart from others?

He responded that, in his opinion, it all came from an experience with his

mother that occurred when he was about two years old. He had been trying to remove a bottle of milk from the refrigerator when he lost his grip on the slippery bottle and it fell, spilling its contents all over the kitchen floor—a veritable sea of milk!

When his mother came into the kitchen, instead of yelling at him, giving him a lecture, or punishing him, she said, "Robert, what a great and wonderful mess you have made! I have rarely seen such a huge puddle of milk. Well, the damage has already been done. Would you like to get down and play in the milk for a few minutes before we clean it up?"

Indeed, he did. After a few minutes, his mother said, "You know, Robert, whenever you make a mess like this, eventually you have to clean it up and restore everything to its proper order. So, how would you like to do that? We could use a sponge, a towel, or a mop. Which do you prefer?" He chose the sponge and together they cleaned up the spilled milk.

His mother then said, "You know, what we have here is a failed experiment in how to effectively carry a big milk bottle with two tiny hands. Let's go out in the back yard and fill the bottle with water and see if you can discover a way to carry it without dropping it." The little boy learned that if he grasped the bottle at the top near the lip with both hands, he could carry it without dropping it. What a wonderful lesson!

This renowned scientist then remarked that it was at that moment that he knew he didn't need to be afraid to make mistakes. Instead, he learned that mistakes were just opportunities for learning something new, which is, after all, what scientific experiments are all about. Even if the experiment "doesn't work," we usually learn something valuable from it.

Pearls

Jenny was a bright-eyed, pretty five-year-old girl.

One day when she and her mother were checking out at the grocery store, Jenny saw a plastic pearl necklace priced at $2.50. How she wanted that necklace, and when she asked her mother if she would buy it for her, her mother said, "Well, it is a pretty necklace, but it costs an awful lot of money. I'll tell you what. I'll buy you the necklace, and when we get home we can make up a list of chores that you can do to pay for the necklace.

And don't forget that for your birthday Grandma just might give you a whole dollar bill, too. Okay?" Jenny agreed, and her mother bought the pearl necklace for her.

Jenny worked on her chores very hard every day, and sure enough, her grandma gave her a brand new dollar bill for her birthday. Soon

Jenny had paid off the pearls. How Jenny loved those pearls. She wore them everywhere to kindergarten, bed and when she went out with her mother to run errands.

The only time she didn't wear them was in the shower. Her mother had told her that they would turn her neck green!

Now Jenny had a very loving daddy. When Jenny went to bed, he would get up from his favorite chair every night and read Jenny her favorite story.

One night when he finished the story, he said, "Jenny, do you love me?"

"Oh yes, Daddy, you know I love you," the little girl said.

"Well, then, give me your pearls."

"Oh! Daddy, not my pearls!" Jenny said. "But you can have Rosy, my favorite doll. Remember her? You gave her to me last year for my birthday. And you can have her tea party outfit, too. Okay?"

"Oh no, darling, that's okay." Her father brushed her cheek with a kiss. "Good night, little one."

A week later, her father once again asked Jenny after her story, "Do you love me?"

"Oh yes, Daddy, you know I love you."

"Well, then, give me your pearls."

"Oh, Daddy, not my pearls! But you can have Ribbons, my toy horse. Do you remember her? She's my favorite. Her hair is so soft, and you can play with it and braid it and everything. You can have Ribbons if you want her, "Daddy," the little girl said to her father.

"No, that's okay," her father said and brushed her cheek again with a kiss. God bless you, little one. Sweet dreams."

Several days later, when Jenny's father came in to read her a story, Jenny was sitting on her bed and her lip was trembling. " Here, Daddy," she said, and held out her hand. She opened it and her beloved pearl necklace was inside. She let it slip into her father's hand.

With one hand her father held the plastic pearls and the other he pulled out of his pocket a
blue velvet box. Inside of the box were real, genuine, beautiful pearls. He had had them all along. He was waiting for Jenny to give up the cheap stuff so he could give her the real thing.

So it is with GOD. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so he can give us beautiful treasure.

Random acts of kindness

His fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class."

