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Swami ji said…

” ‘Sudama’, (सुदामा), was Shri Krishna’s best friend on Earth. However, according to the descriptions in the holy texts, ‘Sudama’ comes across as quite an ordinary person; like most of us. He is often portrayed as someone who was scared, lacked conviction and confidence in himself, and needed Shri Krishna’s help from time to time. Most of us, today, would not hold such a person in high esteem, as, we give greater importance to confidence, sharpness, quick thinking – qualities, quite opposite from the impression that we get of Sudama, through the various stories that depict him.”

” ‘But then why did God befriend him? Why did God wash Sudama’s feet with his own tears?’God did so, because, He, surely saw something ‘more’ in Sudama, than ordinary mortals like us could ever see. Shri Krishna, of course, did not form an ‘impression’ of Sudama in their first meeting. Even when ‘Sudama’ did not share his food with Shri Krishna, in the forest , Shri Krishna did not assess or judge him and say that he was greedy or bad. He accepted Sudama’s apology and never thought about it again. Clearly, Shri Krishna understood that Sudama – like any other human being – would err. The fact that Shri Krishna befriended ‘Sudama’ indicates that ‘He’ saw ‘simplicity’ and ‘purity’ in ‘Sudama’ – which was not visible to others ; and, wrongly misinterpreted as ‘meekness’ instead.”

” We too make this mistake very often. Without really ‘knowing’ a person; without trying to understand what could make others around us behave and react in a particular way; what makes them the way they are ; we , instead, tend to judge them and categorise them as good or bad; lazy or active , and , more often than not, our first impression of others, is proved to be wrong, when we get to know, and, understand them better.”

“Sometimes, on seeing a person behave harshly or angrily in a certain situation, we immediately believe that such a person must be a foul natured individual , and, unfortunately our ego , too , instigates us to wish ill upon them. In some other situations, we assume and brand a person as being arrogant or haughty, if , we are ignored or sidelined by him in a social setting. Our mind frames up ‘characters’ of people we do not know well enough , and, then, leads us to behave in an obnoxiously opinionated manner with them, based on some ‘untrue facts’.”

” In the age of social media where we all project ‘impressions’ of ourselves to one another, through photos and videos, we are all the more guilty of mis-labeling others without even knowing them. This behaviour only accentuates distrust, loneliness and misunderstanding in society.”

” The story of Lord Vishnu’s ‘Vamana’ avatar signifies, how we can lose everything that we possess, by simply judging others by their appearance.
The Asur King, Bali, was unable to see anything beyond the diminutive form of Lord Vishnu’s, ‘Vamana’ avatar. Bali was convinced that ‘Vamana’, being small in size, would barely be able to cover any land in the ‘three’ paces that were to be taken by Him. Had he perhaps looked deeper, more closely; investigated into ‘who’, the ‘Vamana’ standing before him really was, he would not have considered him to be ‘small’ and insignificant. And, while it was Lord Vishnu’s foot, that physically pushed Bali into the ground, it was Bali’s ‘false impressions’ and ‘wrong judgement’ that had truly sent him back to ‘paatal lok’.

” Thus, we, too, must be wary of making such erroneous assumptions about others, by judging them all the time. It is quite possible that he who is sent by God to be our friend, is mistakenly shunned away by us as an enemy due to our poor judgment and lack of understanding him. Remember, when we develop the habit of ‘understanding’ people rather than ‘judging’ them, only then will we experience – peace and love, in all our relationships.”

Swami ji said…

” World over, many festivals are marked by the lighting of lamps and दिया. The lighting of lamps signifies the dispelling of darkness and gloom; the victory of good over evil; the emergence of hope and other good omen. If we are observant, we will most certainly see the manner in which the light of even a single small lamp can dispel thick darkness. For those on the spiritual path, the ‘lamp’ is a source of inspiration, as it tells the seekers, that, if they strive determinedly to light the ‘lamp’ within them, the darkness that pervades their inner being can be removed layer by layer, and, they will inevitably be blessed with His Grace and ‘darshan’ at the moment considered most appropriate by Him. We just need to be aware of illuminating our inner ‘self’ with the light of this lamp.”

“The festival of Diwali is also a narration of two beings – in some ways very similar – who struggled with their own ‘spiritual’ lamps. At one end Shri Hanuman, and, at the other end Ravan. Both, Shri Hanuman and Ravan, were born into families of great repute. Both, were well versed with Vedas. Both were mighty warriors and had godly strength. Why then did their stories run in opposite directions?”

” Shri Hanuman did not just light the ‘spiritual’ lamp within him, He turned it into a blazing bright sun of devotion and love for Shri Ram. He single mindedly focussed on nothing else, but, His Lord, Shri Ram. He attributed every success and victory of His; His strength to the Grace of Shri Ram. Nowhere do we hear Shri Hanuman singing his own praises, admiring his own power. He had the power to destroy Lanka and Ravan on His own; and, yet, despite the disrespect and pain thar He suffered at the hands of Ravan, He never let His ego take over Him. He simply kept to His role of a ‘messenger’, and did only what Shri Ram instructed Him to do. While living in the forest with Shri Ram, He was happy and at peace.”

