Just December

This world is filled with a lot of negative news..
Negative thoughts, negative comments..
It is easy to get lost in the negativity of the world.
As soon as we rise in the morning, it finds us.
Because we are so negative about ourselves..
With the way we look, our bodies..
Too old, too fat, too thin, too useless..
Not seeing anything special about ourselves.
Mainly becoz we see ourselves
As the world thinks we should be.
And not as we truly are..

We all need good positive thoughts..
For they are the lifter of our hearts-
Many are cast down
Because of how people talk to them,
How people react to them,
How the media sees them;

I have something good to tell you
That I know a lot about you.
And it is all good!
And how God sees you..
And he sees you as GOOD! !!
God saw everything that He had made
And indeed it was good!

Busy for Copenhagen!

"I know what it’s like and so I can feel that compassion and empathy for others who are at this point struggling. It was very powerful when I realised that the people that knew of my mistake were also ready to forgive me. Their forgiveness came from two factors- their own generosity of spirit and their faith in the goodness of the human being, not just my goodness rather the recognition of the goodness of every human being.


So they were able to say; 'We understand, mistakes happen. It’s OK. We’ve been through the same. We will help you take another step and we know that it is possible as we know that the inner beauty of the soul can come shining through and we are ready to help you with that.'"

See the Sweetness

No matter how bad people may seem, they possess at least one virtue. Be like the humming bird and pick out the sweetness of everyone's character.



Sid said -

“He that is thy friend indeed, He will help thee in thy need: If thou sorrow, he will weep; If thou wake, he cannot sleep: Thus of every grief in heart He with thee does bear a part. These are certain signs to know Faithful friend from flattering foe.”

P.S - Could readers please interpret it for especially the last two lines. :)

From Taking to Giving

The intention behind every action and interaction will fall into one of two categories – giving or taking. Some give because they expect to get something in return, which means they are taking when they are giving. Others take because they want to be able to give more or give better. They are already giving. And a few give everything they have either because they need to be seen as a giver, which means they are still taking, or because they respond to a call to give to others for no reason other than it is the natural thing to do.

In a rampantly material world where the vast majority of us are conditioned to want, take and keep, those who are genuinely generous and authentically kind appear are treasured individuals. However, it seems that more of us are hearing the call to give, to be more benevolent, to make a contribution to something bigger than our self. John F Kennedy called it, “… a care beyond the self”.

Unfortunately when many do hear that call, either from their own conscience or their spirit moves them to reverse the process of taking to giving, they are unsure where to start. Others find the habit of taking so strongly rooted in their personality they find it hard to change the direction of their energy despite their good intentions. A few do get started but find the pressure from peer group or society itself to remain ‘on the take’ so great that they discover themselves resorting to old patterns of thinking and acting, driven by the old voice their head which says, “Get what you can whenever you can”.

On lighter note !

"..you are now completely under my spell !.."

Survive or Serve?

The greater satisfaction in life does not come with the receiving of a gift but with the giving of a gift. Somehow a gesture that extends and gives is more powerful than an act that seeks to take. A generous heart is more fulfilled when it gives of itself. Emptiness tends to accompany accumulation. Most of us know this from our own experience. We might therefore conclude that the pursuit and practice of giving at all times in all places would almost guarantee a satisfying and fulfilling life. Unfortunately we learn the opposite and become highly practiced takers. We will even go to war across breakfast table, boardroom table and ocean table to get and take what we want. Why is this? Early in life we absorb one of the deepest beliefs that forms our habits of taking. It is the belief that life itself has to be survived, that life itself is a survival course, it is survival of the fittest, survive or die. This belief generates a continuous, free floating, background anxiety in our mind, which then drives us to gather the ‘stuff’ we think we need to survive, and to accumulate the money we need to build our systems of protection.

Eventually we equate ‘survival’ with both success and satisfaction in life and, as a consequence, we miss the deeper success and the greater satisfaction that comes with giving and the serving of others. We also fail to recognize an absolute truth which states that our spiritual growth and mental strength are directly linked to giving to others. The humble acorn will eventually demonstrate the efficacy of giving every day. Within the acorn is the blueprint of an oak tree which is destined to absorb carbon dioxide, transform it and give out oxygen, thereby serving all creatures great and small with lungs! It’s growth and strength is driven by this natural inclination towards giving, and if the oak tree were to cease ‘giving out’ what it is designed to absorb, it stagnates and dies. The same happens to us when we forget to make giving the ‘red thread’ that runs through our life. If we do not make giving the primary intention behind everything we do we will stagnate and atrophy both mentally and spiritually.