By now Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped beautifully in bright ribbons and paper, except for Teddy's, whose present was clumsy and wrapped in heavy brown paper, the he would have got from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents.

Some of the children started to laugh when she found the rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing and a bottle of perfume that was only one quarter full. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed on after school that day just long to say, " Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my mom used to." After the children left, she cried for at long time

On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. Instead she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in class. And, despite her lie that she loved all the children the same, Teddy became one of her "pets".

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was still the best teacher he had ever had in his life.

Six years went by before she got another letter from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in is whole life.

Four years after that she received another note saying that while things had been tough at times, he still stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate with the highest honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and most favorite teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and most favourite teacher he ever had in his whole life. But now the name was little longer ... the letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

The story does not end here. There was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said the he met this girl who was going to marry.
He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson would agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom.

Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what, she wore that bracelet - the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she also remembered to wear the perfume that Teddy's mother wore on the last Christmas they spent together.

They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, "Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference."

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach till I met you."

You could have a Teddy standing in front of you and yet not realize it . . .

Warm someone's heart today. Pass this along. I love this story so much. I cry every time I read it. Just try to make a difference in someone's life today, tomorrow.. Just do it. Random acts of kindness I think they call it

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of the school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers she looked at her students and said she loved them all the same. However that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in the seat was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy, and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant.

It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers. At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each student past records and she put Teddy's off until the last. However when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.

Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners. He is a joy to be around."

His second grade teacher wrote Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle."

His third grade teacher wrote, "Teddy's mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps are not taken."

The Monkey with the Wooden Apple

There once was a happy monkey wandering the jungle, eating delicious fruit when hungry, and resting when tired. One day he came upon a house, where he saw a bowl of the most beautiful apples. He took one in each hand and ran back into the forest. He sniffed the apples and smelled nothing. He tried to eat them, but hurt his teeth. They were made of wood, but they were beautiful, and when the other monkeys saw them, he held onto them even tighter.

He admired his new possessions proudly as he wandered the jungle. They glistened red in the sun, and seemed perfect to him. He became so attached to them, that he didn't even notice his hunger at first. A fruit tree reminded him, but he felt the apples in his hands. He couldn't bear to set them down to reach for the fruit. In fact, he couldn't relax, either, if he was to defend his apples. A proud, but less happy monkey continued to walk along the forest trails.

The apples became heavier, and the poor little monkey thought about leaving them behind. He was tired, hungry, and he couldn't climb trees or collect fruit with his hands full. What if he just let go? Letting go of such valuable things seemed crazy, but what else could he do? He was so tired. Seeing the next fruit tree, and smelling it's fruit was enough. He dropped the wooden apples and reached up for his meal. He was happy again.

Like that little monkey, we sometimes carry things that seem too valuable to let go. A man carries an image of himself as "productive" - carries it like a shiny wooden apple. But in reality, his busyness leaves him tired, and hungry for a better life. Still, letting go seems crazy. Even his worries are sacred apples - they prove he's "doing everything he can." He holds onto them compulsively.

How to empty and free their mind:

"Adi Sankara was walking through the market place with his disciples.

They saw a man dragging a cow by a rope.

Sankara told the man to wait and asked his disciples to surround them.

“I am going to teach you something” and continued...

“Tell me who is bound to whom? Is the cow bound to this man or the man is bound to the cow?"

The disciples said without hesitation “Of course the cow is bound to the man!. The man is the master. He is holding the rope. The cow has to follow him wherever he goes. The man is the master and the cow is the slave.”

“Now watch this”, said Sankara and took a pair of scissors from his bag and cut the rope.

The cow ran away from the master and the man ran after his cow. “Look, what is happening”, said Sankara

“Do you see who the Master is? The cow is not at all interested in this man. The cow in fact, is trying to escape from this man.

This is the case with our MIND.

Like the cow, all the non-sense that we carry inside is not interested in us. WE ARE INTERESTED IN IT, we are keeping it together somehow or the other. We are going crazy trying to keep it all together under our control.

