Thursday, January 30, 2014

'Wisdom' in day to day Affairs....


A Financial Institution offered a man a certain loan facility with specific minimum monthly charges and yearly fee whether he made use of the Service or not…. The man was thrilled…. In no time, another standard Institution approached him and offered a similar facility with minimum charges / fee like the first one…. The man decided to have both the facilities as that meant good amount of loan money in his hand…. Thus both the facilities were being made use my the man in his day to day life….

In no time, the first Institution offered him an additional loan facility with higher loan drawing capacity but with similar conditions along with his existing facility…. The man quickly noticed that with so much loan at his disposal it is more a nuisance than of any genuine use and hence decided not go for it….

As the facility was delivered to his address and he received the post, the Institution deemed it as accepted, waited for the time and started deducting the minimum charges and other fees even though he was not using the same....

The man was upset at the attitude of the Institution and rang up them saying that as he was not interested in the facility and never gave in writing for the acceptance of the same, they cannot start deducting his monies for non use of the facility and requested them to withdraw the same and refund his money.... The Institution was firm saying that receipt through post was equivalent to accepting the facility and further they could not do anything on that…. The man soon understood the trick played on him but could do nothing to the powerful Institution….

He thought for a while and decided that the people will not listen so easily unless he comes out of a planned action in this context….
The next day, he phoned the Institution and said, "Ok! I will keep the two facilities of yours and start paying the monthly minimum and annual fees…. But I will not make use of your two facilities for more than this for all my purchases…. Instead; I use the other facility which is with me as on date for that purpose…. You may take the minimum and be happy…. I don’t mind loosing this much money regularly having got into this rather than make use of your facilities to the max!” 

The moment he conveyed his mind, the other side in no time came to his door and said, “ Sorry! For the trouble given to you…. We are immediately withdrawing this additional facility offered to you…. You please continue enjoying our earlier facility as usual make use of it fully for your benefit!”

The Truth and Fallacy behind the thought, 'I live through my own Struggle!'....


The old time story says….

Once a man prayed to God for certain 'Help' in his life…. The 
God promised him in his dream that he would 'Help'....

The man waited for the 'Help'....  
Meanwhile,  'X', 'Y' and 'Z' came forward to help him.... The man smiled and said, “I don't need your help…. My God has promised me to give the 'Help!'”  They left him and went on their own works…. But no 'Help' came from the God....

He was unhappy and one day again prayed to God saying that he was not given the 'Help' promised by Him.... The
God appeared in his dream and said, “I sent my 'Help' through 'X', 'Y' and 'Z'…. You only refused it!”

The Parable reminds me of  my ever strange way of living on the Earth….

I constantly carry a thought with me that I do everything, I support myself through my plans and my doings and in the process whatever monies and other assets of life come to me alone rescue me as in this scenario I can buy what I want, express what I wish and do what I like…. 
Thus, I am constantly filled with the thought that I am all by myself through my own efforts and my precious possessions…. And with this dominant conviction in my mind, I forever would be seeing the minute faults of others very clearly remembering when, where and what way the other man had erred in respect of me and would be making an unending list of those in my mind.... And thus goes on this fine 'division' for ever and ever in my life....

No doubt, I have to work and support my living and this should go on till the last bit of my energy permits in my life…. But equally at the same time, the Fact remains in this World that.....

Also I live through the works of others,
In addition, I live through their goodness and
all along I live through their togetherness!


And at the back of this very Truth, is it not strange when I firmly ascertain the words.... 'I do my work; I live myself and I enjoy my life and it is my Right?'
These thoughts in me totally keep me off from the very concept of living the life as 'Whole' making it more and more 'Compartmentalized' and in the process, I ever forget the basic principle of the 'Right Living!' 

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Philosophical Living is for Every one!


