*The dwarf of anger*

 

*The dwarf of anger*

*_There is a story in the Mahabharata. Once Sri Krishna and the five Pandava brothers went hunting in the forest. By the time they had finished the hunt, the sun had gone down and night was about to fall. They realized that they couldn't return to the kingdom that day and decided to spend the night in the forest. A cave was found and it was agreed that each person would stand guard for two hours while the others slept._*

*_The youngest brother, Sahadeva, was given the first watch. He sat down at the entrance of the cave, holding all his weapons aloft and the others went to sleep inside. After an hour and half, Sahadeva suddenly noticed a dwarf coming towards him from the forest. "Stop!" said Sahadeva._*

*_"Who are you? Where are you going?" The dwarf said, " You can see that I am a tiny dwarf. I want to fight you. "Sahadeva thought, " Here is a foot-and-a-half tall dwarf and here I am, a six-footer. I will win with no difficulty at all._* *_"Therefore, for the sake of entertainment, he agreed to fight the dwarf. However, this was no ordinary dwarf. He defeated Sahadeva, tied him up with a rope, left him on the ground and went away._*

*_A little later, Nakula woke up. He went out and found Sahadeva missing. He called out to him and a faint voice replied, "I am here." Nakula found him in the state in which the dwarf had left him. " Who did this to you?" he asked. Sahadeva could not bring himself to say that he had lost to a small dwarf, so he replied, "I just felt like tying myself up and resting on the ground." Nakula said, "Okay, go and sleep inside now, I will keep watch._* *_"Towards the end of Nakula's two hours, again the dwarf appeared and the same sequence was repeated. Next was Arjuna's turn. He also found Nakula lying on the ground tied up with a rope. All the brothers faced the same situation, including Bhima and Yudhishthira._*

*_Finally, Krishna came out and found Yudhishthira on the ground. Now, Yudhishthira was one who always spoke the truth. He told Krishna the whole story._*

*_"I don't understand what happened," he said. "When my watch was just about to finish, this tiny dwarf appeared from nowhere and said 'I want to wrestle you. ' When we started wrestling, something strange happened. The more I fought, the bigger the dwarf became until he was a huge giant and I was like a child before him. He easily caught hold of me, threw me on the ground and tied me up. I am unable to understand what kind of a dwarf he was. "Krishna smiled and said, " Never mind. Go and rest. Now that I am awake, I will see to him._*

*_Just as dawn was about to break, Krishna saw the dwarf walking towards him. When the fellow was right before him, Krishna asked, "What brings you here?" The dwarf replied, "The same desire with which I came to your five friends and defeated them. I want to wrestle and fight you. "_*

*_Krishna prepared himself and the two started wrestling. Soon, the dwarf began to increase in size. Krishna understood the matter. He threw down his weapons, sat down quietly on the ground and said to the dwarf, "You can hit me." At this, the dwarf began to reduce in size. Krishna simply watched him. Finally, when he became tiny, Krishna tied him up in his peetambari (Krishna's customary yellow wrap), and sat down._*

*_Soon after, all the brothers woke up and came out of the cave. Seeing Krishna, they asked him, "Did someone come to see you while you stood guard?"_* *_Krishna replied, " Ah yes, a tiny dwarf came. "The brothers asked, " So what did you do with him? "Krishna replied, " I did nothing. Here he is, tied up in my peetambari. "In surprise, the Pandavas asked, " What is the meaning of this? When we fought him, he continued to become bigger and you have him tied up in your wrap!_* *_"Krishna now told them who the dwarf was. It was anger. He said, " Anger assumed the form of a dwarf and fought you. The more you fought the anger before you, the anger within you also rose. This made the anger confronting you bigger and bigger until it became so huge that it completely overpowered you and tied you to the ground." Yudhishthira said, " The matter has become clear now. You were the only one who recognized him. When you did not express anger in turn, he became so small that he was insignificant. "_*

*_This story signifies that negative qualities will always exist. If you try to remove them from your life, you will end up in a fight which you are bound to lose, as the more you struggle with negativities the stronger they become. Therefore, simply ignore them and focus on adopting positive qualities, tendencies, actions and behaviours in your life. The negativities will then go away on their own; they will become mute._*