The moment we lose interest in all the garbage filled in our head, and the moment we understand the futility of it, it will start to disappear. Like the cow, it will escape and disappear.”

We can allow disappearing of all the unwanted things from our mind and feel relaxed...

Give and it will be Given

The passengers on the bus watched sympathetically as the attractive young woman with the white cane made her way carefully up the steps. She paid the driver, using her hands to feel the location of the seats, walked down the aisle and found the seat he'd told her was empty. Then she settled in, placed her briefcase on her lap and rested her cane against her leg.

It had been a year since Susan, thirty-four, became blind. Due to a medical misdiagnosis, she had been rendered sightless, and she was suddenly thrown into a world of darkness, anger, frustration and self-pity. Once a fiercely independent woman, Susan now felt condemned by this terrible twist of fate to become a powerless and helpless burden on everyone around her.

"How could this have happened to me?" she would plead, her heart knotted with anger, but no matter how much she cried, protested, ranted or prayed, she knew the painful truth that her sight was never going to return. A cloud of depression hung over Susan's once optimistic spirit. Just getting through each day was an exercise in frustration and exhaustion. And all she had to cling to was her husband Mark.

Mark was an Air Forces officer and he loved Susan with all of his heart. When she first lost her sight, he watched her sink into despair and was determined to help his wife gain the strength and confidence she needed to become independent again.

Mark's military background had trained him well to deal with such sensitive situations, and yet he knew this was the most difficult battle he would ever face.

Finally, Susan felt ready to return to her job, but how would she get there? She used to take the bus, but was now too frightened to get around the city by herself. Mark volunteered to drive her to and from work each day, even though they worked at opposite ends of the city.

At first, this comforted Susan and fulfilled Mark's need to protect his sightless wife who was so insecure about performing the slightest task. Soon, however, Mark realized that this arrangement wasn't working, it was hectic and costly.

'Susan is going to have to start taking the bus again' he admitted to himself, but just the thought of mentioning it to her made him cringe, she was still so fragile and so angry. 'How would she react?' he admitted to himself again.
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Just as Mark predicted, Susan was horrified at the idea of taking the bus again. "I'm blind!" she responded bitterly "How am I supposed to know where I'm going? I feel like you're abandoning me".

Mark's heart broke to hear these words, but he knew what had to be done. He promised Susan that each morning and evening he would ride the bus with her, for as long as it took, until she got the hang of it. And that is exactly what happened.

For two solid weeks, Mark, military uniform and all, accompanied Susan to and from work each day. He taught her how to rely on her other senses specifically her hearing, how to determine where she was and how to adapt to her new environment.

He helped her befriend the bus drivers who could watch out for her, and save her a seat. He made her laugh, even on those not-so-good days when she would trip exiting the bus, or drop her briefcase. Each morning they made the journey together, and Mark would take a cab back to his office.

Although this routine was even more costly and exhausting than the previous one, Mark knew it was only a matter of time before Susan would be able to ride the bus on her own. He believed in her, he used to know before she'd lost her sight, who wasn't afraid of any challenge and who would never, ever quit.

Finally, Susan decided that she was ready to try the trip on her own. Monday morning arrived, and before she left, she threw her arms around Mark, her temporary bus riding companion, her husband and her best friend. Her eyes filled with tears of gratitude for his loyalty, his sincerity, his patience and his love. She said good-bye, and for the first time, they went their separate ways. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, each day on her own went perfectly, and Susan had never felt better. She was doing it and she was going to work all by herself.

On Friday morning, Susan took the bus to work as usual. As she was paying for her fare to exit the bus, the driver said "Boy, I sure envy you" Susan wasn't sure if the driver was speaking to her or not. After all, who on earth would ever envy a blind woman who had struggled just to find the courage to live for the past year?.

Curiously, she asked him "Why do you say that you envy me?" The driver responded "It must feel so good to be taken care of and protected like you are". Susan had no idea what the driver was talking about, she asked him again "What do you mean?" .

The driver answered, "You know, every morning for the past week, a fine looking gentleman in a military uniform has been standing across the corner watching you when you get off the bus. He makes sure you cross the street safely and he watches you until you enter your office building. Then he blows you a kiss, gives you a little salute and walks away. You are one lucky lady" .