“What you constantly think and talk of.... How much do you think you are correct? I am seeing all these days that you talk so much on lines of Philosophy.... But after all this talk, we find that you too are doing the same activities like us and living your life.... See my Dear! There are / were only a few Great Saints in this world and practicing the 'Spiritual Life' is not for people like us who are normal humans as we cannot do it..... Instead it is better, we lead a normal life.... Else, you would be simply wasting your precious time and that of others ending up in nothing….” thus spoke angrily a man of mid thirties to his friend who all the time was advocating living the life on lines of the Spiritual Concepts….

The friend listened to him fully and in the end asked a question, “Do you mean to say that we can never and we should never look the direction of Spiritual Life at all?”

The man retorted, “No dear! We can always listen to the Great Men established in this direction because they 'Truly Know' and further teach 'Good' everywhere.... But after listening to all that, we should come back and be doing our  jobs again.... More than this, the Philosophical Approach is never for normal people like us….”

The friend said, “My dear! What you say may be the right way for those who like to do in that way, but is always limited by itself.... The 'Philosophy of Life' never highlighted any where saying… ‘Leave your works, duties and responsibilities and sit meditating!’ In fact, if some one understands it in that way,  he / she is totally wrong.... All Great Men have repeatedly reiterated that we should be doing our duties in this world without a break and continue to do them through out our life.... But as we thus do our duties, we should equally remember that there is always a ‘Quality’ attached to this doing.... It means.... How devotedly we do these activities, how impassionately we do them and how impartially we do them.....  And all Spiritual Practices basically drive an individual to exhibit this 'Quality' in their doings…. Tell me here, what is wrong with me if I thus understand my life through inculcation of the Right Spiritual Concepts and ultimately try to bring out this 'Quality' in my life?  You cannot stop me here saying....'Close that door and live your life.... This Learning is not for you!'  And if you are really doing that, you are the most cruel person in the world and a man of imposition....

Again when all this is wrongly understood by me, I often end up looking for earthly benefits in this line for my efforts voluntarily or involuntarily.... That surely becomes a trap and starts doing its own damages bringing in untold miseries in the lives of mine and others with me....  And exactly in such a situation, a few advantage seekers suddenly become active and make hay by keeping such gullible people under their grip.... Many times even a notorious bad man too may not cause such damages around..... And all such pitfalls have to be invariably avoided by me as I practice the Spiritual Discipline without an exception!”

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

The 'Other Face' of 'Ease'….


I rang up for the Cooking Gas Refill booking keeping every information on hand like Consumer No, Name of the Consumer etc along with pen and paper ready to note down the reference No of Booking, likely date of delivery etc.... To my surprise, a polite voice instantly answered on the phone, 'Sir! The booking is now automated and you can book through this phone number from now on wards...." and saying thus she gave me a number.... Surprised, I rang up that particular Number and it happened.... In no time, I could complete my booking....  As I called up the Number, all the information like the Consumer No, Address and Telephone No etc were read out and a booking reference was given along with the probable date of delivery.... Further, there were separate channels to follow up of the progress of the supply, to complain and cancel the booking done if required.... Everything was made so easy at one stroke and in no time, I was relieved of all that earlier strain of talking to a person in the Gas Agency, repeating my number twice / thrice, the clerk at the counter making mistakes in the entries etc…. All that harrowing experience! Now, no mistakes, no repetitions and no hold ups…..

Oh! The beauty….The gas cylinder too was delivered on the estimated date to the dot; perfection in the System! I was thrilled so much; it is great! And exactly, after a month, as I was again booking for the supply of next Refill Cylinder, at the end there was a sweet question on the phone…. ‘How do you rate our Service?’ Without a second thought, I clicked on the phone the option meant for ‘Excellent!’

A few days later, I had to book a telephone complaint....  And I was thrilled to note that there too, the new process of complaining was again similar in nature....   Means, everything had become so easy and it is a relaxed life….Hats off to modernization!

That same evening, I happened to meet a friendly young boy in our area....  He smiled at me and after a few enquiries, very obediently asked me, “Sir! Can you help in getting a job for me? I am very much badly in need of one.... I have some knowledge of computers for clerical works!”