” Ravan on the other hand, let his ‘ego’, his अहंकार douse even the last embers of spirituality that may have been present in him. His mind was covered in layers of such darkness, that despite being in God’s presence, he could not feel and sense ‘it’ till the end. For him everything was about himself, so much so, that he could even turn against his own well meaning brother. Living in a palace, with untold riches at his disposal, he was always wary and circumspect about everything and everyone.”

“There is a ‘Ravan’ and ‘Hanuman’ within each one of us.The ‘Ravan’ in us takes offence at the smallest of misspoken words ; never forgives mistaken actions and never forgets old quarrels. He cannot see beyond himself and his wants. He is around, especially, when there are no troubles in life and all is going well; just the way he wants them to be. The ‘Hanuman’ within us, on the other hand, emerges when we face times of despair and sorrow – and He makes us feel strong and confident by reminding us of His belief that there is nothing to worry about aa long as Shri ‘Ram’ is with us. He is always smiling and happy as He understands that ‘To err is to be human’. He is always humble – be it in victory or defeat – success or failure.”

” Let us bring out the ‘Hanuman’ in us. Let us live a life in gratitude of God forever. Let us cleanse our ‘within’ ; our inner being ; our Real ‘self’ by taking His name and remembering Him always. We have cleaned our homes of the cobwebs ; let us now clean our minds of all thoughts negative. We have brightened others with gifts of savoury sweets and new clothes; let us now remove the ‘darkness’ within us and bring out the brightness, sweetness of simplicity and quiet beauty of our ‘Atman’. Just like the ‘diyas’ that shine through out our homes – let His light in us , also , shine through us – by radiating happiness, positivity and good vibes to one and all around us.”

” Man, as it is, is, God’s most incredible and innovative, creation, but , to make us more interesting, ‘He’ blessed us all with talents, flair and potential – distinct, unique and special to each one of us. Such is the level of His divine attention, that even though there are billions of us, no two individuals can have identical talents. A marginal difference is always there ; clearly evident.”

” If one sings ‘bhajans’ with a spiritual feel, then, the other sings ‘ghazals’ with great emotion. Even within the same sport, record breaking athletes have different talents. Some are skilled ; others have strength and power.”

” The challenge in life, however, is to discover those talents and hone them. Some of these talents are easily discernible ; some take a lifetime to realise that they were there all along.TV is replete with shows in which young gifted singers and dancers present their talent to the world at a young age. Very often we hear of engineers turning into artists in their 30s ; and artists, on realising that they have a knack for business in their 40s, turn into entrepreneurs.
Thus, we all are gifted in some way or the other.”

“But, society does not see us all as equal.We appreciate beauty, intelligence, money-making skills a lot more over other talents. As a result, some of us, who are wealthy, because we are good with accounts and numbers, or , are beautiful or handsome to look at, or, perhaps are successful surgeons and doctors, are placed on high pedestals.This often causes us to lose touch with reality. We begin to feel superior to the rest. Our behaviour becomes condescending. We demand servitude in place of respect. We forget that our ‘talent’ and ‘skill’ is ultimately not our creation but a gift of God. Instead of marvelling and wondering as to why should God give us such gifts, we only seek to enjoy the fruits – of fame and power – that these talents can give us.”

“A peacock’s plumage is a thing of beauty, but, the peacock does not spread its feathers all the time for the world to see. It knows that the very same feathers can be of great hindrance, if , it ever has to flee from danger.
Similarly, an obsession with our looks, our beauty, our skills is an impediment to our further growth and development. We are so greatly enamoured with ourselves that we are unable to see our shortcomings, and , do not take out time to work on our weaknesses that begin to set in our mind and character. Conceit and arrogance over our accomplishments, that we foolishly feel are attained solely by us, replace the gratitude that we must have for God.Instead of being humble and thankful to Him, we turn His gifts into ‘spokes’ on our path to ‘self-realization’ and eternal bliss.”

“Goddess Sita was so beautiful that Ravan committed the heinous crime of kidnapping her. But can we even for a minute imagine Goddess Sita obsessing over her beauty? If she had done so, would she have fearlessly decided to accompany Shri Ram into the forest? Did her beauty serve her in anyway when she was trapped in Ashok Vatika? Of course not! It was her unshakeable belief in Prabhu Shri Ram, that made her stay the course. Similarly, we, too must not let God’s special gifts to us, obscure our vision of Him in our hearts. Our talents and skills are not meant to serve us, but, are meant for a purpose that is beyond us; known only to Him. Let us strive to keep it that way…”और ‘ईश्वर’ को ‘नतमस्तक’ करें उस हुनर के लिए जिसे उन्होंने हम में पिरोया है।”

Swami ji said…

” ‘Birthdays’ are given great importance and a lot of planning and preparation goes into celebrating them with great pomp and show. The grander the celebrations, the better it is, we feel ; as the event is then talked about for a long time. This is what we tell ourselves. An inevitable question that everyone hears around the time of their birthday is – “How do you plan to celebrate your birthday?” And, the elaborate plans and well chalked out preparations for the approaching birthday are discussed, in great detail, with a lot of excitement and happiness, by us.”