Tears of happiness poured down Susan's cheeks. For although she couldn't physically see him, she had always felt Mark's presence. She was fortunate, so fortunate, for he had given her a gift more powerful than sight, a gift she didn't need to see to believe, the gift of love that can bring light where there had been darkness. You don't love a woman because she is beautiful, but she is beautiful because you love her.

God watches over us in just the same way. We may not know His presence, and we may not be able to see His blessed face, but He is there nonetheless!

Arun Kumar, Patna, Bihar-A Devoted Mathematician!!! Inspiring

He developed an indomitable affection and love towards mathematics and possesses exceptional mathematical abilities.

His role model is great Indian mathematician “Ramanujan”. During graduation, He submitted papers on Number Theory, which were published in Mathematical Spectrum and The Mathematical Gazette. He worked hard and dreamed of getting into one of the world’s best university “Cambridge”. And one day he got it, admission to Cambridge.

But…Very soon he realized that his father cannot afford his education at Cambridge. He and his father searched helplessly for a sponsor all over India but nobody came up. And one day his family’s only breadwinner: his father died and his last hope of getting good education diminished. He gave up the dream of Cambridge and came back to his home in Patna, Bihar.

He would work on Mathematics during day time and would sell papads in evenings with his mother, who had started a small business from home, to support her family. He also tutored students in maths to earn extra money. Since Patna University library did not have foreign journals, for his own study, he would travel every weekend on a six-hour train journey to Varanasi, where his younger brother, learning violin under N. Rajam, had a hostel room. Thus he would spend Saturday and Sunday at the Central Library, BHU and return to Patna on Monday morning.He rented a classroom for Rs 500 a month, and began his own institute, the Ramanujam School of Mathematics (RSM). Within the space of year, his class grew from two students to thirty-six, and after three years there were almost 500 students enrolled. Then in early 2000, when a poor student came to him seeking coaching for IIT-JEE, who couldn’t afford the annual admission fee due to poverty, Kumar was motivated to start the Super 30 program in 2003, for which he is now well-known.

Every year in August, since 2003, the Ramanujan School of Mathematics, now a trust, holds a competitive test to select 30 students for the ‘Super 30’ scheme. About 4,000 to 5,000 students appear at the test, and eventually he takes thirty intelligent students from economically backward sections which included beggars, hawkers, auto-driver’s children, tutors them, and provides study materials and lodging for a year. He prepares them for the Joint Entrance Examination for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). His mother, Jayanti Devi, cooks for the students, and his brother Pranav Kumar takes care of the management.

Out of 270 students he tutored from 2002-2011 236 students have made an admission to IIT. All of them came so poor background that their parents were Hawkers, Auto-drivers, laborer etc
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During 2003-2009, 182 students out of 210 have made it to the IITs.

In 2010, all the students of Super 30 cleared IIT JEE entrance making it a three in a row for the institution.
Anand Kumar has no financial support for Super 30 from any government as well as private agencies, and manages on the tuition fee he earns from the Ramanujam Institute. After the success of Super 30 and its growing popularity, he got many offers from the private – both national and international companies – as well as the government for financial help, but he always refused it. He wanted to sustain Super 30 through his own efforts. After three consecutive 30/30 results in 2008-

2010, in 2011, 24 of the 30 students cleared IIT JEE.Anand’s work is now well received from all over the world :USA’s president obama read about Anand in TIME magazine and sent a special envoy to check the work done by him and offered all the assistance and Anand never accepts help irrespective of helper.

Discovery Channel broadcast a one-hour-long program on Super 30, and half a page has been devoted to Kumar in The New York Times.

Actress and ex-Miss Japan Norika Fujiwara visited Patna to make a documentary on Anand’s initiatives.
Kumar has been featured in programmes by the BBC.

He has spoken about his experiences at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.

Kumar is in the Limca Book of Records (2009) for his contribution in helping poor students crack IIT-JEE by providing them free coaching.

Time Magazine has selected mathematician Anand Kumar’s school – Super 30 – in the list of Best of Asia 2010.

