What is in a name?

Well Shakespear's famous quote comes to my mind...Call the rose by any other name and it shall smell just as sweet.

Then am reminded that when one dies, we address it as "body" and not with the name.....

And any time our name is called we give it attention...whether in praise or otherwise....

We feel a strange joy about namesakes ...

So whats in a name?

Each time our name is mentioned we pay attention....well so does God....so each time we think of him, read about the Divine or talk or sing for the Lord, we attract attention.

And does God/Lord/The Divine/The Supreme....have a name???

Now lets dwell on the formless & nameless being given a form & a name for the convenience of mankind.

Think about it

Value of time!

To realize
The value of a sister/brother
Ask someone
Who doesn't have one.

To realize
The value of ten years:
Ask a newly
Divorced couple.

To realize
The value of four years:
Ask a graduate.

To realize
The value of one year:
Ask a student who
Has failed a final exam.

To realize
The value of nine months:
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.

To realize
The value of one month:
Ask a mother
Who has given birth to
A premature baby..

To realize
The value of one week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize
The value of one minute:
Ask a person
Who has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize
The value of one second:
Ask a person
Who has survived an accident

To realize
The value of one tenth of a second:
Ask a person
Who has lost the Olympic Gold

Time waits for no one..

Treasure every moment you have.

You will treasure it even more when
You can share it with someone special.

To realize the value of a friend or family member:

Ask someone who has lost one.


Remember....

Hold on tight to the ones you love!

The Mayonnaise Jar

When things in your life seem, almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class
and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly,
He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
And proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students, if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively
filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

‘Now,’ said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things - family,
children, health, Friends, and Favorite passions
Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, Your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else –The small stuff.

‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ He continued,
there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So…

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play With your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

‘Take care of the golf balls first –
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled.
‘I’m glad you asked’.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.’

Please share this with other “Golf Balls”

A story with a message - Lightening

A bus full of passengers was traveling while suddenly the weather changed and there was a huge downpour and lightning all around.

They could see that the lightning would appear to come towards the bus and then go elsewhere.

After 2 or 3 horrible instances of being saved from lightning, the driver stopped the bus about fifty feet away from a tree and said -

"We have somebody in the bus whose death is a certainty today."

Because of that person everybody else will also get killed today.

Now listen carefully what I am saying ..

I want each person to come out of bus one by one and touch the tree trunk and come back.

Whom so ever death is certain will get caught up by the lightning and will die & everybody else will be saved".

They had to force the 1st person to go and touch the tree and come back.

He reluctantly got down from the bus and went and touched the tree.

His heart leaped with joy when nothing happened and he was still alive.

This continued for rest of the passengers who were all relieved when they touched the tree and nothing happened.

When the last passenger's turn came, everybody looked at him with accusing eyes.

That passenger was very afraid and reluctant since he was the only one left.

Everybody forced him to get down and go and touch the tree.

With a 100% fear of death in mind, the last passenger walked to the tree and touched it.

There was a huge sound of thunder and the lightning came down and hit the bus - yes the lightning hit the bus, and killed each and every passenger inside the bus.

It was because of the presence of this last passenger that, earlier, the entire bus was safe and the lightning could not strike the bus.

LIFE LEARNING from this..

At times, we try to take credit for our present achievements, but this could also be because of a person right next to us.

Look around you - Probably someone is there around you, in the form of Your Parents, Your Spouse, Your Children, Your Siblings, Your friends, etc, who are saving you from harm..!

Think About it..

You will surely find that Person..!!

Food for thought:

A group of  children were playing near two railway tracks, one still in use while the other  disused. Only one child played on the disused track, the  rest on the  operational track.

The train is coming, and you are just beside the  track interchange. You can make the train change its course to the disused track  and save most of the kids.

However, that would also mean the lone child playing  by the disused track would be sacrificed. Or would you rather let the train go  its way?    

Let's take a pause to think what kind of  decision we could make................

Most  people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrifice only one  child. You might think the same way, I guess. Exactly, I thought the same way  initially because to save most of the children at the expense of only one child  was rational decision most people would make, morally and emotionally.

But, have  you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the disused track had in  fact made the right decision to play at a safe place?

Nevertheless, he  had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who chose to play where the  danger was.

This kind of dilemma happens around us everyday. In the office,  community, in politics and especially in a democratic society, the RIGHT is  often sacrificed for the interest of the majority, no matter how foolish or  ignorant the majority are, and how far-sighted and knowledgeable the wise  are.

The child who chose not to play with the rest on the operational track  was sidelined. And in the case he was sacrificed, no one would shed a tear for  him.

The great critic Leo Velski Julian who told the story said he would  not try to change the course of the train because he believed that the kids  playing on the operational track should have known very well that track was  still in use, and that they should have run away if they heard the train's  sirens.

If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die because  he never thought the train could come over to that track! Moreover, that track  was not in use probably because it was not safe. If the train was diverted to  the track, we could put the lives of all passengers on board at stake! And in  your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, you might end up  sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few kids.

While we are all  aware that life is full of tough decisions that need to be  made, we may  not realize that hasty decision may not always be the right one.

Law of the Garbage Truck

This has to be one of the best messages I have received because  when you sit and think about it.... It is so true!  

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took  off for the airport. We were driving in the  right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in  front of us.

My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded  and missed the other car by just  inches!

The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started  yelling at us.  My taxi driver just smiled and waved at  the guy. I mean, he was really friendly. 

So I asked, 'Why did you just do  that? This guy could almost ruin your car  and sent us to the hospital!'

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'Law of the Garbage  Truck'   

He explained that many people are like  garbage trucks. They run around full of  garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointments. As and when  their  garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you.

Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move  on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to  other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their  day.

Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, So ... Love the people who treat you  right. Pray for the ones who don't.

Life is 10  %  what you make it.

AND

90 %  how you take it!

Have a garbage-free Life !!👍😊

STORY OF A MOTHER'S CURSE !

Recently, I have visited a friend's father in a old age home. There I met a lady, around 74 years old, who reminded me of my mother. I introduced myself. We talked for few minutes.

Then, without any provocation, she started cursing her son and daughter.
"Uday, you have come to see your friend's father. But my children, those %@#%$, never cared for me. They ditched me here like an ugly decayed old dog..."she was cursing and shouting so loud. And the beauty of the words she used would create envy in even among parliamentarians in India. I have never ever heard such gutter adjectives that she used to address her son and daughter - horrible! I could imagine her pain, anger, hatred and alienation. I understood that her son is an engineer and daughter is a medical doctor. They have never come to see her. And she is living on her pension.

"Please don’t curse your children, mother..." I said.

"Both of them are living in huge bungalows with children and servants. They spent lot of money on poojas and rituals too....But they can't spend a minute or a paisa for me “she continued cursing them...

Apparently, she is disillusioned, depressed, frustrated and carrying lot of negative emotions. A tragic situation, indeed. Barring the emotional outburst, we fail to see some basic factors that point to bitter truth in life.

"May I ask you a few questions, mother?"

"Yes..."

"You have given birth to your children with part of your own body. You have nurtured them well. You have provided them with nutritious food and nourished them..."

"Yes...yes...most of the times, I was starving to feed them...Since my husband was not earning well, we were living on my petty salary then..."

"You took care of their body so now they have a good and healthy body..."

"Yes - but my curse will finish off their health, their body will decay..." she scolded.

"Now, my question is, you took care of the body, but what about their mind? What did you do for their mind? Did you teach them any value based knowledge? Did you teach them your traditions, customs, rituals, culture and its significance? Did you read them our puranas and itihas?"

"Who had time for that? I was busy to make both ends meet...I was starving, but I wanted to see them as an engineer or doctor...I wanted to see the society respects my children."

"So, your wishes are fulfilled, then what are you complaining about?"
She looked at me with a blank face.

"You taught your daughter MBBS - she became doctor. You send your son to study BTech and he became engineer. Those are very good positions in your society...You should be happy. You taught them to be competitive and selfish...Fair enough. But how will they learn what you didn't teach them? Did you teach them any values in life? Where will they learn from that they should take care of parents?"

"But...they should...right? I have sacrificed my life...I starved..."

"Mother, you made two mistakes - one, you were irresponsible to your own body and mind. When you starve, trillions of living beings inside your body will starve, have you ever thought about it? It is a self-violence. What about the curse of your own body cells? Second: you were sub-consciously deriving pleasure from this concept: "even if I starve, I fed my kids". So you already got your contentment and happiness. Your wish was to make them professionals and earn respect in the society - it was also fulfilled..."

She didn't have answer.

"Have you sought your kids’ permission before bringing them into this world? Did they request you to take them to this world? If you give them good body, it was your dharma to give them good mind too?"

How Rajmata Jijabai did brought her son Shivaji up? Jijabai told him the tales of Ram, Krishna, Hanuman, Yudhistira, Bheem, Sibi etc - fighting the injustice, being truthful, humane and freeing of people from tyranny. These stories made Shivaji the great. He respected women and his mother.

On the contrary, how did his arch-enemy Aurangzeb was brought up by his mother? She made a demon out of a man. He imprisoned his own father Shah Jahan and assaulted women and auctioned them. He was trading Indian women as slaves.

"But...I was ignorant about such things..." she said. Ignorance of karmic laws is NOT an excuse; each and every karma will have its cause and effects.

Abdul Kalam was brought up by his mother in poverty - he became India's most-respected president. On the contrary, Adolf Hitler was also brought up in poverty by his mother. See the difference!

"Mother, I am sorry to say, but you got what you deserve. You are responsible for your karma and hence the result"

"But the struggle I underwent for them? The miseries and hardship I suffered for bringing them up?"

"Mother, everybody feeds their children. But you should have provided them something else too. Have you shown them or let them experience poverty, miseries and hardship? You wanted to experience it for yourself in the name of love to children... Then how do you expect them to know your troubles? You spent lot of money to make them professionals. Did you spend a single penny to make them a good human being? You have taught them that life is all about tuition or scoring highest marks in the exams and competition items like dance and songs. Did you ever take them to a cancer ward in the hospital? Did you ever take them to an orphanage? Did you make them understand sufferings of old-age people? Where do you expect them to learn such things, mother? From reality shows? Commercials? Television series? If they think that life is about self-centered enjoyment, who is responsible for that life style?"

"But don't they know the meaning of "Mathrudevo bhava" and..." she murmured something

"Mother, mathrudevo bhava means, get yourself elevated to the position of the god, not that your demand your children to respect you as god...” I said.

She didn't utter a single word. Tears rolled out of her eyes. I felt I was exceeding the limit. But somebody should tell it to her. It is for her own good. She should stop producing more negativity and hatredShe should take up the responsibility of what had happened to her. That will make her think. And I am sure that she will find solace. There was nothing else I could do in such situation.

"I am really sorry mother...Please forgive me if I have said something that hurt you..."

"No my son, you have opened my eyes...I think I am realising your points..."

"And please stop calling your son, 'son of a bitch' - in fact you are scolding yourself here. Let me assure you, your son and daughter are not going to escape from the results of their bad karma. They will get it back from their children. Then, they may repent. That point of time, they may understand the sacrifice of their parents....So, just pray for them, instead of cursing them..." I said. (http://udaypai.in/)