SEEKING HAPPINESS

Every human being seeks happiness. He hates pain. He moves heaven and earth to get the happiness he wants from sensual objects and gets himself entangled in the meshes of Maya. But these objects are perishable, finite and conditioned in time, space and causation. Chances are he may fail to get the desired happiness from them.

Sensual pleasure is tantalising. There is enchantment so long as man does not possess the objects. The moment he is in possession of the object, the charm vanishes. He finds that he is in entanglement.

A worldly man is always struggling to get something, some money, some power, some position and so on. He is always anxious as to whether or not he will get it. Even when he is in actual possession of the thing he he so passionately longed for, he gets anxious about loosing it. Who do we say is happy then? A man who has controlled his mind is happy.

Happiness comes from peace of mind. Peace of mind comes from a state where there are no desires, no thoughts of objects. Forget all ideas of pleasures before entering the domain of peace.There is no happiness in any of the objects of the world because they are inanimate. It is sheer ignorance to think that we derive pleasure from the sense-objects or from the mind.

Real happiness is within you. It is in the Atma. It is subjective. It manifests when the mind is concentrated. When the mind is withdrawn from from the objects outside, when it is one-pointed when you become desireless and thoughtless, Atmic Bliss begins to dawn and Spiritual Ananda begins to thrill.

AAL IZZ WELL

Apart from the name there is nothing idiotic about the movie, '3 IDIOTS'. In fact it will make many of us feel like idiots. The movie in a very humorous way tells us a lot about the pressures exerted on us by our parents and ourselves.

After watching the movie many students will rethink about what they love to do and change their paths. In fact there willLooking around we will rarely see someone indulged in doing things that call him. Parents still have a big say in the moulding of a child's career. The child's future is seen not with his eyes, but with those of his parents. Also to be blamed is the system itself. The world is changing so fast that there is no time to think if the path chosen is what we really want to tread. By the time we realise that the chosen path is not what we want to travel it is too late.

3 Idiots gives us a chance to rethink and relive our lives. It is an eyeopener for parents and students both. It makes an attempt to awaken students, parents, teachers and the entire education system. It makes us present to the flaws of our education system. Recently there has been news as to how it has influenced ragging and suicides. But they existed before the movie was released. The movie throws light on the consequences of our system and way of thinking.

After watching the movie many students will rethink about what they love to do and change their paths. There will be many who would wish the movie was made 3 decades back. A few may take up things they always wanted to but could not.

There has been a controversy about the movie being made from a book. Looking at the other side movies touch more people than books. I say there is nothing wrong in adapting from a good source. It should make the author feel more proud that he has touched more people than he would have thought. I would say the movie is to the book what practicals is to theory.

"NEVER MISTAKE KNOWLEDGE FOR WISDOM. ONE HELPS YOU MAKE A LIVING; THE OTHER MAKES YOU LIVE A LIFE."

"KABEEL BANO KAMYABI TUMHARE PICHE AYEGI."

GOD AND RELIGION

FANTASTIC, AFLATOON, I have limited vocabulary to describe what I experienced while watching the play "KANJI VIRUDH KANJI". The lead character in the play Sachin Khedekar is just too good. What is more surprising is the fluency with which he narrates his lines.

The play draws the faintest of lines between God and Religion. With your deeds it is possible to make God come to you. We go to God for our own selfish needs. God will come to you when you welcome him with an honest and pure heart without any hidden intention. The play gives an understanding as to how religion has turned into a business.

Religion in our country is the most sensitive issue. There will be many who may find the play anti religious. They may say that the character in the play is an atheist. But as the story unfolds, it becomes evident that it is only he who has understood God and Religion. Religion is not something to be followed but to be lived. But I bet a very negligible percentage of people would understand this. In our country religion is followed as an exercise. Majority of the people just go through the rituals as instructed.

The simple truth the play projects is that believing in God is very different from being religious. But the parting line is so thin that it is almost impossible for us to distinguish between the two. Watch it, enjoy it and choose for yourself where you stand in understanding God and Religion.