I casually asked, “Dear! What happened to the job you were doing all these days?”

“Sir! You know…. I was working in the Booking Counter of my Gas Agency.... Now since the Automated Booking had come up, three of us at the Booking Counter had become jobless.... And the smart one of us had learned the skill and got into that automated work there itself.... As the remaining two of us have become surplus,  the Owner had asked us to leave.... This happened a few days back and today my sister too had lost her job as automation was introduced in her Telephone Company…. Now we both do not know what to do.... We don’t have enough money to study further or join any course to learn the new technology and you see we are not that smart too…..”

Monday, January 20, 2014

'Self Help' is always not the 'Best Help!'


A man thought thus….

“Why can’t I start doing some of my intricate works myself? 
 In this process, I may still learn something soon if not the best…. And this makes me depend on myself in exigencies sometimes.... In a crisis situation too it supports! And they say ‘Self help is the best help!’ So, this attitude definitely helps me from being troubled by the people who do such works for me....  I can easily straighten them and take exactly where their help is required….” 

Thus firming up in his mind he started with all vigor, purchased few tools and in no time started doing a particular work….
And in the very process as he took out a hammer and raised it by his right hand to deliver the required blow, the hand instantly developed a catch…. A little bit annoyed with that he hit on to the work piece, which got deformed at a wrong place…. Having upset totally, he hit the next stroke with the left hand and as he had no practice of using that hand, it straight away fell on his right hand holding the work piece.... And all the work came to a halt in no time the man writhing in pain….

The next day, he was found moving around with a big bandage on his hand….

A well-wisher who came to know the whole story of the man, met him the same evening and after a few enquiries said in a soft tone, “My dear! I feel sorry for the pain you are experiencing and am sure you will be alright soon....And I wish to say one thing here...." he paused a while and continued....


Dear! You see.... An Expert is always an Expert and he / she alone knows the job for which he / she is named....  If you try to substitute yourself into this Expert’s role, soon you find yourself doing a job where in definitely the quality lacks and problems like what you have faced just now would crop up in no time.... Better, you leave all such jobs solely to them and never try to save money or worry there that the people give problems except that if you cannot afford the cost, do not go for it.... Your responsibility in all these cases is only doing the right supervision with the associated follow up action along with a bargain for the cost involved unless the Expert is a small time Earner.... There you should be truly considerate for the hard work and less resources the man  possesses....These are the prime duties with us in all such dealings.... Not heeding to this, if you start doing beyond this, your body and mind set-up does not permit that and the world around will not agree!"

While concluding, the well-wisher said, "The most important point you should remember here is.... If you start doing some odd jobs, your own job looses shine as your concentration would be divided temporarily between the works and this scenario is never, never good for continuation of your own original skills which alone have given your 'Main Job' of today!”

Saturday, January 18, 2014

The 'Fun' in 'day to day' Life....


### A thin short man got into a lift at mid level of an Apartment Complex and pressed the button to go to the terrace.... Next, a hefty tall personality entered the same lift and pressed the button to go to the basement.... The lift started moving up.... The thin man instantly remarked, “It is high time we design future lifts taking care of the priorities and load factors together to optimize all movements.... This definitely creates substantial savings in Electrical Power everywhere!"

### At a Bank, one of the Customers was speaking in a bit louder tone stressing his past experience….

“You need not worry at all in my case.... All the details in the Forms are filled correctly for this Pension Life Certificate.... If I do not know what to fill up here, who else will know? You may all be young and new to this work, but I am the man who was so regular in providing all these details every year here for the past 20 years continuously!”

The Clerk at the Counter was speaking in a very meek tone, “Yes, Sir! That is the exact reason why we are extra careful in checking your case!”

### An aged man while searching for the 'Mouse' of his Laptop asked his grand son, “Dear! Did you see the 'Mouse' anywhere in my room?”

