What we really need is lots of love

We sometimes think: why are we so greedy for land and property, why are we motivated by political desires?

Sometimes it’s hard to love like this. We should not detest the diseased. We should try to rid the disease because all living creatures are connected with one another. If we cannot love the violent, cruel-hearted, hateful and the envious, then we cannot love anyone.

Just as iron is naturally attracted to a magnet, the soul of every living being is naturally attracted to God, who is like a supreme magnet. Then why do so many engage in ungodly activities? Just as a piece of iron covered by dust or rust is not attracted to a magnet, the soul covered by lust, greed, envy, pride, anger and illusion is not attracted to God.

So, people are diseased, but we should love the one who is suffering from this disease. People are ruining their lives because their pure consciousness is obscured by illusion and ignorance. When it is night, it is difficult to see what is what, who is who, where we are. Ignorance means you do not know. Ignorance is due to darkness, but as soon as the sun rises, everything is revealed as it is. Similarly, when the light within us is allowed to shine, all ignorance is dispelled.

The sun of knowledge, God, is within all of us. Then why are we in darkness? Simply because we cannot perceive His presence. When there are dark clouds, you cannot see the sun. So the cloud of ignorance, which is the root disease which creates all the symptoms in the form of unwanted activities and thoughts, is covering the pure light of the Divine within us.

Yoga is a means to dissipate this cloud and allow the sun of love, the sun of peace, the pure light of the divine presence of the Lord within our hearts to shine and give light to everyone. The supreme occupation of all humanity is to give light to the world, not to contribute to the darkness. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

It is the duty of each one of us – it is the highest expression of love – to purify our own hearts. If you do not have something, how can you give it to others? You can only give what you have. What we need is not more technology, not more scientific research. This world doesn’t need more food. There’s plenty of food, but it’s being dumped in the ocean or buried under the ground. What we need is love. If we do not have love, what can we give? We will simply remain a part of the problem.

Therefore, purification of the heart is the divine responsibility of each one of us. When our hearts are pure like the sun, love will emanate in all directions for everyone. Does the sun discriminate that this is a dragonfly, this is a dog, this is a Native American, this is an Indian, this is a businessman, and this is the president of the United States? No.

The pure heart shines love all around in the same way as the sun. When we purify our hearts, we transcend all boundaries of sectarianism, all boundaries of selfishness, and we can be the true servant, well-wisher and friend of every living being.



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Scriptural psychotherapy and happiness

Explaining the last chapter of the Uddhav Gita, which is part of the Srimad Bhagavatam, Swami Visharadanand of Prashanti Kutiram, Bangalore, commented that Indian scriptures give deep insights into psychotherapy: “All unhappiness is born out of psychological condition of mind called vritis or modifications.” Four such conditions of mind are: spardha or competition, asuya or jealousy, tiraskar or hatred and ahankar or ego. These four vritis destroy our happiness.

Normally, competition normally occurs among equals. Jealousy is felt towards those who are thought to be better off than or `superior’ to us, and hatred or contempt is directed towards those we think are `inferior’ to us. Ego is in respect of self. Ego is a feeling that I am someone special.

What is wrong in competing; doesn’t it lead to progress? Swamiji replied: Competition brings about the attitude of ‘doing something only to win’ rather than ‘excelling to bring out your best potential’. When ‘winning’ and not ‘doing the best possible’ is the attitude, it may also lead to use of unfair means as also compromise on quality of work input.

Jealousy is a counterproductive attitude of mind because it prevents a person from seeing good qualities in another person. If someone is wise, a jealous person may think he is a hypocrite, and so not learn from the other’s virtues. Hatred and contempt are also negative emotions. Ego makes you do things only to win approval of others. If such approval does not come once in a while then the mind is disturbed and that makes an egoistic person very unhappy. “When all others appreciated my work, why did that fellow not do so?”-- This is a typical reaction that prevents one from experiencing peace and happiness.

What, then, is the solution for removing such negative emotions from one’s mind? One must feel samatvam or oneness to overcome competition, jealousy and hatred. And one must understand the true nature of atma, that is, sat-chit-ananda, to overcome the ego. The same atma is the indweller of the body of all other persons, whose outward forms may be different. If you understand the real nature of atma as the creator of this entire Universe, where is the need for you to feel superior or inferior to others and be egoistic? Also, where is the need to get approval of others in order to be happy?