HUMANITY

Last Friday we had a very pleasant experience. We were three couples coming home late after a show and just as we started the car we realised we had a flat tyre. We found that we had a spare tyre and a jack but no spanner to open the bolts. We thought of leaving the car there itself and take a cab back home. Just then a cab stopped and asked us our problem. We asked him if he could spare his spanner for a few minutes. Even on realising that we may not hire his cab he got his tool and changed the flat tyre for us. After the job was done he even refused a small token. When we said SHUKRIYA to him he replied that a thank you was all he needed. This was around 1.00 am. We were all pleasantly surprised by this great gesture from a common man. This is the spirit of Mumbai.

FORGIVING MISTAKES

When you make a mistake immediately ask for forgiveness. If not then your own negative qualities will be intensified. With your prayer, your meditation, your dedication and your oneness with God's will, you have to ask God to forgive you for all your mistakes, conscious and unconscious. You have to ask Him to illuminate your unconscious mistakes so that you will become aware of them and not repeat them.

If your mistakes are not forgiven, you will never have purity in your heart, mind and body. You will not be able to receive anything from God. The soul is always receiving from God as it is pure. But the heart is not always pure and the body and mind are a dark jungle. If mistakes are not forgiven, then purification cannot take place. And if purity is not there, then the divine forces will never be able to enter your life. Only if conscious is pure you will be able to increase your receptivity and receive God's divine qualities in abundant measures.

The best thing is to to go to sleep everyday after praying to the supreme to forgive you for the things that you have done wrong. You ask the Supreme to forgive you for your conscious or unconscious mistakes and to illuminate your mistakes. Real forgiveness, illumination and purification always go together.

The Supreme illuminates the past by forgiveness. Real forgiveness means forgetfulness. If somebody really forgives you for something that you did, then he will not keep the memory even in his inner vision. Illumination is necessary because of darkness. Mistakes are darkness. So the Supreme illuminates our mistakes through forgiveness.

SIMPLE LIFE

Today is the 2nd of October. This day marks the birth anniversary of the rarest of gems of India. Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri. They have been world leaders and lived life in the simplest possible way. I many times have thoughts about a simple life but have always failed and indulge in luxuries I can afford. In other words I am weak and vulnerable. These two great human beings have shown the way to a great, fulfilling and the simplest life. We read about Mahatma Gandhi a lot but very less is said and known about Lal Bahadur Shastri.

As a small boy he had to go without any footwear for a couple of years. He was not embarrassed to wear torn clothes even when he was the railway minister. He would eat whatever was served to him and in what ever form. He avoided fruit juices saying that he could not afford them. He never had security guards around him. When he passed away as the then Prime Minister Of India, he did not own a single house or a small piece of land. Infact he died in debt. Lal Bahadur Shastri lived his entire life sacrificing many things in life which he could have had being a government official. He found pride in his way of living.

LIGHT AND DARK

At one time or the other, most people go through a period of sadness, trial, loss, frustration or failure. It can be so disturbing and long lasting that it can be called a dark night of the soul. If health is your main interest, you may try to overcome the darkness quickly. But if you are looking for meaning, character and personal substance, you may discover that a dark night has many gifts for you.

Today we tag many of these experiences as "depression", but not all dark nights are depressive. Its time for a different way of imagining this common experience and hence a different way of dealing with it.

Every human life is made up of the light and dark, the happy and the sad, the vital and the deadening. Our thoughts about the rhythm of moods makes all the difference. Are you going to hide out in self delusion and distracting entertainments? Are you going to become cynical and depressed? Or are you going to open your heart to a mystery that is as natural as the the sun and the moon, day and night, summer and winter?

Most of us have gone through several dark nights of the soul. We may be in the middle of one now, may be a difficult marriage, having a child in trouble or caught in a tenacious and terrible mood. For some these are problems to be solved, but for others a source of deep despair. A true dark night of the soul is not a surface challenge but a development that takes you away from the joy of your ordinary life. An external event or an internal mood strikes you at the core of your existence. This not just a feeling but a rupture in your very being. It may take a long while to get through to the other end of it.