Like the acorn the natural inclination of human consciousness is to give. The inclination is suppressed when we learn that our purpose in life is survival. When we believe we must survive life we generate fear-based intentions which sound and look like competing, controlling, contending and criticizing (attacking). Paradoxically the fear and the selfish behavior it produces, actually weaken our ability to survive. When we realize spiritual growth and mental strength are only possible when we give based on love, we begin to transform these behaviors into sharing, caring, allowing and fulfilling the needs of others. Here is where motive can be subtle. If we give just because we understand it will be good for us, it is not true giving but taking in disguise. This is self-interest and it will be sensed by others. If it is giving as a response to a genuine need of another, but we give with an awareness that we are self strengthening in the process, this will be a truer giving, sometimes referred to as enlightened self interest. If we give with genuinely no desire for a return, as perhaps a mother would for a newly born baby, it is authentic and selfless giving.

The only way we can free ourselves from these subtle variations is to realize our survival is not an issue. This requires the realization of a core spiritual truth that as spiritual beings we don’t actually die. It requires a direct experience of our own eternity, where any death or endings are seen as illusions. Only then is survival seen as irrelevant. The ‘survival belief’ is seen for what it is, a belief based on the illusion that we are only physical entities. Only then can fear disappear. Only then can true love re-emerge from our hearts. Only then can we give naturally, where giving has no opposite. Only then will we be able to affirm the truth that when we enter into whole hearted giving from the deepest level of intention, the spiritual level, will our physical needs be met through the reciprocal process we call ‘cause and effect’. Only then will giving at one level generate the opportunity to receive at another level. In the meantime, it’s good to practice!

The Pursuit of Your Passion

Is there anything in your life you are passionate about? What is your passion? Are you sure it’s real passion? Passion is another of those concepts whose meaning has become grey at best, totally blurred at worst.

Most of us will learn to think passion is good. Some of us will come to believe that if you have no passion you have no life, and you might as well be dead. Others exhort us to find our passion in life and then to pursue that passion with a …passion! And there are an increasing number who advise us to fill absolutely everything we do with ‘a passion’ if we want to be successful. Few go on to say exactly what they mean by passion, and so the word passion tends to be loosely and vaguely mixed with a variety of concepts including love, anger, suffering, attachment and enthusiasm.


The most common meaning attributed to passion is ‘a strong sexual desire’. In the classic ‘love’ stories it is that heated moment, usually around midnight, when physical feelings and strong emotions take control in the name of ‘making love’. Actually ‘making love’ is, in itself, a misnomer, as love cannot be made, it already is! Which probably explains why this kind of ‘passion’ is seldom love and more likely to be lust! Lust has been more accurately described as, ‘the selfish pursuit of the fulfillment of a physical desire’. If we are to call lust passion, and lust is not love, then passion is not love. And if lust is just another addiction, then that means passion, if it is lust, is probably rather unhealthy.


Some confuse passion with anger. They justify their anger towards some perceived injustice as a demonstration of their passion, and they even say, “Of course I’m angry, it’s because I am passionate about this issue, it shows how much I care”.

But care is not anger, and to call anger passion is more likely to be a way of avoiding self-control because the presence of anger means there has been a loss of self control. So passion is not anger, anger is anger!

Similarly passion is often confused with attachment. Each weekend hundreds of thousands of people will go to watch ‘my team’. They will call themselves ‘passionate supporters’. They will say they love their team ‘with a passion’. But once again this is not love, it is ‘attachment’ to the team. Perhaps this is why there is ninety minutes worth of emotional turmoil followed by exhaustion! If passion is attachment then we are truly confused as attachment to anything including ‘my team’ only induces tension and fear, worry and anxiety, that the team may lose. And passion is not fear, fear is fear.

In biblical times passion was confused with suffering. As a theological term, the Passions of Christ refer to his sufferings subsequent to the last supper and crucifixion. But is passion a form of suffering? Surely suffering is suffering and, at an emotional level, it will be based in some form of loss. All sadnesses and sufferings are precluded by some form of perceived loss. And whoever heard of passion meaning loss?