It is not easy, however, for everyone to remain with this understanding of soul-consciousness versus body-consciousness. What then is the way out? The Uddhav Gita gives the road map to reach this stage. First of all, you have to keep doing your given duty to the best of your capacity without ulterior motive, ego or ‘doer-ship’. This is the path of Karma Yoga. This then will lead to purity of mind which is absolutely essential for enlightenment.

After achieving a near-pure mind you could get on to the path of devotion and trust in God, known as Bhakti Yoga. Soon after that you might spontaneously begin to feel the oneness of all beings and supreme love for all, which is the ultimate bliss that one could ever hope to achieve in this world. It is a state of long lasting bliss which can also be carried forward from this birth to the next birth also, as promised by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.

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The three nobilities

When you chant and recite any mantra, bear in mind the importance of the Three Nobilities: Bodhichitta, Non-Objectifying Wisdom and Dedication. This brings benefit to the one reciting and for those it is meant to bring benefit.

The two aspects to remember are: Firstly, keep secret your mantra recitation and its result. Secondly, be mindful not to speak to others who are not Dharma practitioners about your practice and accrued benefit. If we are not mindful of this, the result will not be perfect due to many forces that may be counter-productive.

The three nobilities are as important as your yearning to achieve the result by reciting the specific mantra.

The first nobility is called Bodhichitta, which is ‘Awakened Mind.’ It means generation of a special motivation to benefit all sentient beings with the virtues being accumulated. This motivation should be generated prior to any kind of virtuous practice. You can read this line to motivate yourself for the benefit of all:

"I will benefit all sentient beings bestowing them with eternal bliss and qualities."

The second nobility is called Non-Objectifying Wisdom. It means whatever virtue is accumulated or practiced, it's done without any sense of desires clinging to the mind. This, in other words, is called primordial awareness and is maintained during the main practice itself.

One should be fully aware without any clinging or self-centric desires such as, ‘I am the one who practices this virtue’ or ‘this is the virtue I'm practising and for them I practise.’ In fact, one should cut out such thoughts from the mind stream. When the mind is devoid of such discriminative thoughts, all emotions naturally calm down. It is therefore called Non-Objectifying Wisdom, the true and primordial awareness of all beings.

The third nobility is called Dedication. It means whatever virtue has been accumulated, for example, by chanting and reciting the mantra, it is dedicated to bringing to sentient beings whatever benefit is possible to rid them of their suffering and bringing them happiness. Usually, the dedication prayer is chanted only after the virtuous practice.

Chant this line as a dedication prayer: "Gewa Ma-ghen Drodug Kunla Ngo” - which means “May all motherly sentient beings attain enlightenment through the power of all the virtues I might have accumulated by chanting and reciting the mantra."

It is of crucial importance to feel what other beings need. Feel what you need. To our surprise we will discover that the need and requirement are one and the same, that is, happiness. Each and every being needs nothing more than happiness.

So it is with us. Therefore all sentient beings are similar and even the same. However, remember that just like us, other sentient beings too get trapped in the net of suffering, pains, torture, afflictions and emotions. Now feel and chant this: “May all sentient beings be free from sufferings and its causes.” This is the real definition of compassion.

Extend this practice further from one being to two and four - for instance from your family and then to the neighbourhood, to your town and other towns, cities and to country -- and further towards all sentient beings.

Practice this daily and see the result. Don’t forget that Dharma belongs to nobody. It comes to those who endeavour the most. So begin, now.

The author is a practitioner of Nyingma Buddhism

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Characteristic of love...

A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully and before it blossomed, he examined it.

He saw the bud that would soon blossom, but noticed thorns upon the stem and he thought, "How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns? Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and just before it was ready to bloom... it died.

So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose. The God-like qualities planted in us at birth, grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects.

We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.

Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them. One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns of another, and find the rose within them.