*This is known as spiritual awakening.*

Kushwant : Il Santo Grande

 

Kushwant : Il Santo Grande

By Ramachandra Guha

In the summer of 1970, Khushwant Singh took a month's leave from editing the Illustrated Weekly Of India. He had been awarded a fellowship by the Rockefeller Foundation, to be spent in the estate they own on a hill overlooking Lake Como in northern Italy. The Vila Serbelloni, as those who have been there know, is a sensuously beautiful place to live a month in. Or a week, or a day. The food is good, the wine better, the views out of this world. Between meals, one might walk through the pines, or admire the garden, or drink coffee in a cafe by the waterfront. When the Foundation invites a writer here he is not even expected to write.

The one thing the estate lacks is a tennis court. For Khushwant Singh, who had played two sets in a colonial club every morning of his life, this was a real, and unanticipated, hassle. Reluctantly, he decided to make do with a daily swim instead. Clad only in the mandatory kachchha, he would, after an early breakfast, walk down the hill and breast his way across the lake. Then, his abundant hair hung out to dry, his kada glistening in the mid-morning sun, he would climb the hill on the other side. In time he would return, get into the water once more, and swim back to the Villa Serbelloni.

This daily ritual was followed, with increasingly awed fascination, by the residents of the far shore. Back in the 1970s this part of Italy had some peasants, real peasants, who cultivated fields and reared sheep on the slopes around Lake Como. Nothing in their culture or folklore had prepared them for the sight of a Sardar after his swim. The lord who once lived in the manor house had been seen, if at all, only atop a horse. Of the Americans who later patronised the place, the odd fellow might have entered the water, sometimes, but then he was coloured white, had close cropped hair and was clean shaven besides.

A week passed, and still the Sardar came, every morning. Another week and the peasants had convinced themselves that this was a saint, il santo. By the end of his stay he had been elevated further still, to the rank of "great saint", or il santo grande. So epochal was Khushwant Singh's holiday in the Como hills that to this day local history is marked by reference to it. Do you not remember the murder of that inn-keeper, an old man will say, it happened the winter following the visit of il santo grande.

The story of Khushwant Singh's beatification was told to me by the philosopher Ninian Smart, whose wife is Italian, and who owns a little cottage in the hills abutting Lake Como. The Sardar does not, I believe, know of his elevation at all. Were he to be told the tale he would have a hearty chuckle. Heartier still would be the chuckles of the hundreds of thousands of Indians who read him. For these have been brought up to understand that the Sardar is an authentic anti-saint, who has malice towards all and whose worldly ways would make Mahatma Gandhi weep. 

What Is Wrong In Bharat Becoming A Hindu Rashtra?”

 

Interesting article from a Pakistani Muslim. Khalid Umar Asks: “What Is Wrong In Bharat Becoming A Hindu Rashtra?”

 

August 10, 2020. (The author is originally from Pakistan and works as Barrister in UK. Is widely read. Forwarded from his FB account).

It is alleged that Narendra Modi/BJP want to make India a Hindu State. If that is so, I question, what is wrong about India being a Hindu Rashtra? My rationale follows below.

Bharatvarsh, a civilization as old as 5000 years, needs no introduction of it being the original homeland sheltering 95% of all the Hindus in the world and birth place of Sanatan Hinduism. India should not be shy of recognising her identity as a Hindu Nation.

Hinduism is the 3rd largest religion in the world after Christianity and Islam. But it is not demographically as widely spread on the world’s map as the first two. 97% percent of all Hindus live in the world’s three Hindu-majority countries (India, Mauritius and Nepal). It is the most geographically concentrated of all the major religions. 95% of the Hindu population live in India, whereas only 1.6% of Muslims live in Arabia, the birthplace of Islam.

The left-liberal have no problems with the 53 Muslim dominated countries (Islam is the official religion in 27) in the world; 100+ Christian dominated countries. In 15 nations, Christianity is the official religion.

These Christian nations include England, Greece, and Iceland, Norway, Hungary, Denmark. and 6 Buddhist countries. Israel is a Jewish state. But, when it comes to India, their rationale fails to make me understand as to why Hinduism can’t be state religion of India?

