My mother Dr Mrs Krishna Saksena in her series of BOOKS is writing a BOOK where she talks of her experience & this article REFLECTIONS she has desired my friends who can take out some time to read the article and give there comments to her at krishnasaksena@yahoo ; i will request and will be grateful for you time - ARTICLE IS AS BELOW : Reflections Priti felt that Vadvani was a very good neighbour. Her views on various topics enlightened her. She loved to sit with her and hear what she had experienced and what her reflections on life and happiness were. Her words and suggestions worked on her as an eye opener and made her to think seriously what life ought to be. Once she sat with her and said, “Mrs. Vadvani, you have lived ninety years of your life, a pretty long time to see and understand this world. I hope you do not mind telling me what you feel about life in this world and be my guide”. Mrs. Vadvani replied, “For sure, I cannot be anybody’s guide, all that I can tell you are the thoughts you need to live with, because right thoughts can change your life”. Priti sprang up and said, “I shall be too happy to hear whatever you have to tell me”. Vadvani smiled back and said, “You know Priti people condemn ‘ego’. We are told that it is ego that pulls down a person and destroys him, so one needs to learn to destroy it. It is true that man is nothing but ego. But I feel ego has two parts to it. 1. Constructive 2. Destructive Ego becomes a good tool if you take up the constructive side, at the same time it pulls you down if you have the destructive side. With the positive side of ego comes the determination, the ability to take decision and work towards it. Conversely the negative side of ego can lead you to act with arrogance. This prevents you from thinking objectively and eventually you become a victim of your failings. Such a fate could be avoided by effectively managing our ego. Priti then asked, “It all seems to sound so vague that I can hardly understand all that you say. Do give some examples so that it gets fixed up in my mind”. Vadvani replied, “I can give you examples of some whom I met and others about whom I read. In my neighborhood, where I lived before coming to this place, was a judge, who told me his story of how he was a poor boy washing the feet of his master thereby earning his living. He had a great desire to study. So he saved some out of that money he got as his pay, bought books and studied hard whenever he got some time, in the late hours of the evening or at night. Once while washing his master’s feet in his drowsiness he pressed the feet a little hard, the master gave him a kick, abused him and turned him out. Disappointed, that he had lost the means to study, he walked out on the road heedless, where he was hit by a man going fast on his motor bike and was badly hurt. The man took him to the hospital and cared for him. When he became all right the bike-man asked him, “why you did not move despite my continually ringing the bell as you chose to walk in the middle of the road”. The boy told him of his disappointment and his intense desire to study and be someone. The bike-man was impressed and said, “do not worry, for I will make provisions for your studies”. The boy was overjoyed. His determination made him to work hard. As a camel bears labour and heat, hunger and thirst through the deserts of sand and never faints, so the ego, the determination in him made him to work hard as he grew up and went through all the examinations always standing amongst the best. He appeared in a judicial examination and was soon appointed as a judge. His master, who had hit him and thrown him out, once appeared before him for he was convicted for misappropriation of funds. The judge left him and cleared him despite his involvement. He was quite surprised and came to thank him. The judge humbly replied, “this is a small return for the hit you gave me as I washed your feet”. “So Priti, if the destructive ego turned out a boy, the constructive ego made a poor boy a judge”. Priti nodded and said, “I now understand your statement about ego”. Vadvani continued, “Priti, ego becomes a good tool, provided how you use it. It works both ways. It lifts you up and takes you high, but it can also throw you down as you begin to think too high of yourself and much above all around you. On the one side if it lifts you up to the heights of passion and extraordinary accomplishment, it can also drown you into the depths of disappointment and delusion into defeat and disaster. Ganga Ram, a poor ordinary boy of a remote village insulted and thrown out by an officer, with his determination, rose to occupy a higher position than the officer. Finally he became Sir Ganga Ram. I read about a scientist who had perfected the art of reproducing human genome. He wanted to become immortal, so getting old he produced five figures exactly like his own self. When the angel of death came, he failed to pick up the right one for each was made with precision to look alike. He stood puzzled for some time and then he thought of a trick. He touched the ego of the scientist and said, “very good work for the scientist to go so high as to make each figure so identical, but he made a small mistake in this one by turning the nose a little too high”. The real one’s ego was touched and he rose up to say, “sir this is not a mistake but…………”. The angel sprang and caught him by his neck and took him away. If the constructive side made him to rise so high in his scientific attempt, the destructive side brought him to his death and disaster. So Priti we need not condemn ego altogether, as it is usually done. The two sides need to be understood and great care must be taken not to fall a pray to the destructive side of it. Priti nodded thoughtfully and said “you have really