Thursday, November 22, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Art of Giving
- The first question is when should one give ?
- The next question is 'how much to give?'
- The next question is what to give ?
- Next we have to answer 'How to give'.
- What should one feel after giving ?
- And the last question is 'how much should we provide for our heirs?
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Vegetarian Food by Swamy Chinmayanandha
A. Eat we must. What we like to eat depends upon one's
taste. There are only four things available Stones,
plants, animals and humans. Unfortunately we cannot
eat stones because our system is not geared to digest
and assimilate them directly. And even though we
sometimes destroy human beings with our cruelty, our
progressive society does not allow eating them. That
leaves us the vegetable and animal kingdom to choose
from. No doubt, since prehistoric times, animals have
been eaten, but we find that the very first progenitor
of humanity, Adam himself, was eating only vegetables.
It is only his second son who started this easy method of
obtaining food because agriculture seemed to be too
difficult for him, as it required a continuous process
of putting forward effort to produce. Whereas sitting
behind a stone, waiting for innocent animals to come
along, and destroying and eating them seemed to be the
easier way!
Q. How did the idea of vegetarianism develop in India?
A. We learned that vegetables can stay fresh up to
forty-eight hours, but meat deteriorates and becomes
harmful very quickly. Furthermore, within the human
body, during the process of digestion, food remains in
the digestive system for forty-eight hours. Fruit and
vegetables digest much faster than meat. Whatever
stays longer in the intestines starts to decay with
the heat of the body system, which creates a lot of
toxins.
Let me explain this idea of toxicity a little more.
You must have noticed that generally man eats only
those animals that don't eat other animals. It is very
difficult for man to digest and assimilate carnivorous
animals. This suggests that they must be highly toxic
to his system. It also suggests that a certain amount
of toxicity is present in the first round of eaten
animals, because twice removed the meat of carnivorous
animals becomes impossible to eat.
Q. So it means that what one eats is between the
doctor and the person who wants to remain healthy.
But in what way does vegetarian food help a person's
mind? Did people discover that it affects the mental
temperament?
A. The food that we take in and the thoughts and
actions that spring forth from us have a distinct
relationship. In the computer world, there is a
well-known saying garbage in, garbage out. This
seems to be true of our bodies as well. If you put
toxic food garbage into your system, in the long
run the texture of your thoughts and actions have a
tendency to become more un-reconciling, extremely
selfish, less concerned for others, and lusty and
therefore potentially dangerous to the social order.
Thus, we can see that toxins in the system bring about
a lot of mental disturbances. The same principle
applies to drinking alcohol. Since our culture is
essentially geared for the life of meditation, the
mind that is constantly agitated and wandering finds
it difficult to plunge into meditation. To such an
individual, the toxin is an obstacle in reaching his
goal. Probably this must have been the reason why the
rishis in the jungles ate only fruits, roots, leaves
and water. Those who take non-vegetarian food may be
very uncontrolled because of the toxins in their food.
Watch a vegetarian and a nonvegetarian animal. All the
herbaceous animals are available for eating; whereas
the non-vegetarian or carnivorous animals are never
eaten, even by hard core non-vegetarians. Why is this?
Because carnivorous animals have got so much toxicity
in them that it means almost death to eat them.
Take Care of the Body
Avoid overeating and select the food that agrees with
you and is conducive to the harmony of the body. Many
people think eating food is the greatest exercise for
the stomach! That is not enough. Apart from eating
healthy food, you must also have some exercise of all the limbs,
especially some exercises of the stomach so that your
digestion, assimilation and evacuation can be as good
as possible.
These are the primary rules to be followed. Our
ancient teachers said: "The first duty is to take care
of the body, which is the means for the pursuit of
spiritual life." Sometimes weak persons come to me and
say, "I want to forget
my body!" What kind of body do the have? They are just
a mass of skin and bones! Develop the body properly.
You can never forget the body if it is not in a
healthy condition
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Treasure Of Life
You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.
Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Don't set your goals by what other people deem important.
Don't take for granted the things closest to your heart.
Don't let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future.
By living your life one day at a time, you live ALL the days of your life.
Don't give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really
over until the moment you stop trying.
Don't be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us together.
Don't be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn
Don't shut love out of your life by saying it's impossible to find. The
quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is
to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings .
Don't run through life so fast that you forget not only where you've
been, but also where you are going.
Don't forget that a person's greatest emotional need is to feel
appreciated.
Don't be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can
always carry easily.
Don't use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved.
Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Surrender to God A moral Story
The next beggar went to the millionaire and said: "Oh Lord! I have not taken a square meal for the past ten days. Please help me."
"How much do you want?" asked the millionaire.
"Whatever you give me, Maharaj," replied the beggar."Here, take this ten rupee note. You can have nice food for at least three days." The beggar walked away with the ten rupee note.