In all the above examples of possible meanings of passion there is one thing in common, passion is being perceived as an ‘intense emotion born of desire or loss’ which sometimes turns into anger and what we call a ‘crime of passion’. If not resolved or healed these emotions only expand and feed on themselves, ending in even further disappointment and sorrow.

If true passion is not physical stimulation, not anger and not emotional suffering, what is it? Beyond the physical and the emotional there is the spiritual. Perhaps we may find the real meaning of passion in the territory of spirit. The root meaning of enthusiasm lies in the Greek term ‘entheos’ which describes the natural, unhindered energy of spirit. It means to be filled with the ‘energy of God’ or divine energy. When our core energy, our spiritual energy, moves through us and out into the world in a natural, creative way, we experience and feel what is known as enthusiasm. We all know this experience. Think of a time when you were being creative. Notice your enthusiasm during the process. Notice your enthusiasm as you talk about your creative experience to others. And notice your enthusiasm to return to create some more. All artists know this kind of enthusiasm and it usually indicates they have found their ‘passion’.

We are all artists as we all get to create our own lives. We do this by creating thoughts, decisions and building relationships with others. So why do so many of us lack enthusiasm in life, why the lack of ‘a passion’ for living. Because we learn to miscreate! We learn to ‘lust after’ something and develop a ‘lust for’ something.

And when such desires are not satisfied we generate anger and sorrow, and it’s these emotional miscreations that drain our energy and kill our enthusiasm. They destroy our ‘passion for living’, and therefore our ability to participate fully in our own life.

As you can probably see, finding your passion in life, and therefore living enthusiastically, requires a degree of self-awareness and self-understanding not normally learned in most peoples lives. It means realising life is a creative process in itself, and that the energy required to fulfil that process is not an energy that is delivered to your door or to the sockets in your walls. It is an energy that comes from your heart, from the heart of the self, and it is in unlimited supply. When discovered you will know enthusiasm, you will be enthusiastic, and others will more likely see someone living their life ‘with a consistent passion’.

Don’t COMPARE.COM and You Won’t be CONFUSED.COM!

We live in the era of instant access to comparison. At the touch of a few keys we can compare prices and services of almost anything from electricity to houses, from cars to camels! It’s a brilliant service that offers the opportunity to use both time and money more efficiently. But it is a tendency that tends not to stop at commodities and utilities. As we spectate the world through our media window we also find ourselves easily trapped in comparisons with others. Either consciously or subconsciously many of us will also spend our life in search of an identity and thereby spent much time watching and comparing our self with others along the way. As we search for an identity it’s as if we are torn between being like someone else and completely rebelling against all established types… stereo or otherwise! At the same time some of us will believe we have found our individuality by being the same as someone else. We don’t notice the contradiction when we imitate another, either by looks, fashion or lifestyle, and yet believe we are a trendsetter!

Comparing your self with another is one of the most disempowering habits. Often learned at an early age, it is well fed by the marketing and entertainment industries. Cars, bodies, homes, friends, lifestyles and personality are only a few of the many levels at which we learn to compare our self with other people. In so doing we seldom feel our self-esteem becoming stronger, and if we do, it is more likely to be a short lived inflation of our ego, and deflation must follow.


Comparing ourselves with others is a deep and often subtle conditioning in a world where ‘people watching’ has become, for many, a daily obsession.

As we watch, we compare, as we compare, we desire, and as we desire we lose our ability to be content with where we are and what we have.
Someone else’s life always look better than ‘my life’, someone else’s success always seems much greater than any success I may achieve and someone else’s future always seems to look much rosier than my future.

Although there are many levels at which we learn to compare, perhaps the most common is at the level of form. The ‘beauty myth’ feeds us the illusion that if we are not drop dead stunningly gorgeous then we cannot be successful and we cannot be happy.

The images of perfectly formed bodies, with the most attractive faces, adorn our glossy magazines (women’s and men’s) and, in some places, our daily newspaper.

As we absorb the ‘beautiful is best’ mythology many will spend both money and time attempting to achieve the shape, smile, suntan and style of life of those whom they aspire to be like. It all comes with that subtle promise of happiness and success, and if our awareness is dim enough, we will believe it.