There is no evidence that it threatens the secular ethos of the country, if India is declared a Hindu State. All faiths have flourished in India, including Parsis, Jains, Sikhs, Muslims, Zoroastrians because Hindus are not intolerant towards other religion.

One can go to a religious place associated to any religion and find Hindus there. There is no concept of conversion in Hinduism. There are Christian and Muslim nations in the world, who raise voice on the Human Rights abuses and religious persecution of Muslims and Christians the world over. The world remembers Myanmar, Palestine, Yemen etc. but not the Hindus & Sikhs of Pakistan or Afghanistan or that of other Islamic nations! Does anyone remember what happened with the Hindus in Bangladesh during the 1971 genocide by Pakistan Army or the Pundits in Kashmir or the 1998 Wandhama massacre of J&K, systemic elimination of Hindus in Pakistan, the elimination of historic temples and Hinduism in the Arab world, e.g., in Muscat?

The policies of the Indian state have been anti-secular. There has been blatant religious reverse-discrimination against Hindus, its majority community. There are many examples. Have you heard about the Hajj Subsidy? Since 2000, over 1.5 million Muslims used the subsidy. It was only recently that the Supreme Court passed an order that directed the government to phase out this subsidy within 10 years. Which secular country will subsidise religious tourism for one faith group? The average airfare subsidy was (US$1,000) per Muslim pilgrim in 2008.

While the Indian Government was supporting their citizens’ religious tourism, Saudi Arabia, a country where Hindu icons are condemned as idol worship, was spreading Wahabi extremism worldwide. Hindus are not permitted to build temples and Indian tax payer money was being used to facilitate the Saudi economy by pilgrimage subsidies.

In a truly secular country, all citizens irrespective of religion would be covered by a single set of laws. In India, however, people of different religion beliefs are covered by different personal laws.

Government control temples but mosques and churches are autonomous. There were subsidies for Hajj but not for Amarnath Yatra or Kumbh Mela. A truly secular country would not subsidise any pilgrimage! PERIOD!

Hindus have always welcomed and protected minorities. Let’s have a look at its history of tolerance. The Hindu Community of India welcomed Parsis when they were persecuted the world over. They have flourished here for over a thousand years. The Jewish tribes found refuge in Bharat nearly 2000 years ago and same goes for Syrian Christians 1800 years ago. The Jains, Buddhists being religions derivatives of the Hinduism have co-existed for 2500 years and Sikhs for 400 years.

It’s time to look back at the facts to feel proud to be a Hindu, shy not anymore!

Even today, India is secular, not due to a Constitutional amendment of 1976 and lawyers and law makers, but because the majority of the people of India are Hindus. It is the very nature of this religion that ensures secularism, not a piece of paper that came into account after thousands of years of tolerant practice. India should openly declare itself as a “Hindu” (Hindu/Sikh/Jain) nation. India should interfere to protect the interests of all of the aforementioned people because no other country is doing it.

Declaring Hindu nation will open new door of safeguarding the majority against forced conversion and minority appeasement. India will remain a progressive country only till it remain a secular country. And it will remain a secular country only if Hindu domination persist in its demographics.

Secularism and Hinduism are two sides of one coin. You toss it, in either ways you win!

If India becomes a Hindu Rashtra, that would be the best thing to happen. There would become a Uniform Civil Code with no allowances for anyone (including Hindus). Rule of Law has always been one of the main reasons for Growth in any country- Germany, Japan, USA are all based on rule of law. Conversions (to and against) will be banned, proselytising which is the root cause of religious friction will stop; No Tablighis any more. Once conversions are stopped, each person can follow whatever religion he chooses or choose to be atheist (there is a sect called- Nir Ishwara Vad in Hinduism itself). Show me another religion that recognises non-practitioners of the faith with such regards!

Secularism and religious tolerance is the ethos of the inhabitants of this region much before the Muslim invaders ransacked this land.