This is one of the characteristic of love... to look at a person, know their true faults and accepting that person into your life... all the while recognizing the nobility in their soul. Help others to realize they can overcome their faults. If we show them the "rose" within themselves, they will conquer their thorns. Only then will they blossom many times over.




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Share thy Knowledge

Sharing is good. Sharing relieves your stress. It helps you to know many things which you don’t know. Sharing makes you aware with many things in the world. Sharing makes your thought process more strong and gets different insights. You can actually get good tips to make your life better. Lots of incidents happened around us. But do we care? Do we learn from these incidences? I doubt. Sharing relieves your stress and gives you the strength to survive. Sharing improves the communication. It improves interpersonal relations. Sharing is sometimes draining and making mind empty for new thought.

There are people who do not share. They just block everything with them. If you are sharing with your parents or wife, you are relieving and getting something from them. Somebody proudly says, “I don’t share small things with my wife”. Share makes the relations more strong. Fear restricts sharing. Fear of getting fired, fear of losing knowledge, fear of making somebody more strong. “If I shared my knowledge with somebody, then who will ask me”. Is the major fear people have. Insecurity of losing something is the major problem.

Off course, sharing is two way process.

In one company, someone  had a big team of HR professionals. His colleague was  very resourceful person .He  recruited him  for supporting him to implement Balanced Score Card in the organization. When he joined he took one initiative. When all HR colleagues come to the office, we would extend the morning meeting for 15 minutes and everybody would share any incident, professional, personal, which impacted his life. The incident could be anything. After one month few team members were not ready at all to stay for these sharing giving different excuses. What can be the reason?

Why to share personal issues? Somebody may say. Right, one should not share personal matters unless the person is trustworthy. After completion my degree, I attended one workshop. During the workshop one person who was a senior administrator shared his personal story with the group when the trainer asked to share experiences with group. After the class, few members were making the fun of that story.

We had one senior in my earlier organization. He used to conduct long meetings in the organization without any results. Once he asked to share personal experiences to every team member on decision making. On another occasion, he asked to share the incident which make member tough. He insisted that the sharing should be from personal life. All team members were reluctant to share their personal experiences. They were ok with professional experience. Most of the members cooked good stories and shared. This guy was more interested to become personal by asking such sharing. His intention was to identify the weak points of the person and use them when required.

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Filter your mind..........and have a clean life

"How do I stop my negative thoughts?" - is a question that I have been asked many times. If you have ever asked this question then you will feel such enormous relief in knowing the answer, because it is so simple. How do you stop negative thoughts? You plant good thoughts!



When you try to stop negative thoughts, you are focusing on what you don't want - negative thoughts - and you will attract an abundance of them. They can never disappear if you are focused on them.



The "stop" part is irrelevant - the negative thoughts are your focus. It doesn't matter if you are trying to stop negative thoughts or control them or push them away, the result is the same. Your focus is on negative thoughts, and by the law of attraction you are inviting more of them to you.


The truth is always simple and it is always easy. To stop negative thoughts, just plant good thoughts! Deliberately plant good thoughts! You plant good thoughts by making it a daily practice to appreciate all the things in your day. Appreciate your health, your car, your home, your family, your job, your friends, your surroundings, your meals, your pets, and the magnificent beauty of the day. Compliment, praise, and give thanks to all things. Every time you say "Thank you" it is a good thought! As you plant more and more good thoughts, the negative thoughts will be wiped out. Why? Because your focus is on good thoughts, and what you focus on you attract.



So don't give any attention to negative thoughts. Don't worry about them. If any come, make light of them, shrug them off, and let them be your reminder to deliberately think more good thoughts now.

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Three Laughing Budhas The Story Behind

It has to be understood that there are three  types of laughter.
1.
 The first is when you laugh at someone else. This is the meanest, the lowest, the most ordinary and vulgar when you laugh  at the expense of somebody else.
This is the violent, the aggressive, the insulting type. Deep down this laughter there is always a feeling of  revenge.

2.
"The second type of laughter is when  you laugh at yourself. This is worth  achieving. This is cultured. And
this man is valuable who can laugh  at himself. He has risen above  vulgarity. He has risen above lowly
instincts -- hatred, aggression, violence.