DREAMS

"DREAMS ARE SURE TO COME TRUE WHEN THEY ARE CONCRETE, PRECISE AND WORKED FOR IN THE TRUE DIRECTION". We always hear people saying their dream is to be someone or be like someone or own certain luxury things or own a palatial home. However majority of us just say so without actually having visualised our dreams. A whole lot of us fall in the category we term as Sheikhchalli. Only a few visualise concrete dreams and than work towards fulfilling them.

I saw a Gujarati play "EK CHOKRI SAAV ANOKHI". The lead character is a girl who has dreamt what she wants to achieve. She works hard while enjoying all the things she loves to do. However one incident changes her entire life. She looses both her hands in an accident and for sometime looses faith in life and most importantly herself.

One day when it comes to matter of survival she uses her legs and from there she starts again working towards fulfilling her dreams by doing things with her legs. All her daily chores are attempted by the use of legs. She succeeds in doing most of her work by the use of her feet. Sounds strange and tough but it has to be seen to be believed. The girl fulfills her father's and her dreams.

I am sure watching this drama will change the lives of some people. If we are to achieve what we dream than all hurdles and obstacles can be overcomed. It is just that we have to visualise where we want to be. Not being able to have precise dreams is a weakness and majority of us have this weakness.

CALL OF DESIRES

Every action of body or mind which we do, every thought which we think, becomes fine and is stored as an impression in our minds. It remains latent for some time and then it rises up in the form of a mental wave and produces new desires. Strong desires are the manufacturers of new bodies. These desires are called VASANAS in Vedanta. If the longing for worldly pleasures and objects remain in anybody, even after hundreds of births, that person will be born again. Nothing can prevent the course of strong desires. Desires must be fulfilled sooner or later.

Every action of the body, sense or mind must correspond to the dormant impression stored in the subtle body. Although the growth and changes of the physical body takes place according to the necessarily acting causes, yet the whole series of actions and consequently every individual act, the condition of the body which accomplishes it, the whole process in which the body exists are nothing but the outward expressions of the latent impressions stored up in the subtle body.

The perfect suitableness of the human body rests on these desires. The organs of the senses must correspond to the principal desires which are the strongest and most ready to manifest. If there is no hunger or the desire to eat; teeth, throat and bowels will be of no use. If there is no desire to grasp or move, hands and legs will be useless. The disuse of limbs and organs can prove to be injurious.

A PLACE OF BEAUTY

Imagine your life, not as it is now or how it used to be, but imagine it the way love songs, fairy tales and bed time stories told you it was going to be. Imagine waking up one fine morning from a soft bed into luminous sunlight, beginning each day feeling warm, well fed, well loved and well cared for. Imagine moving effortlessly through your day, surrounded by the people you love, doing a job that leaves you with a sense of joy and accomplishment.

Imagine returning home at the end of your lovely day to a beautiful warm house filled with the smiling faces of those you truly love, good things to eat and evenings spent by a glorious fire, laughing with careless abandon. Imagine walking in a beautiful garden, just over a hill of constant torment, past the rocks of hurt and anger, over the brook of constant worry, past the weeds of intolerance and hatred, to a place of such perfect peace that even the ground feels soft and receptive beneath your feet. Turmoil and anguish disappear under a shady tree. Trouble never lived here and peace will never leave. No one ever grows old, no one ever becomes ill and no one ever dies. Welcome to the world of the hereafter-welcome to the Garden of Souls.

There is a Garden of Souls. It is not only a real and vibrant place, but it is closer than we imagine. It is where we once lived and it is also where we will return. It is a place we will see again only after our lifetime of struggle, hardship and hurt has earned us the reward of true and final peace.

HUMAN AND DIVINE

Our outer essence is human; our inner essence divine. The human world is the desire world and the divine world is the aspiration world. In the desire world when we get something we immediately shout out,"I have found it." But in the divine world, when we get something we say to ourselves,"There is something else I need, something higher deeper, more illumination and more fulfilling. This sense of dissatisfaction is not bad. This makes us feel that we are destined to grow into something infinitely higher than what we are now.