Muslim invasions into the Indian subcontinent started around 1000 AD and they lasted for several centuries till 1739. Destruction of about 100 million Hindus is perhaps the biggest holocaust in the whole world history. Hindus did not take any revenge of from the off springs of these invaders. It is not Hinduism but the implementation of Pseudo-Secularism which is causing interfaith friction between the Hindu majority and the Muslims. In a Hindu Rashtra, religious freedom of the Non-Hindus will not be clipped.

Hindus must take pride in the history of the land they belong to. They must resort to facts to sort out frictions. Their shying away from reality will result into disaster of a land that has its sheer ethos and rich culture of tolerance deeply etched in its soil. India has been foolish enough to give away precious slices to fulfill the demands of Muslim Nations. India has been tolerant enough to practice appeasement in the name of secularism. It's time now Hindus must UNITE proclaiming the peace they inherit in them. A Hindu Rashtra, that values secularism through its very nature of practice, devoid of any preamble, will be a citing example for the world.

The time is NOW.

Omer Khalid, UK

DISCLAIMER: The author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article. The author carries the responsibility for citing and/or licensing of images utilized within the text.

AS TIME GOES BY

 

AS TIME GOES BY

As time goes by,

You will loosen your grip on that rock,

The one you always thought was home,

And you will realise that home is not a place,

It’s a state of mind.

Let it go.

As time goes by,

You will learn to see yourself more clearly,

The girl who was always too much of one thing,

And too little of another, was actually

Everything she needed to be.

Let her out.

As time goes by,

You will let the simple things become big,

And you will allow the big things to become simple,

And that readjustment will be, 

The day you really start to live,

Let it be.

As time goes by,

You will be forced to say goodbye many times,

And your soft little heart will shatter but,

It will still beat and that will bring you,

All the purpose you need.

Let it beat.

As time goes by,

You will stop choosing wealth over peace,

You will stop choosing money over time,

And you will see that the treasures you need,

Are in the smiles and the laughter.

Let them in.

As time goes by,

The moments you remember when your life flashes past,

Are never the awful memories my friend, it’s the joy,

The summer nights, the lazy days with loved ones,

The midnight chats and the morning hugs,

Let them happen.

Let them all happen.

Donna Ashworth

Returning..... is never easy*

 

Returning..... is never easy*

A man went to the king. Said he was poor, he has nothing, he needs help. The king was kind. He asked: What help is needed?

The man said: a little plot. 

The king said: Come here tomorrow morning at sunrise. Run as far as you can run, that whole plot is yours. But remember, from where you start running, you have to come back by sunset, otherwise you will get nothing!

The man was happy & excited. He started running at sunrise.. kept running & running; the sun had climbed overhead.. but the man did not stop running.. a little more 

hard work.. then rest for whole life!

Evening was about to come and the man remembered, he has to return, otherwise he will not get anything! He saw he had come far away.. now he had to return.. but how would he return..? 

The sun had turned towards the west.. the man had full breath.. he could have returned.. but time was passing fast.. a little more strength to be put.. he started running at full speed.. but now he felt tired.. and he dropped dead.!

The king was watching it all. He went with his colleagues where the man fell on the ground and looked at him carefully and said:

*He only needed few yards of land. He was running so much without any reason!*

The man wanted to return..  but could not return.. he returned there, from where no one comes back!

Now imagine by putting yourself in place of that man, if we are not making the same mistake that he did. We don't know the limit of our desires. Our needs are limited, but our desires are infinite! We do not prepare to return in the fascination of acquiring more. And when we do, it is too late! 

Then we have nothing left.

I was involved in the race of life, where did I reach till today? Where do I have to go & how long do I have to reach? If I keep running like this, where & how long will I reach? 

We are all running without realizing that the sun returns in time. Even Abhimanyu did not know about returning. We are all Abhimanyus. We also do not know how to return!

The truth is that.. 

*Those who know how to return*

*they know how to live, but..* 

*it is not that easy to return.*

I wish that character of Tolstoy's story could have returned in time!

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya Today's Chapter & Verse

 

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Today's Chapter & Verse

Chapter 10. Verses 9, 10 & 11

Verse 9
The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about me.

Verse 10: To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.

