Between You And God

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world your best and it may never be enough;
Give the world your best anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

-Mother Teresa

Never Give Up

No matter what is going on

Never Give Up

Develop the heart

Too much energy in your country

is spent developing the mind

instead of the heart

Develop the heart

Be compassionate

not just to your friends

but to everyone

Be compassionate

Work for peace

in your heart and in the world

work for peace

and I say again

Never give up

No matter what is happening

No matter what is going on around you

Never Give Up

His Holiness The XIVth Dalai Lama

Better Than Me? No way.

We have a tendency of stereotyping every person we meet. When we come in contact with other people our ego is threatened. Our EGO cannot afford to be in the second place, it will be second to none. Our EGO either we realise it or not is constructed to defend itself from external threats i.e. people better than us.

Our EGO comes into active mode as soon as we meet people it feels threatened, our EGO starts looking for fallacies in the other person. Our mind starts stereotyping the other person and quickly judges the other person. It doesn’t take much intelligence to find fallacies in people infact it is the easiest thing to do. You don’t need intelligence to condemn anybody no wonder not even Gods are spared- Jesus, Krishna, Buddha, Socrates all have had their share of criticism.

It takes effort to recognise the fact that someone is better than you. Rarely you come across such people who you can admit in your hearts that yes he’s better than me! You have to recognise and accept the fact that you are not a role model for the human race. You have your own share of imperfections and other people have their own share.

It’s an injustice to apply the same barometer to each one around you. You cannot have set parameters and standards to evaluate humanity. People are complete in themselves with their fallacies and so are you. You are complete here and now. You don’t need another self-help book to tell you- you are good. You are all that and much more right here, right now.

People can only be better or worse off than you until you have set standards. If you have standards for money, power, social circle, looks, intelligence etc. Who’ll never be able to see the whole person just a fragment of him/her.

p.s. for someone who made me realise this! I'm in the left in black t-shirt!

Good Times V/s Bad Times

Since time immemorial people have faced the tide of bad times and good times. The good times pass with the blink of an eye while the bad ones pass with a snail pace. It’s hard to comprehend why the good times are like a whiff of air which give a glimpse of spring and disappear while the bad times come like an unwanted guest in house with overextended stay.

“Tough times never last, tough people do”, an overused quote to satisfy our bruised hearts. Then our astrologers and stars bear the blame and offer the solution to our problems. Ever wondered why the good times visit momentarily will the bad times follow like a shadow.

Our mind works in strange ways, we are quick to react if someone abuses you while we tend to forget the little joys the life gives us like somebody’s appreciation or a flower gifted by someone. If you were to recollect all the worse and ugly things you have gone through in life it’s learned by rote and you could recite your woes like a child reciting a poem.

What about the good times? Will you be as quick? Will you be able to reproduce everything without thinking twice? Many people will and most won’t be able to. The people who collect these good times and live on them have a fragrance around them. They spread joy wherever they go. They share their inner happiness with whosoever they come in touch with.

The whole fight in life is to keep the fire of good times alive, bad times will come again and again like a tempest ready to drown your ship but you are the captain of your soul. You have to keep the flame of joy inside you. There are people around you and me who have gone through unimaginable pain and suffering and got more than their share of bad times but they didn’t lose their smile.

It takes effort to keep the joy alive, to keep the happiness and innocence in the face of tragedies and misfortune. Spread joy with your overflowing happiness and Keep Smiling!

Identification

Regionalism and identification with regionalism always has played strong role in the minds of Indian people. I being born and brought up in UP almost considered the tag of a UP-ite as a handicap. Something I could not identify with.

Some very strong identities in our country are that of Punjabis, Marathi, Tamilian, Bengalis etc. Being cool with UP didn't earned you much self-esteem. Neither can you identify with the warring gangs on the streets and the political-criminal class nor with the super-rich elite class of beaureaucrats . Thanks to standing in the middle you can comfortably hallucinate that you are a misplaced Delhi-ite wasting your time in UP chained here by cruel hands of fate.