The human in us wants to discover if there is any Truth, Light and Divinity in others. It is in doubt whether others have these qualities. But the divine in us knows that Truth. Light and Divinity are everywhere. They are not the monopoly of any individual; everybody has deep within him Peace, Light and Bliss in infinite measure.

The human in us wants to see the face of reality, so that it can change the reality to suit its own desires. The divine in us wants to see the face of reality so it can grow into the very image of the transcendental reality.

The human in us constantly cries for success, more success, abundant success. But the divine in us wants progress, constant progress, inner and outer. This progress is founded entirely upon self giving and self giving is the precursor of GOD-becoming.

The human in us wants to realise GOD THE POWER so that it can lord it over the world. The divine in us needs the the God who is all Good. The human in us prays to God and meditates on God and hopes to bring God down to satisfy its teeming desires. The human in us prays to God for its own satisfaction. But the divine in us prays and meditates so that God can utilise us in His own way, in a divine way, in a supreme way.

THE LAW OF LIFE

Thinking is the true business of life. Thinkers rule the world. They always have and always will. All people think, but the tragedy of life is that so few of us think creatively or constructively; so few recognise the fact that thought is a creative force. Every achievement in business, literature, philosophy or science has found its source and expression through the mental efforts of the world leaders. The outstanding figures of tomorrow are the creative and constructive thinkers of today.

We live in the same world and are as far apart as the difference in our thought processes. Some fail while others succeed; some are miserable, others happy. We all want to blame luck or fate or one of our fellow men, but the difference is within ourselves. We are a product of our prevailing habits of thought.

Each is building his own world from within; thought is the builder and as we use our thought forces it brings us joy or sorrow, peace or pain, success or failure. People, events and conditions are relative; every experience with which you meet has been built for you by your own interior thought processes.

The world without is merely a reflection of what you have acknowledged as true in your world within, so if the state of your health or finances is not all you desire, you must look within yourself for the cause. Regardless of what the condition is, or how it seemed to have come about, its cause had to find place in your consciousness before it came into expression. There is no such thing as luck or chance. Our lives are governed by law, by actual immutable principles that never vary. Law is in operation at all times, in all places; mighty, silent, fixed laws that underlie every human action, that brings to us with exact precision the full measure of our thoughts.

HONOR THE START

Beginnings can be delicate or explosive. They can start almost invisibly or arrive with a big bang. Beginnings hold the promise of new lessons to be learned, new territory to be explored and old lessons to be recalled, practiced, and appreciated. Beginnings hold ambiguity, promise, fear, and hope. Don't let the lessons, the experiences of the past; dampen your enthusiasm for beginnings. Just because it's been hard doesn't mean it will always be that difficult. Don't let the heartbreaks of the past cause you to become cynical and close you off to life's magic and promise. Open yourself wide to all that the universe has to say.

Begin anew. Pack your bags choosing carefully what you bring, because packing is an important ritual. Take along some humility and the lessons of the past. Toss in some curiosity and excitement about what you haven't yet learned. Don't worry who you will meet or where you will go. The way has been prepared. The people you are to meet will be expecting you. A new journey has begun. Let it be magical. Let it unfold. Go on your own journey. Don't let others hold you back. Don't let them judge you.

Everyone is free to have the experiences their souls lead them to. Many of us started our journey by having the experiences others thought we should. Some of us tried to dictate the lessons and adventures of others too. This caused pain and confusion for all. Learning those lessons, the lessons of setting each other free became an important part of our journey.

Go where the heart leads. Your soul knows the way. It will speak quietly thorugh the voice of your heart, your intuition. Listen to the voice that assures you that you are safe. You will learn from everone along the way. Dont limit your own experiences nor those of whom you love nor those you meet along the way.