” But let us, for a moment, imagine, if instead of this routine question, questions of a different nature were put to us! What if we were asked –
“So, what have you discovered about yourself this year?”
“Now that you are 50, are you closer to understanding the purpose of your life than you were when you were 20?” “What wisdom can you share about life with others after experiencing its unpredictability over the years?”

” Wouldn’t these be better questions? Wouldn’t they make us all reflect on our lives? But, perhaps, they would also make us uncomfortable, as it is possible that while chasing materialistic gains – money, fame, power, recognition – we got distracted and deviated from the main purpose of our life; our spiritual growth. While we might have the house of our dreams, the fanciest of cars, a sky rocketing career to show off; and, a great family by our side after our many ‘birthdays’ ; we could have hardly made any progress as far as spiritual awareness, self – improvement and development are concerned..”

“It is thus important to move on from purely the celebration of one’s जन्मदिन … ‘birthday’… to the most important discovery of one’s life’s purpose – ‘जन्म’ का ‘उद्देश्य’।”

” While we often refer to life as a ‘journey’, there is one major difference between the other ‘journeys’ that are undertaken by us and the ‘journey’ of our lifetime. The duration of our life is not known to us. None of us know when this journey can come to an end all of a sudden. Each ‘birthday’ is simply a milepost telling us how much distance we’ve covered in this journey in terms of our age. What ‘it’ is unable to tell us is – ‘How much of our ‘journey’ is left !’ In fact, every birthday, must be a reminder of the lesser and lesser time that we are left with, after each passing moment, and, to spend it in self-reflection and realise who we truly are !”

” Time is the only true wealth of our lives; one that starts depleting from the moment of our birth. It literally makes us ‘poor’ if we waste it by living a meaningless, selfish life, but , enriches us if we our mindful of all the things that we put into our body – emotionally, physically and spiritually. Are we watching, reading and listening to content and matter that will help us in finally reaching the spiritual goal of our life one ‘blessed’ day. Can we honestly say that we are good individuals and love all, help whenever and whoever we can and give to those who need ? We need to remember that this lifetime must not be spent only to gain temporary worldly pleasure, but, to seek permanent spiritual bliss too.”

” So involved are we in celebrating the ‘birth’ of our physical form; our perishable ‘body’ – that the purification of the imperishable ‘Atman’ appears to have taken a back seat completely! This birth should be utilised in cleansing the ‘Atman’… so that the ‘ruh’ can merge with ‘Parmatma’ in this lifetime itself.”

Swamiji said…

” In today’s world, words do not have much value, as, what is said is rarely meant by most of us. The promise of keeping one’s word is rarely upheld. Mindless chatter prevails over carefully chosen words. In such circumstances, it is important to ‘act’ rather than to ‘claim’ and ‘profess’, as, it is only action that can leave an indelible mark of our intent.”

” For those on the spiritual path, it becomes important to realise that ‘doing’ is more important than ‘speaking’. It is easy to talk about the benefits of meditation and self-reflection; but, do we practice what we preach ! We see videos highlighting the essence of spirituality on the social media, and , buy numerous books on spiritual practices. But, to what effect? There is an abundance of such enriching books and informative vidoes all around us…but, sadly, such few ‘enlightened’ souls today. Why ? The reason for this is that we do not follow ; we do not ‘act’ upon what we promise ourselves.”

” To succeed in any endeavour in life, we might not need the support of any other fellow being, as much as our own support.The echo of motivating words like commitment, courage and conviction is good to hear, but, the meaning of these words has to be implemented into ‘action’ while performing our day to day activities. And, if we cannot act on our own words, our own promises ; we cannot really trust ourselves to be able to do what is needed to succeed. It is those who ‘do’, what they promise to others, to themselves ; they are the ones who truly know what they are capable of doing and have the confidence to dream big. On the other hand, a person who repeatedly fails to implement any positive action or consistency in his life, will never be sure of himself. Such a person can only make tall claims and promises, but the words said by him lack strength, sincerity and confidence.”

” ‘Words’ come cheap; ‘actions’ need effort. That is why, it is those who ‘do’, who act on their dreams are the ones who see the fruition of their actions, who gain recognition. It is difficult to deny the importance of effort and hard work in our lives. That is why it is the ‘doers’…’woh insaan joh karmath hote hain’, rather than the glib talkers, who gain prominence in the world.”

” Similarly, for the spiritual practitioner, it is more important to ‘be’ like Ram, rather than to only ‘speak’ of Ram. It is more important to ‘meditate’ than to only discuss about its benefits with others. It is more important to act in a loving manner with others, instead of only wishing that the rest of the world would love and spread love. Remember, one can inch closer towards attainment of enlightenment, by ‘walking’ the spiritual path determinedly ;
not, by just talking about it and appreciating ‘it’.”