Pat came the reply from the little one with an enthusiastic expression on his face, “Yes, Dadaji! I saw it entering the drain pipe hole in the corner of your room just a few minutes back!”

### A man was teaching 'Ethics' to a Group of young people stressing on how to avoid the negative qualities in life like 'self pity', 'anger' etc….

“ In all the conversations with people, when I am over taken by self pity, I blame myself…. When I am over taken by anger, I blame my own family members and the loved ones.... But when I am happy and normal, do you know what I will do?”

“Blame others!” was the instant reply from one of the Listeners….

### “We got our 'Divorce' only after going through a big ordeal!"

“How can it be? I understand that it is very simple and straight forward if mutual consent is there and in your case, you both were very much 'OK' on that!”

“Yes! There was no problem there….See! Between us…. Earlier, we got made a fake 'Marriage Certificate' and to regularize everything of that, it took so much effort and time.... Anyhow, we got it done finally and got our 'Divorce' papers approved in no time!”

### An Apartment Complex in a remote area had a safety network of having Intercom connection between all the flats for easy cost effective communication.... Further in an exigency or emergency, a resident of one particular flat could press few buttons and get connected to the neighboring flats in the immediate vicinity for quick help…. Indeed, a real facility!

Subsequently it so happened that, a thief was making an attempt to enter one of the flats at midnight and sensing the danger, the flat Owner pressed the buttons of Intercom.... Immediately, all the neighbors one by one enquired the reason of calling.... When they were told about the thief, they instantly made sure to bolt their doors more securely and stayed in till the thief finished his job with all success and left the place!

Friday, January 10, 2014

'Missing Interactions' amidst the 'Prosperity'....


A man of mid fifties living alone one fine day decided to visit his children, a few relatives and friends who were well settled in abroad leading 'the best' life according to him ….

“Life should be like that….They are the places of prosperity.... Essentials are plenty and there are no shortages in any corner…. People are friendly; they won’t interfere with you…Not at all to say! They always mind their own work…work… work; that's all! And every able bodied person works.... That naturally brings in the wealth and prosperity around and makes one's life truly happy…. What else one wants in life when everything is in front at an affordable price and nothing fails so easily?” Thus with a great enthusiasm at the back of his mind, the man planned his one month hectic tour…. “Actually, all wanted me there for a longer period but I cannot do that as I have my own works here… A month is good enough for the trip!” he proclaimed....

The D day came.... With great enthusiasm, looking around with keen interest, he travelled  the longest distance in his life and was at his two children’s place.... Having relaxed himself for a couple of days,  he visited a few relatives and close friends near by and had lots of interactions…. But, he quickly noticed that wherever he went including at his children's place the dialogues were more or less typical in Nature and repetitive.…

“Welcome!  We are happy that you are here….Everything is arranged for you… Take some rest, relax and you can go for a walk around…. The weather is pleasant…. You can visit a Coffee Shop, a Book Store or a Shopping Place near by.... At home you can browse 24 hrs with Wi-Fi, listen to some music or watch a few TV Programs….The kitchen is fully loaded and you can prepare what you want…. We both have to be off to our jobs…. Important meetings are there and in the evenings, the Office Parties etc…. And so the return will be late…. But no problem, the children are on their own, they go to schools and come back.... They have their own rooms.... They don’t disturb you at all and you can fully relax!” 

The Week ends were there, but again, the holidays too were hectic, with fully loaded Programs and each doing the related jobs to maintain the Order and discipline….

The man was almost a dumb creature there all the time with his usual interactions of Home Place missing…. Finally, the Program came to an end, he was put back in the Aircraft with his items neatly packed and bid ‘Good Bye!’   Totally exhausted and feeling dull with the missing ‘familiarity’, he reached home town midnight… Slept off that night at the back of too much fatigue in the body and emptiness in the mind…. The next day morning around 7 O’clock, the door bell rang several times, and as he woke up and opened the door, he saw his regular Fruit Vendor who used to supply fruit to him on need basis….