Then we become perplexed as to why we are even unhappier, and even more discontent, when we obviously fail to look like the manufactured image of the perfected human form. The sadness at not achieving what we perceive others have achieved, the disappointment at not being able to duplicate the physical beauty of another, can lead to depression, and then other industries will benefit from our expenditure as we attempt to counter our flagging feelings of self worth. It is a spiral that only leads downwards.

However there are those who will counter all this and say that it’s good to aspire to the heights that others seem to have reached. It is here that we meet a fine line between imitation and inspiration. It’s always good to recognize the best and see the virtue in another’s character. But while it its good to see their virtues it pays to leave the person outside the doorway of our mind.

Imitation may be a form of flattery but it is also a sign that we are suppressing our self. An aspiration towards excellence, an inclination to inculcate virtue, an intention to replace our vicious cycles with virtuous cycles at the level of our thoughts, feelings and attitudes is the road to being all that we can be.

But it is a road we must walk alone. It is not a road to more acquisition or accumulation. It is a journey towards the realisation that each and every one of us is already all that we can ever be, we are already complete, we are already worthy and highly esteemed.

It’s just that we have temporarily lost awareness of it.

Ending all comparison with others is essential to living a contented and fulfilling life, where our life is ‘filled’ from inside out, not outside in.You are unique (it is the one thing we ALL have in common!) and it is impossible to look or be the same as anyone else. You already have all that you need within you. Much of what your body needs comes from outside you, but ALL that YOU need comes from within, and you can never loose it.

This means that what you see in the bathroom mirror in the morning is not you, it is just the form you occupy. It means beauty is not skin deep, it is beyond the skin. It means beauty is not an image or a reflection, it is what you see and feel when you know yourself as you truly, uniquely are. And it is what others will see and feel when your thoughts and actions are shaped by love, guided by truth and shared with kindness. Then virtue will be its own reward, as well as ‘bring’ its own rewards. And then all comparison with others and all aspiration to be like others will seem like a disease that you recovered from a long time ago.

Your life is a gift and an opportunity to plough your own furrow, create your own path, shape your own destiny, and in so doing you do what you are here to do which is create your life which, if you do it well, will enrich the lives of others.

Nostalgia of DD

When Gulli-Danda & Kanche (marbles) were more popular than cricket. When we always had friends to play aais-paais (I Spy), chhepan-chhepai & pitthoo anytime...

When we desperately waited for 'Yeh Jo Hai Jindagi' (Doordarshan serial) When chitrahaar, vikram-baitaal, Dada Daadi Ki Kahaniyaan, Alif-Laila were so fulfilling..and the old Chinese serial..at nights...no words to describe..it is fond memory of my age 4..... When there was just one TV in every five houses and...

When Bisleris were not sold in the trains and we were worrying if papas will get back into the train in time or not when they were getting down at stations to fill up the water bottle...

When we were going to bed by 9.00pm sharp except for the 'Yeh Jo Hai Jindagi' day...

When Holis,Eids & Diwalis n Chritsmas meant mostly hand-made pakwaans and sweets and moms seeking our help while preparing them ...

When Maths teachers were not worried of our Mummies and papas while slapping/beating us...(Ah...it still hurts..but now with smile n gratitude)

When we were exchanging comics and stamps and Chacha-Chaudaris & Billus were our heroes...

When we were in Nanihaals every summer and loved flying kites and plucking and eating unripe mangoes and leechies...

When one movie every Sunday evening on television was more than asked for and 'ek do teen chaar' and 'Rajani' inspired us...

When 50 paisa meant at least 10 toffees...

When left over pages of the last years notebooks were used for rough work or even fair work...
When 'Chelpark' and 'Natraaj' were encouraged against 'Reynolds & family'...

When the first rain meant getting drenched and playing in water and mud and making 'kaagaj ki kishtis'...

When there were no phones to tell friends that we will be at their homes at six in the evening...

When our parents always had 15 paise blue colored 'Antardesheyas' and 5 paise machli wale stamps at home...

When we remembered tens of jokes and were not finding 'ice-cream & papa' type jokes foolish enough to stop us from laughing...

When we were not seeing patakhes on Diwalis and gulaalson Holis as air and noise polluting or allergic agents...

The list can be endless...

On the serious note I would like to summarize with...

When we were using our hearts more than our brains, even for scientifically brainy activities like 'thinking' and 'deciding'...

When we were crying and laughing more often, more openly and more sincerely...

When we were enjoying our present more than worrying about our future...