DREAMS

What would it take to make you really happy? Being a huge financial successor or having the biggest house in town or owning a private jet? That's what others tell us is the key to happiness. Well, most of us may not agree with this.

Unless you have some innate, personal love of a big house or helicopters, don't let yourself buy into someone else's idea of a good life. If you do, you're in for a big letdown. Because no one but you has any idea what will make you happy.

What you love is as unique to you as your fingerprints. Nothing will make you really happy but doing what you love. Just look at people who are actually living their dreams. You can see a calm focus in their eyes and patience in their actions. They know they're in the right place, doing the right thing.

Somewhere inside yourself you know what you love, too. You dream of starting your own business, or traveling the world, or finding the right mate; you wish you could ride the horses on your own ranch, or go diving off the Great Barrier Reef with a fabulous underwater camera.

Or maybe you don't know exactly what your dreams are, but you can sense them somewhere deep within you. Even when they are not defined, they're not far away. Dreams are almost impossible to get rid of. They keep reminding you that that you're not satisfied with your life, that something crucial is missing.

And that's very lucky for you. If your dreams didn't trouble you, you'd forget them entirely. That's what you were trained to do. Most of us were told that we'd have to make daunting sacrifices to go after what we love. Whenever we dream out loud, we're criticized for being foolish by people who really have no idea how special we are. As a result, we crush our dreams without giving them half a chance.

STUDY OF WISDOM

Philosophy we can say is nothing else but the study of wisdom and truth. We may expect that those who have spent most time in it should enjoy a greater calm and serenity of mind, a greater clearness and evidence of knowledge, and be less disturbed with doubts and difficulties than other men.

Yet, we see the illiterate bulk of mankind that use plain common sense, and governed by the dictates of nature, for the most part easy and undisturbed. To them nothing that is familiar appears unaccountable or difficult to comprehend. They do not complain of any want of evidence in their senses, and are out of all danger of becoming skeptics. But no sooner do we depart from sense and instinct to follow the light of a superior principle, to reason, meditate and reflect on the nature of things, a thousands doubts spring up in our minds concerning those things which before we seemed fully to comprehend.

Prejudices and errors of sense discover themselves to our view; and, endeavoring to correct these by reasons, we are insensibly drawn into paradoxes, difficulties, and inconsistencies, which multiply and grow upon us as we advance in speculation. Finally having wandered through many intricate mazes, we find ourselves just where we were, or worse, sit down in a forlorn skepticism.

The cause of this is thought to be the obscurity of things, or the natural weakness and imperfection of our understandings. Besides, the mind of man being finite, when it treats things which partake of infinity, it may run into absurdities and contradictions, out of which it is impossible to extricate itself, it being of the nature of infinite not to be comprehended by that which is finite.

GAME OF LIFE

Most people consider life a battle, but it is not a battle but a game. A great game of Giving and Receiving. Whatever a man sows he shall reap. Means whatever man sends out in word or deed will return to him; what he gives, he will receive. If he gives hate, he will receive hate; if he gives love, he will receive love. The imaging faculty plays a leading part in game of life.

To play successfully the game of life, we must train the imaging faculty. A person with an imaging faculty trained to image only good, brings into his life "every righteous desire of his heart"- health, wealth,love,friends,perfect self-expression, his highest ideals. The imagination has been called, 'The scissors of the mind', and it is ever cutting, cutting, the pictures man see, and sooner or later he meets his own creation in his outer world. To train the imagination successfully, man must understand the workings of his mind.

There are three departments of the mind, the subconscious, conscious and super conscious. The subconscious, is simply power, without direction. It is like steam or electricity, and it does what it is directed to do; it has no power of induction. Whatever man feels deeply or images clearly, is impressed upon the subconscious mind, and carried out in minutest detail.

The conscious mind has been called mortal or carnal mind. It is the human mind and sees life as it appears to be. It sees death, disaster, sickness, poverty and limitation of every kind,and it impresses the subconscious.