All identifications are false since all identifications are temporary. You can strongly identify yourself with a million categories you think you belong to. Identifications can be based on caste, colour, religion, class, profession, sun sign, your degree, your pedigree but in the end these are nothing but hallucinations of an unconscious mind. These are nothing but wishful thinking.

Identifications give strong sense of belonging, a strong sense of kinship a thread of brotherhood with the people who share your identification category. Time has come to leave all the identifications behind and realise the fact that to be as innocent as a child you have to give up all your identifications. For a child does not separate himself from others he’s a true communist treats everyone equally.

For eg. You may say I am Mr. ABC I am a South Asian, I am an Indian, I am a UP-ite, I am from Agra, I am a Hindu, I belong to Brahmin caste, I am a doctor, I have studied from one of the top institutes in India, I am a Gemini, I am an upper middle class member of society, I belong to the famous XYZ family.

Upanishads say Neti Neti (neither this nor that). If you keep on rejecting each identification one after another then in the end when you would have rejected all the identifications you will know who you really are. Rammana Maharishi gave just one mantra to all his disciples; to keep asking oneself “Who Am I?” just keep asking yourself and the mind will come up with all the identifications you have so sacredly treasured. By and by all the identifications will fall like a pack of cards and you’ll then discover the innocence you once had as a child.

Neti Neti.

pic: UP Vidhan Sabha, Lucknow. The gypsy is of UP Police.

Be More Sensitive

Be More Sensitive to the taste of the water you drink.

Be More Sensitive to the ticking of the clock.

Be More Sensitive to the sun rays meeting your skin.

Be More Sensitive to the sound of the air.

Be More Sensitive to the posture of your body.

Be More Sensitive to the poor kid playing in the corner.

Be More Sensitive to the different colours.

Be More Sensitive to the smell of flowers.

Be More Sensitive to the touch of your loved one.

Be More Sensitive to the laughter of the kids.

Be More Sensitive to the little headaches you get.

Be More Sensitive to the slightest irritations.

Be More Sensitive to the touch of the earth.

Be More Sensitive to the sight of the sunset/sunrise.

Be More Sensitive to the words unsaid.

Be More Sensitive to the silence within.

Be More Sensitive to the beating of your pulses.

Be More Sensitive to the rhythm of your breaths.

Be More Sensitive to the million desires in your head.

Be More Sensitive to the chirping of the words.

Be More Sensitive to the things you touch.

How To Improve Your Traffic Life

There are scores of articles in the newspapers and magazines about how to improve your "love life" "married life" "work life" et al but no one ever talks of improving your "traffic life"! You spend so much time in crawling traffic you are bound to lose your sanity a couple of times. Don't worry I'm not going to tell you to read self-help books in a traffic jam or to listen to Osho discourses neither will I tell you to make funny faces at each other.

Some have the best ways to defeat an enemy is to make him a friend. You cannot defeat the traffic so let it pass through you. Make it a friend. When you are stuck in a frustrating crawling traffic with a million other cars and bikes fighting for every inch of the road and the horns are blazing through your ears like loud speakers with Himesh songs think of everything as a DREAM.

Absurd as it may sound but you can try it. Think of the road, the jam, the horns, the pollution as a dream then everything will be transformed. Witness this dream, be an observer. Be a dreamer who has woven this dream and now silently witnesses it. Then everything will be more meaningful more creative more colourful. You have to forget everything else and be a witness to this dream and nothing else.

All tensions will fade away. All irritations will disappear. A new quality will come to the traffic around you. A new energy will arise within you. This is not any new energy arising but all he energy conserved which was leaking in worry of the traffic.

Then the auto-rickshaws will speak to you, the cars will talk and the humans stuck there will reveal their story. My dream is unique. Your's will be unique too. Everyone will have only his/her dream to witness. More the traffic the more opportunity to be lost in dreamland and relax your mind and soul.