The third beggar came. "Oh Lord, I have heard about your noble qualities. Therefore, I have come to see you. Men of such charitable disposition are verily the manifestations of God on earth," he said.
"Please sit down," said the millionaire. "You appear to be tired. Please take this food," he said, and offered food to the beggar."Now please tell me what I can do for you."
"Oh Lord," replied the beggar; "I merely came to meet such a noble personage that you are. You have given me this rich food already. What more need I get from you? You have already shown extraordinary kindness towards me. May God bless you!"But the millionaire, struck by the beggar's spirit, begged of the beggar to remain with him, built a decent house for him in his own compound, and looked after him for the rest of his life.
God is like this good millionaire. Three classes of people approach Him, with three different desires and prayers. There is the greedy man full of vanity, full of arrogance, full of desires. He demands the objects of worldly enjoyment from God. Since this man, whatever be his vile desires, has had the good sense to approach God, He grants him some part of the desired objects (even these very soon pass away, just as the two rupees the first beggar got are spent before nightfall).
The other type of devotee prays to the Lord for relief from the sufferings of the world, but is better than the first one, in as much as he is ready to abide by His Will. To him the Lord grants full relief from suffering, and bestows on him much wealth and property.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Live for something !!!
Live for something:Do good, and leave behind you a monument of virtue that the storms of time can never destroy. Write your name in kindness, love, and mercy on the hearts of thousands you come in contact with year by year, and you will never be forgotten. Your name and your good deeds will shine as the stars of heaven.
Pearls of Wisdom:
- Don't love the Heart that hurts you and don't hurt the Heart that loves you.
- Don't cry over anyone who won't cry over you.
- Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget.
- Most people walk in and out of your life, but only friend's leave footprints in your heart.
- True friendship "never" ends. Friends are forever.
- People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges.
- If we are incapable of finding peace in ourselves, it is pointless to search elsewhere.
- The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.
- A change of heart changes everything.
- Our greatest glory is not in ever falling, but in rising every time we fall.
- You only live once - but if you work it right, once is enough.
- One generation plants trees, and the next enjoys the shade.
- It is difficult to live in the present, ridiculous to live in the future, and impossible to live in the past. Nothing is as far away as one minute ago.
You are what you think!
- Your inner thoughts can cause you to be rich or poor, loved or unloved, happy or unhappy, attractive or unattractive, powerful or weak.
- What you impress upon your mind, you'll inevitably become. It's a psychological law that whatever you desire to accomplish you must first impress upon your subconscious mind.
- Relentless, repetitive self talk will change your self image. You'll affect your subconscious mind with verbal repetition. Constant repetition carries conviction.
- When you change your values you'll change your behavior. Start thinking of yourself as becoming the person you want to be. Self suggestion will make you the master of yourself.
- If you believe you can, you can.
- You can become whatever you want to be.
Must do:
- In each task that must be done, there is opportunity. See the task not as a burden, but as an encouragement to be fully alive and effective.
- The real burden would be the inability to do anything. No task is a burden, but is instead the chance to express your own aliveness.
- Does the work seem dreary, unimaginative, tedious or boring? That's mainly because your attitude makes it so.
- See what happens when you start by being thankful for the opportunity to do it. Your genuine gratitude will help you to see the positive value.
- When the things you must do become things you want to do, it can transform your life. Each moment takes on more meaning; each effort brings greater and greater reward.
- Rather than fighting and forcing yourself to do what must be done, let go of your resistance and allow yourself to accomplish. Let what you must, become what you want, and watch yourself begin to soar.
One step away:
- If you were just one step away from reaching your goal, would you take that step? How do you know, right now, that you're not?
- What a shame it would be to stop making the effort, when just a little bit more would make it all worthwhile. What a shame it would be to have taken all those steps, only to miss the very last one.
- The next step you take may very well be the one that makes all the others count. You owe it to yourself, and the efforts you've made, to keep going.
- No, the next step may not get you there. Yet what about the one after that? If you keep moving ahead, a little at a time, you will indeed arrive. When you take that final, triumphant step, you'll be so very thankful you persevered.
- At some point success is just one step away. Keep going and you'll be there.
Slow down:
- Life is not a race. It is a journey.
- Getting someplace first, before anyone else, has very little real and lasting meaning. Seek instead to encourage others to come along, and you'll find the journey much more fulfilling.
- When you hurry through each moment, you miss out on the richness that could be yours. Take the time to live, to experience where you are, rather than being so obsessed with getting to the next checkpoint.
- When you stop demanding to have it all now, you'll discover that you have plenty already. Learn to experience joy where you are, and you'll experience it in abundance.
- Yes, it can be wonderfully exhilarating when life is moving quickly. But do not move so quickly that speed becomes your only experience, for there is so much more to enjoy.
- The terrain of life is filled with wonderful and astounding detail. Slow down and take in its richness.
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