Anand Kumar was awarded the S. Ramanujan Award for 2010 by the Institute for Research and Documentation in Social  Sciences (IRDS) in July 2010.

Super 30 received praise from United States President Barack Obama’s special envoy Rashad Hussain, who termed it the “best” institute in the country. Newsweek Magazine has taken note of the initiative of mathematician Anand Kumar’s Super 30 and included his school in the list of four most innovative schools in the world.

Anand Kumar has been awarded by top award of Bihar government “Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Shiksha Puraskar” November 2010.

He was awarded the Prof Yashwantrao Kelkar Yuva Puraskar 2010 by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in Bangalore.

In April 2011, Anand Kumar was selected by Europe’s magazine Focus as “one of the global personalities who have the ability to shape exceptionally talented people.”

Sweetness of Sour Oranges

He often bought oranges from an old lady. After they were weighed, paid for and put in his bag, he would always pick one from his bag, peel it, put a segment in his mouth, complain it's sour and pass on the orange to the seller.

The old lady would put one segment in her mouth and retort, "why, it's sweet," but by then he was gone with his bag.

His wife, always with him, asked, "the oranges are always sweet, then why this drama every time?"

He smiled, "the old mother sells sweet oranges but never eats them herself. This way I get her to eat one, without losing her money. That's all."

The vegetable seller next to the old lady, saw this everyday. She chided, "every time this man fusses over your oranges, and I see that you always weigh a few extra for him. Why?"

The old lady smiled, "I know he does this to feed me an orange, only, he thinks I don't understand. I never weigh extra. His love tilts the scale slightly every time."

Life's joys are in these sweet little gestures of love and respect for our fellow beings. And in giving, not usurping. Not in money but in affection.

Value- Peace

A beggar who lived very close to a palace saw a notice that was stuck on the entry gate one day. It said, “The king would be hosting a party soon. Anyone wearing the king’s dress could join the party.”

It set the beggar thinking. He looked at himself with torn clothes and came to a conclusion that only the king’s family would be able to attend. Anyways, he gained some courage and went to the palace gates. He requested the guard to allow him to meet the king. The guard went in to see the king. As luck would have it, the beggar was allowed entry.His joy knew no bounds. He went inside and the king enquired about the purpose of his visit. He gained courage and said, “I would love to attend the feast that you will be hosting soon. Can I request you to give me your old attire so that I would be able to join the feast too?” The king readily agreed and gave him one of his robes. The beggar wore the outfit and looked at himself in the mirror. A majestic look indeed! He was very happy with his looks.The king told him that he had gained entry to attend the feast and said something very important to him; “You will have no necessity to wash or clean this dress. You can wear it forever.” With tears in his eyes, he thanked the king profusely. Though he was happy he did not readily believe the king. He was wondering; “What if the attire tore?? I will need my old clothes.” So he packed all his old clothes and carried it along with him.He did not have a place to stay. So wherever he went, he carried the old clothes with him. He could not enjoy the dinner feast that the king hosted because his concentration was more on safeguarding the old clothes.
He realised that the words of the king were true. The dress was intact and it didn’t become dirty though he always wore it. Still he was so attached to his old clothes that he could never let go of it. Anyone who saw him noticed that bundle of old clothes and he was named, “THE MAN WITH THE RAGGED CLOTHES.”Later when the beggar was in his death bed, the king came to see him. He noticed that the bundle of old clothes was beside the beggar’s pillow. The king felt sorry for him. The beggar remembered the king’s words. The bundle of old clothes had literally spoilt his happiness.

Way of Thinking

4 yr old boy was in the market with his 6 yr old sister...

Suddenly the boy found that his sister was lagging behind.He stopped and looked back.His sister was standing in front of a toy shop and was watching something with great interest.The boy went back to her and asked:
"Do you want something?"