enlightened me”. Next time when Priti came to sit by the side of Vadvani, she looked at her with eagerness so that she may start telling her something more about life and its problems. Finding her in a good mood she asked, “We always find ourselves in turmoil and in problems losing our balance and composure. In that case what should we do?” Vadvani spoke thoughtfully, “Priti you need to make a strong and a very serious effort to move above your turmoil. Merely thinking and taking decision will not help you. You need to rise up and work hard towards what you decide. Life is time so you need to time your life. Do not waste your life and your precious time. Do not be like a neglected car that gets its battery discharged because it has been standing for a long time. You need to regulate yourself for you know very well what is right and what is wrong, only that you do not practice it. Practice is a great asset. Move towards good and rise above your circumstances. Do not for a moment get discouraged if you lose. I will advise you to keep before yourself the Japanese dorsal doll as your ideal. In whatever direction you throw, the doll immediately stands up when it falls down on the ground. The problem is not that you fall, but how fast you can get up like the dorsal doll. Things happen, you make mistakes, and you fall. No harm, in fact these mistakes give you the determination to fight and rise high. Try to understand where you made the mistake and rise above it. This is the only way to get out of your turmoil. If you fight with your troubles, only then you will be successful. Try to solve your problems and keep moving on. Do not get discouraged and then disappointed. Do not become helpless and then hopeless. Some way will come out if you only move on. You need to stand firm and steadfast with patience. Lose all but do not lose the courage to meet the most dismal situation in life. Remember the famous line of a poet ‘If winter comes can spring be far behind’. When spring comes, winter goes telling you ‘do not forget me’. Create courage in your life and become one who makes troubles to dance and not you to dance round your troubles. Develop an attitude of gratitude and give thanks for everything that happens in your life , knowing that every step forward is a step towards achieving something bigger and better than your current situation. In the depth of winter, you will finally realise that within you there lies an invincible summer. Every single second is an opportunity to change your life, because in any moment you can change the way you think. Priti who was hearing Vadvani in rapt attention, slightly puzzled asked, “Madam, you are asking for too many things. How will I achieve all this? What you say sounds good but we are apt to fall down under the weight of our defeats and turmoil. From where are we to get that strength that you are talking about”. Vadvani thoughtfully replied, “ask for this strength from the Divine and this inner strength will give all that I am talking about”. Priti responded, “I believe that is why you do puja”. “Exactly” Vadvani replied “I was also like so many others, drowning myself in my problems and turmoil, leading to defeat and disaster, but it was this Divne power that changed my way of thinking and gave me the strength to stand up again in life. I did so and I am so happy today. Spiritualism, bhakti, loving the Divine is the greatest need of the hour. Loving God needs to extend from self to yourself and further to all round you. Bhkti- duty- karma ought to come in one line. What is bhakti? It is nothing but getting immense courage within you to fight with the worse. Kabir very rightly said that bhakti gives a lot of strength to rise above your problems and gives you the power to face the turmoil of your life courageously”. Priti then pleaded, “do tell me more about bhakti which gives inner strength and also what more it can afford for any one. Vadvani smiled and began, “I love to talk upon this subject because I have read a lot about it, experienced it and also met those who have this strength. Spiritualism or bhakti what is it? Apart from providing you with courage it has another important aspect to it. If I am asked to define it, I would say that it is nothing but immense love. All love concentrated is bhakti. Bhakti, as many understand, does not mean confining yourself to meditation, jap, or puja. All this must lead you to have faith in yourself, and love for those around you. Flowers, incense, will not reach you to God. What reaches you to Him is your strength that you gain for doing your karma as puja. Always give some little time to remember the Divine. True religion is not talk, or doctrines or theories. It is the relation between your soul and God. Learn to be happy. There ought to be a proper balance between bhakti and karma. I repeat there ought to be a close relation between bhakti and karma. All bhakti without karma will never do as karma without bhakti will never reach you to a point of satisfaction. Through bhakti you gain and shift your inner awareness to how you can rise above your turmoil and how you can serve others. You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but you. The spirit of service comes from serving the Lord. Where this spirit is lacking there cannot be any service spirit for others. If you make this decision to serve others as the central focus of your life, you will then be in a position to know true miracles. With light and joy in your heart you will gain great satisfaction in life. The axis or what we say ‘dhoree’ on which this world rests is love. It simply means feeling and understanding for each other. If your heart is a volcano, how will you expect flowers to bloom? Learn to get out of your bed remembering the Divine and His kindness as you begin