Verse 11 : To show them special mercy, I , dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of Knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

Due to the contamination of material association, through many many millions of birth , one's heart is always covered with the dust of materialism, but when one engages in devotional service and constantly chants "Hare Krishna Maha Mantra" the dust quickly clears , and one is elevated to the platform of pure knowledge. The pure devotee does not have to worry about the material necessities of life; he need not be anxious , because when he removes darkness from his heart , everything is provided automatically by the Supreme Lord, who is pleased by the loving devotional service of the devotee. This is the essence of the teaching of Bhagavad Geeta. By studying Bhagavad-Gita  & chanting Hare Krishna Maha Mantra, one can become a soul completely surrendered to the Supreme Lord and engage himself in pure devotional service. As the Lord takes charge , one becomes completely free from all kinds of material endeavours.

Hare Krisha 

Now one may ask what is this devotional service ??
Ans)
1)Chant Hare Krishna Maha Mantra
2) Start reading Srimad Bhagavad Gita
3) Feed the Cows.

Lord Krishna has given us all the greatest opportunity to feed Him


By feeding the Cows you are actually
Lord Krishna

In Chapter 10 , Verse 28 Lord says
"Among Cows I am Surabhi"

So please don't miss this Golden Opportunity of  "Devotional Service"

In the movie _Taare Zameen Par_

 

In the movie _Taare Zameen Par_

The art teacher tells the rude and cursing father of the dyslexic kid about *Solomon Islands..*

In those islands, the tribal don’t cut down a tree. *They surround the tree and curse it for hours every day..*

Within a few weeks, the tree

dries up and becomes dead..

Many of us might find that example too difficult to believe. How can intangible and invisible thoughts and words kill a tree.!

Well, if you get to read Bruce H. Lipton’s THE BIOLOGY OF BELIEF, you won’t only believe in the Solomon Islands story, but would also think a dozen times before saying something demoralizing to yourself and the people you love..

In this book, Mr. Lipton tells in detail about the *power of conscious and subconscious mind..*

_The subconscious mind is million times more powerful than the conscious mind, and decides most of the things in our lives according to the beliefs it has.._

Many times we fail to change an unpleasant habit despite our will-power and consistent efforts..

It’s because the *habit has been so strongly programmed in our subconscious mind that the efforts made by our conscious mind hardly make any difference.*

*Conscious Mind is just a shadow* *of our Unconscious Mind..*

So, when the tribals of Solomon Islands curse a tree, they are actually installing negative and harmful beliefs in the tree’s emotion (yes, trees do have emotions too).

_Within few days, those negative emotions becomes a belief & eventually changes the molecular architecture of the tree and kill it from inside.._

2500 years ago, when the Buddha said that *‘You are what you think',* he was not articulating a random philosophical theory.

Actually he was telling a scientific fact which is now proved correct by Quantum Physics and Molecular Biology.

*If you are a parent and you keep cursing your child in the name of constructive criticism, you are installing beliefs in their mind which will keep harming them forever..*

*But if you keep appreciating them in a sincere way, you are installing beliefs in their mind which will help them entire life..*

And also be careful of what

you keep saying to yourself.

Repetition of words and thoughts is the best way to install a belief in your subconscious mind..

If you keep saying you are a loser,

don’t be surprised if you become one within a few months or years..

And if you have friends who keep saying such things to you, there is no harm in saying a quick goodbye to them..

May be you value the friendship a lot. But you must value yourself a little more..

So accept all as they are..

Love all unconditionally

And ...Always keep saying to yourself..

*I am healthy, wealthy, happy, successful & prosperous!*

Acceptance

 

https://epaper.freepressjournal.in/c/59075999

Feel Blessed

 

Love reading this n felt so blessed

Ques: It is said when Paramhamsa kept his leg on Swami Vivekananda, suddenly he got Samadhi. You have kept Your hand on my hand so many times, when will You keep your leg on my head?