3.
"And the third is the last -- the  highest. This is not about anybody  -- neither the other nor oneself.
The third is just Cosmic. You laugh  at the whole situation as it is. The  whole situation, as it is, is absurd
-- no purpose in the future, no  beginning in the beginning. The whole situation of Existence is such
that if you can see the Whole -- such a great infinite vastness moving toward no fixed purpose, no
goal -- laughter will arise. So much  is going on without leading anywhere; nobody is there in the
past to create it; nobody is there in the end to finish it. Such is whole Cosmos -- moving so
beautifully, so systematically, so rationally. If you can see this whole Cosmos, then a laughter is
inevitable.
Now the Laughing Budhas.....

"I have heard about three monks. No names are mentioned, because they never disclosed their names to
anybody. They never answered  anything. In China, they are simply known as the three laughing monks.
And they did only one thing: they would enter a village, stand in the market place and start laughing.
They would laugh with their whole being and suddenly people would become aware. Then others would also
get the infection and a crowd would gather. The whole crowd would start laughing just because of them. What was happening? The whole town would get involved. Then they would move to another town.
"They were loved very much. That was their only sermon, their only message; that laugh. And they would
not teach; they would simply create a situation.

"Then it happened that they became famous all over the country. Three laughing monks. All of China loved
them, respected them. Nobody had ever preached in such a way that life must be just a laughter and
nothing else. They were not laughing at anyone in particular. They were simply laughing as if they had
understood the Cosmic joke. And they spread so much joy all over China without using a single word. People would ask for their names, but they would simply laugh. So that became their name -- the three laughing monks.

"Then they grew old. And while  staying in one village. one of the  three monks died. The whole village
became very much expectant because they thought that when one of them  had died, the other two would surely weep. This must be worth seeing because no one had ever seen these people weeping. The whole village gathered. But the two monks were standing beside the corpse of the third and laughing -- such a belly
laugh. So the villagers asked them to explain this.

"So for the first time, the two  monks spoke and said, 'We are laughing because this man has won.
We were always wondering as to who would die first and this man has defeated us. We are laughing at our
defeat and his victory. Also he lived with us for many years and we laughed together and we enjoyed each
other's togetherness, presence.
There can be no better way of giving him the last send off. We can only laugh.

"But the whole village was sad. And when the dead monk's body was put on the funeral pyre, then the village
realized that the remaining two monks were not the only ones who were joking, the third who was dead
was also laughing. He had asked his companions not to change his clothes. It was conventional that
when a man died they changed his dress and gave a bath to the body.

So the third monk had said, 'Don't give me a bath because I have never been unclean. So much laughter has
been in my life that no impurity can accumulate, can come to me. I have not gathered any dust. Laughter is
always young and fresh. So don't give me a bath and don't change my clothes.'

"So just to respect his wishes, they  did not change his clothes. And when the body was put to fire, suddenly
they became aware that he had hidden  some Chinese fire-works under his clothes and they had started going  off. So the whole village laughed and the other two monks said: 'You rascal, you are dead, but you have defeated us once again. Your laughter is the last.'

"There is a Cosmic laughter which comes into being when the whole joke of this Cosmos is understood. That
is of the highest. And only a Buddha can laugh like that. These three monks must have been three Buddhas.
But if you can laugh the second type of laughter, that is also worth trying. Avoid the first. Don't laugh
at anyone's expense. That is ugly and violent. If you want to laugh, then laugh at yourself.

"That's why Mulla Nasruddin, in all his jokes and stories, always proves himself the stupid one, never
anybody else. He always laughs at himself and allows you to laugh at him. He never puts anybody else in
the situation of being foolish. Sufis say that Mulla Nasrudin is the wise fool. Learn at least that much
-- the second laughter.

"If you can learn the second, then the third will not be far ahead.
Soon you will reach the third. But leave the first type. That laughter is degrading. But almost ninety-nine
percent of your laughter is of the first type. Much courage is needed to laugh at oneself. Much confidence
is needed to laugh at oneself.

"For the spiritual seeker, even  laughter should become a part of Sadhana. Remember to avoid the first
type of laughter. Remember to laugh  the second. And remember to reach the third."


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