The sister pointed at the doll. The boy held her hand and like a responsible elder brother, gave that doll to her.The sister was very very happy... The shopkeeper was watching everything and getting amused to see the matured behaviour of the boy... Now the boy came to the counter and asked the shopkeeper,
"What is the cost of this doll, Sir!" The shopkeeper was a cool man and had experienced the odds of life.So he asked the boy with a lot of love n affection:
" Well, What can you pay?" The boy took out all the shells that he had collected from the seashore, from his pocket and gave them to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper took the shells and started counting as if he were counting the currency. Then he looked at the boy.The boy asked him worriedly:

"Is it less?" The shopkeeper said,"No, No... These are more than the cost.So I will return the remaining." Saying so, he kept only 4 shells with him and returned the remaining. The boy very happily kept those shells back in his pocket and went away with his sister...

A servant in that shop got very surprised watching all these.He asked his master:

" Sir!You gave away such a costly doll just for 4 shells???"

The shopkeeper said with a smile:

"Well, for us these are mere shells.But for that boy, these shells are very precious.And at this age, he does not understand what money is, but when he will grow up, he definitely will. And when he would remember that he purchased a doll with the Shells instead of Money, he will remember Me and think that the world is full of Good people.He will develop positive thinking.Thats it..."

Initiative

Employee "A" in a company walked up to his manager and asked what my job is for the day? The manager took "A" to the bank of a river and asked him to cross the river and reach the other side of the bank. "A" completed this task successfully and reported back to the manager about the completion of the task assigned. The manager smiled and said "GOOD JOB"

Next day Employee "B" reported to the same manager and asked him the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task as above to this person also. The Employee "B' before starting the task saw Employee "C" struggling in the river to reach the other side of the bank. He realized "C" has the same task. Now "B" not only crossed the river but also helped "C" to cross the river. "B" reported back to the manager and the manager smiled and said "VERY GOOD JOB"

The following day Employee "Q" reported to the same manager and asked him the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task again. Employee "Q" before starting the work did some homework and realized "A", "B" & "C" all has done this task before. He met them and understood how they performed. He realized that there is a need for a guide and training for doing this task. He sat first and wrote down the procedure for crossing the river, he documented the common mistakes people made, and tricks to do the task efficiently and effortlessly. Using the methodology he had written down he crossed the river and reported back to the manager along with documented procedure and training material. The manager said "Q" you have done an "EXCELLENT JOB".

The following day Employee "O' reported to the manager and asked him the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task again. "O" studied the procedure written down by "Q" and sat and thought about the whole task. He realized the company is spending a lot of money in getting this task completed. He decided not to cross the river, but sat and designed and implemented a bridge across the river and went back to his manager and said, "You no longer need to assign this task to anyone". The manager smiled and said "Outstanding job 'O'. I am very proud of you."

What is the difference between A, B, Q & O? Many a times in life we get tasks to be done at home, at office, at play.,

Most of us end up doing what is expected out of us. Do we feel happy? Most probably yes. We would be often disappointed when the recognition is not meeting our expectation. Let us compare ourselves with "B". Helping someone else the problem often improves our own skills. There is an old proverb (I do not know the author) "learn to teach and teach to learn". From a company point of view "B" has demonstrated much better skills than "A" since one more task for the company is completed.

"Q" created the knowledge base for the team. More often than not, we do the task assigned to us without checking history. Learning from other's mistake is the best way to improve efficiency. This knowledge creation for the team is of immense help. Re-usability reduces cost thereby increases productivity of the team. "Q" demonstrated good "team-player" skills,

Now to the outstanding person, "O" made the task irrelevant; he created a Permanent Asset to the team.

If you notice B, Q and O all have demonstrated "team performance" over and above individual performance; they have also demonstrated a very invaluable characteristic known as "INITIATIVE".

Initiative pays off everywhere whether at work or at personal life. If you have initiative you will succeed. The initiative is a continual process and it never ends. This is because this year's achievement is next year's task. You cannot use the same success story every year. The story provides an instance of performance, whereas measurement needs to be spread across at least 6-12 months. Consequently, performance should be consistent and evenly spread. Out-of-Box thinkers are always premium and that is what everyone constantly looks out for. The initiative, Out-of-Box thinking, and commitment are the stepping stone to success.

The initiative should be lifelong. Think out of the box!