#SriSri: Me dear, I have given you one of the most beautiful techniques, the sudarshan kriya. When you do it, you already get the same experience that Vivekananda got. This is exactly it, he experienced some current, nothingness, nothing more than that. Has it not changed your whole outlook? After doing it there are two lives, one before Sudarshan Kriya, one after you did it. How many of you vouch for it? I know, see, everyone is raising their hands! You know you cannot even relate to that person, before you did your Sudarshan Kriya. You cannot even say it is the same person. That is why they say, born again, when you have such an initiation. When you are initiated into meditation, you have a new life. Some places they even give you a new name, because you are not the same person anymore, you are totally transformed, you are different. Your vision has become broader, your approach has become much more intelligent, your perception much sharper and your heart much softer and stronger. I don’t have to keep my leg or hand or head on you, you have been given the tools by which you can uplift yourself. And not just one, then you have Shakti Kriya and Sahaj Samadhi meditation, time to time, so that you don’t get bored doing one thing. I know your mind!.. The mind runs for new things all the time and the heart longs for the old, it takes pride in the old. And so here you have both the old and the new. I have spoken about all the ancient scriptures, knowledge and new techniques.

*Why do Indian Husbands remain faithful disciples of their wives ?*.

 

*Why do Indian Husbands remain faithful disciples of their wives ?*.

*Answer By Dr Iyer, MD..*

I will tell you my personal story as to why I remain faithful to my wife. It is just for survival.

Her multitasking always amazed me, especially when it came to chemistry. 

It was 8 in the morning.

In the kitchen, my wife was checking the viscosity of the sambar, the solubility of chutney and the permeability of coffee, all at the same time.

The huge number of multisized, multilabel bottles and cans on the shelf in front of her, looked like a 17th century alchemist lab with containers of different shapes and sizes labeled in Hebrew and Arabic. Hebrew and Arabic you can learn, but here it was a different challenge.

The ‘Horlicks’ bottle contained chilli powder, the ‘Bournvita’ tin, salt, while the oats tin had turmeric. 

I won’t be surprised if the rat poison cover had pickles in it. But even without the blink of an eye, she confidently opens a container labeled Britannia biscuits, puts a little masala powder in one of the cookers, and turns it off. No watches to time, no weighing scale to go by.

But then suddenly, there was this call from the department of Physics. The milkman has come with the milk. Even without a lactometer she predicted that the milk did not meet the required specific gravity to be deemed fit for human consumption, adult, pediatric and our pet cat included.

The simultaneous arrival of the old newspaperwalla needed supervision in weights and measures department, which she did with accuracy eligible to earn an ISO certification.

Within the next 20 minutes she noted that the particulate matter in the tap water was alarmingly high (to me it seemed usual) and made sure that no one used it for drinking.

By noon she discovered an unusual biologic phenomena of slowing of the movement of our goldfish in our jerrycan sized aquarium and predicted that the prognosis and outcome was poor. With my postgraduate degree in medicine, I did not find the fish too abnormal but uttered a “yes yes”, more to avoid an argument than anything else. 

By 6 in the evening, the goldfish died. She followed the exact norms of environmental safety in disposal of the mortal remains with necessary prayers; identifying that the cause for the mortality was the new brand of fish food, without an autopsy.

The arrival of the gardeners made her take critical decisions in the area of agriculture deciding on which manure would suit the mango tree better.

And the financial wizard happily manages to run the home with a fiscal deficit starting by the end of third week of every month.

It is said that management skills go beyond what you are taught in B schools, however top grade they are, you need some special senses. I agree. Even if my salary cheque lies deep in my hospital coat pocket she smells it out by the time I park the car.

Phenomenal I say. Isn’t it surprising that with all these qualifications, a working day from 6 am till 11 pm, and on call 24 hours a day, Indian housewives are still considered unemployed and have no organized Trade Union!

Administering the department of Home, with two terrorizing kids is another matter I don’t want to discuss here, because, at least one of them is a young ‘Activist’.

Today is the era of re-designation, where the department heads have become Directors, Managers rechristened as Chairman and owners as CEOs.

Without call for a strike, we have decided to elevate and promote the good old, young at heart, all knowing housewife to a "Homemaker."

She is happy with it!

I have very little knowledge of chemistry, nature science, food and beverage or commerce or arts.

I remain faithful to my wife, and I cling to her just for survival.

*A Salute to all you lovely women*