When being emotional was not synonymous to being weak...

When sharing worries and happiness didn't mean getting vulnerable to the listener...
When blacks and whites were the favorite colors instead of greys...

When journeys also were important and not just the destinations...

When life was a passenger's sleeper giving enough time and opportunity to enjoy the sceneries from its open and transparent glass windows instead of some super fast's second ac with its curtained, closed and dark windows...

I really miss them(From the bottom of my heart).. don't u?

for more DD visit - ddnational.blogspot.com

Sorry for Audio missing...u can watch it all of them Youtube...

Just a thought...

Having painstakingly experimented with several elements, he finally came across the right material for the filament. When someone asked, “How did you do it?” he laughingly said, “Mine is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.”
That was Edison. In fact, it was the 1% inspiration or the sudden burst of creativity that gave meaning to the 99% perspiration or hard work. But why did that insight come to Edison and not to other contemporary scientists? Why did the idea of salt satyagraha that finally led to Indian independence come to Gandhi and not to the rest?
Think of Archimedes who ran out of his bathtub having discovered the principle of buoyancy. What made these people special? Why did these breakthroughs and skills come to them and not to the others? Among the millions that have walked the earth, only a few names are spoken of and remembered for long. What is it that led them to achieve?
It was commitment, hard work, determination and, most importantly, passion. It was the passion from within that drove them. When you are passionate about something, all these qualities naturally follow suit. If you are capable of being passionate about something then success is not far away. You can reach for the stars, the moon or whatever, may be the whole universe! You may lose money, friends, name and fame, all securities but if only you kept alive the flame of passion, you will rise like the phoenix.
Mahabharata narrates that when young Arjuna was asked of life’s ambition, he beamed with pride and declared, “I want to be the best archer the world has ever seen or will see.” When asked why, he said, “Because I love to fly on the tip of my arrow.” The Wright brothers were passionate to fly, to go against gravity. These are the stories of extraordinary men and women.
Ask the ordinary. What would be their story? I want to become a doctor or software professional. But why? It gives me lots of money. Well, what would you do with all that money? Enjoy life! Everyday. If possible, every hour. How ordinary!
Making a living and ‘having fun’ has become the motive behind having a career rather than the passion or the drive to make a difference or leave a legacy. Often, the ordinary is confused with the ultimate. The motive behind choosing a profession is how easily one can make a quick buck and how lucrative it will be.
If you are passionate, you will be focussed and will know the exact motive behind your actions. When you work with passion, naturally you’ll be motivated and driven. You will even be willing to go the extra mile without much prodding from outside sources. There will be a purpose to your existence. Your life will be organised and you will have access to abundant energy. A passionate person is naturally progressive and derives greater fulfillment in life. Every human being is creative and intelligent. As a result, people would be drawn to your company and will place greater trust in your words. Your prayers will immediately be answered and grace will flood your life.
So get set and kick up some passion!

The Begining

Heaven

“In the beginning, God created the heavens....."                               

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which was written by many different writers over a long period of time, has this interesting log entry for 616 A.D.

And in this same year had elapsed from the beginning of the world five thousand six hundred and eighteen winters.

Doing the math here, we come up with 5003 B.C. as being the year of the beginning of the world. (Remember that there never was a year 0.)

What can we make of this? We need to put the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. First of all, it is filled with references to Christianity and the conversions of "heathens" to "the true faith." The Chronicle, remember was written largely by religious people who wanted to tell and retell the history of Britain. 

And so haven or heaven on earth..the time of complete prosperity...or for the fact of the Second law of thermodynamics.

A system tends to move from order to disorder (Law of Entropy)..so i guess 5000 years from now,the world was more orderly place to live in. :) (logical regression)

To speak in terms of Religion,there is lots more to speak of...The Bible says '3000 years before Christ, to the east of the world was heaven'(exact words may differ)..but the point is,if Jesus was born in Bethlehem..what were the nations that lied to theeast of the world.Lets not be that religious after all.Speaking for the fact the world was whole one piece,not divided into so many nationalites(of course very less entropy - so more of order),Guess what..?  

The World was HEAVEN then! (there's no way i can doubt that)

Okay,about world being one piece..remember the classical theory of geography..whole earth as one Continent &  one Ocean (Pangea & Panthalassa theory...u don't have any faint idea about this, go back to school books,that too elementary) ;) 

One EARTH.