“Sir! How are you? I did not see you for almost one month…. You should have told me before going…..... For a while, I was not knowing what had happened to you and then the neighbors told me that you have gone abroad to see your children…. How are they doing?   By the by, how is your health and how was your journey? Any how, you are back and I am happy to see you here…. Sir! Take these items for today and relax yourself.... I’ll come back when I have some time…. Then you can tell me what all you have seen and done in those Countries......"

The man emotionally taken a back with the enquiries, murmured in himself, “Dear! I went to the other end of the world to see the greatness there talked often.... Everything was really great there but something was equally missing.... Yes! It is 'This'.... In the past 30 days, you are the first known person I am coming in contact who is truly enquiring my well being whole heartedly!  They have everything around them but they have no way of interacting with their people heart to heart.... We may not have all that but we have many around who speak 'so sweetly' when that is needed very much.... Truly a blessing in disguise!”

Thursday, January 9, 2014

The 'Taste' of pudding is in 'Eating!'


A man of mid thirties was a constant critic of migration to a particular place for settlement....  He often used to quote the limitations of living in that place saying, “Your 'Own Place' is always the best for you.... Never get off from your place and settle in this place however alluring it may be because your Place is like your mother who ever cares for you and you don’t know the dangers and threats that you may face in the new place in the long run....  Distant hills are always smooth.... Once you get fixed up there, you cannot change that easily!  All glitter and glamour will vanish in no time and realities only will be in front...." Thus, he used to say and further reiterate his stand…. Life was going on thus….

A wise man, a well-wisher to the man’s family who migrated to the same place long back decided to teach him the 'Right' in that scenario.... On a fine day, he straight away sent him an invitation to come to his place for a short stay of vacation.... But, the man was reluctant to go there even for a day…. That was his hatred towards the place.... But all people around persuaded him to go for a short stay as he would lose nothing in that.... Finally he, with all reluctance made his travel arrangements to the place with a firm thought in his mind, "I will note every detail of my experiences in this one month in the new place and present 'As Is' to every one in my place on my return.... That would be a true eye opener for many of my people who carry certain false dreams with them!"

On arrival and on the first day of the visit to the place, he went out to make a note of 'all the wrongs' of that place he imagined, but not noticed much and returned.... The next day he repeated the process, had a few interactions but they never really appeared to be so much disgusting as he imagined.... Slowly day by day as he started living there, he could notice certain distinct good points of the place too.... The place had its own Unique Identity and the Culture of the people living there was distinct with its own merits which he never noticed at his place! The Work Culture too was totally different there at the back drop of hard work with the Concept ‘Do your basic work yourself' being on the anvil.... And there was a certain discipline with the people of the place which made life there quite easy going and comfortable.... Thus, in about 2 weeks time, the man ascertained in himself that the place was equally not less! As the initial opinion had thus changed, he developed an interest to stay for some more time in the new place and observe more of the place and the surroundings.... At that point of time,  he equally started seeing certain other defects of the place too which he could never think of earlier.... That way he soon he could note 'the best' of the place, with the defects by the side 'As Is'... 


On the day of return, he could no more control his feelings in himself and confided to his well-wisher thus, “I was totally wrong in my earlier thinking.... There is nothing like bad anywhere in this world and it is always in one’s perception only! Every Place invariably has its own good points with the associated short comings.... That way ‘All the best’ Entity is never there in the Universe....  One should truly understand this, be always with the Right, keep off from the inevitable wrong existing by the side never encouraging that at any time...."

Finally, he returned to his place, then totally as a different man.... Soon, he started openly recommending every where migration to the same place if one wished to go there with a tail place, “Your 'Own Place' is always the ‘Best’ for you from your basic living point of view and always welcomes you with a 'Heart' whenever you want to return! Never forget this beyond a point, wherever you may be living all your life and whatever may be the 'best' the new place would offer you!”