The super conscious mind is the God Mind within each man, and is the realm of perfect ideas. In it, is the "perfect pattern" spoken of by Plato, The Divine Design; for there is a Divine Design for each person. "There is a place that you are to fill and no one else can do." There is a perfect picture of this in the super conscious mind. It usually flashes across the conscious as an unattainable ideal "something too good to be true."

In reality it is man's true destiny flashed to him from the Infinite intelligence which is within himself. Many people have brought disaster into their lives through idle words. Impressing the subconscious mind with a picture of lack and limitation will bring you the same.

BE THANKFUL

• Be thankful that you have not got all that you desired. If you had than what would you have desired.
• Be thankful about your ignorance so that you have an opportunity to learn more.
• Be thankful about difficult situations cause they mould you and make you progress.
• Be thankful for your weakness cause they make you strong.
• Be thankful to your mistakes cause they teach you important lessons of life.
• Be thankful when tired cause they show you have worked hard and made a difference.

It is easy to be thankful to easy things, but those who are thankful to difficult situations and tough times have a satisfying and worth lived life.

THE WAY WE THINK

Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are our decisions, desires, wishes i.e. our own thoughts and actions. Things not in our control are the thoughts and actions of others.

If we remember what is in our control and what not then no one will trouble or threaten us. Also we will do nothing that brings us pain. No one will hurt us or we will have no enemies.

Try to say to every difficult event that it is but an appearance and not really the thing it seems to be. Then you ask yourself,"Is this in our my control or not?" If not then do not think about it anymore.

In regards to things that you find useful or we deeply love, remember to remind yourself of their nature. Begin with the most insignificant things. If you are fond of a specific cup, remind yourself that it is just a cup. If it breaks, you will not be disturbed for you have remembered its true nature. Similarly if you kiss your beloved ones remember that you are only kissing their bodies and that you will not be apart from them if someone dies. In this way you will remember their true nature.

We aren't disturbed by things that happen, but by the interpretations of these things. Death is not terrible but the terror we feel towards death that is terrible. Therefore, when we are disturbed or upset let us not blame others. Don't demand that events happen as you wish, but wish for them to happen as they do and you will be happy.

BEING HAPPY

Human beings are thinking creatures. Every moment of each day our minds are working to make sense out of what we see and experience. While this may seem obvious, it is one of the least understood principles in our psychological makeup. Yet understanding the nature of thought is the foundation to living a fully functional and happy life.

Thinking is a function of human consciousness. No one knows exactly where thought comes from. We can however say that thoughts come from the same place as whatever it is that beats our heart-it comes from being alive. Thinking goes on whether we want it or not. Thought is an impersonal element of our existence.

Every negative and positive feeling is a direct result of thought. It is impossible to have jealous feeling without jealous thoughts, to feel angry without having angry thoughts. And it is impossible to be depressed without having depressing thoughts. This seems obvious, but if it were better understood we would all be happier and live in a happier world.

We have been taught that thinking means sitting down to ponder, to put in time and effort. Thinking about something can occur over several days or within a passing second. We tend to dismiss the latter as unimportant. But it is not so. Feelings follow and respond to a thought regardless of how much time the thought takes.
Thinking that a sibling got more attention than you did shows your resentment towards your brother or sister. These thoughts or sentiments also make you unhappy without your knowledge. Being happy or unhappy is a function of your thoughts.

SIMPLE & INTERESTING THOUGHTS

) Two thoughts that decide your attitude: What you think of yourself when you don't have anything and what you think of others when you have everything.

2) Make your anger so expensive that nobody can afford and happiness so cheap that people get it free.

3) Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is like expecting the lion not to attack you because you are vegetarian.

4) When you need advice everyone is ready to help you, but when you need help everyone tries to advice you.

5) Be what you are and say whatever you feel. Those who mind wont matter and those who matter will not mind.

6) A person who can explain the meaning of color to a blind can explain anything in life.

7) Knowing others is intelligence, knowing yourself is wisdom. Mastering others is strength, mastering yourself is true power.

8) Your problem is never really your problem. Your reaction to it is the real problem.

9) Worry is the interest paid on trouble before it is due.