the day. Once upon a time the practice was to make the hens fight. This practice has been overtaken by men fighting like hens in politics, in office and in the homes. Fights and politics are the common features of the day. Make bhakti, that is love the pivotal feature of your life and then realize the charm of living. A house whose members grow in love and understanding for each other is far above one where husband beats the wife and the children learn to grow up with a feeling of hatred. A family however poor, that grows up with members who have lot of love and understanding for each other is far superior to the one that is rich but the members are at each others throat. Hitler grew up with pain and could bring in the world only pain and disaster. Lal Bahadur Shastri grew up in a poor loving home gave to the world two things he got love and service to all. India is full of ‘mahatmas and gyanies’. They have given us ‘granths’. Their views have guided us in life. Indian philosophy is high and shows us our Indian thoughts. Long years of slavery has destroyed a lot of our very precious things we had, our money, our kohinoor, craft, poetry, music, instruments, literature and what not, the list is pretty long. Yet we have managed to survive and rise up once again. The credit goes to the men of high thoughts that guide us. You cannot reach God by rites and rituals, by pilgrimages or by wealth. Sage Vashishta said to Ram, “God is to be attained by overcoming one’s mind”. It is the right thoughts that need to be cultivated. You read Ramayan many times and in so doing feel that you are very religious but do you practice in your life any thing emphasized in Ram’s life? You read Gita, but have you taken one principle out of it to rule your life? If not, it is just like licking the label on your bottle and never taking its contents. Sages and masters have given us thoughts that need to be realized, which means must be experienced ,which means must be lived. Priti I remember Kabir who said ‘I was going on a pilgrimage to Mecca when on the way I met God. He scolded me and asked ‘who told you that I am to be found only there?’ God, as you must understand, is to be found even in homes where there is love and respect for the parents. If you have their blessings even the evil spell of ‘Shani’ goes off. Learn to remember few things that are very important. Your father is higher than the sky for he has wished the best for you and is overjoyed when he sees you rising. His mission is to work for you. Priti in this context I may tell you of an incident told often. Lord Krishna visited the house of his devotee. As he was busy giving bath to his old father, he threw a brick for the Lord and asked Him to sit down and wait, for at that moment he was giving bath to his old father and could not attend him. The Lord sat down on the brick and lovingly kept on watching his devotee give bath to his father , who then wiped him with a piece of cloth and then wrapped him in a dhoti and made him to sit comfortably on the bed. After all work was done, he turned to the Lord and said ‘sorry for making you to wait’. Lord Krishna replied with a smile ‘I love to sit and be at such places’. As for the mother much can be said and even that will be too little. The love with which she brings you up has no parallel. So when a man honours his father and mother God says, “I regard it as though I have dwelt amongst them and they had honoured Me”. But what do we witness today? The parents are being turned out by their own children. There is a tremendous demand for old homes today and with the passing of each day it is on the increase. The pain given by others is bearable but the one given by your own becomes difficult to bear. Priti, you know the story of Mansoor? Priti replied in the negative and begged of Vadvani to tell her what happened in Mansoor’s life. Vadvani began, “Mansoor was punished for believing in what he considered to be the truth and not what the king asked him to believe in. The king made him to stand in the middle of the main market and ordered that one from each family must come out and throw stone at him. But Mansoor stood firm and steady with no sign of pain caused to him. It was noticed that his dear friend had not come out, so a man quickly ran and brought him out of his house. Not to hurt him, the friend put few flowers in a piece of cloth and threw at him. As soon as it touched his body he started weeping and big tears rolled out on his cheek. The friend was surprised, came near him and asked, “well I took all care not to hurt you even then you cried, while you were so calm and quiet as others hurt you so badly”. Mansoor replied, “when others threw stones at me they could only hurt my body. I could bear that but when you joined them , one who knew me so well, and we loved each other so much, what you threw crossed my body and broke my heart and the pain thus caused was so immense that tears naturally rolled out on my cheeks.” “So Priti what really hurts you deeply when stones come from your own. What can be more painful to the parents when their own children abuse them, talk ill of them and turn them out of the house! Do you think a home is ever blessed where the children have not learnt to respect their own parents? Give a serious thought to it”. Priti’s eyes became wet as she heard all this. She got up and said, “thank you madam, all this is enough for me to ponder on and has given me food for thought.” They parted. Priti realised that truth was coming to her in a very strange and interesting manner. She felt something was hitting her heart and mind both. She heard Vadvani in rapt attention and pondered over thoughts when she was alone. Next time when she sat with her, she commented “I believe that you need to have a lot of money to be happy”. “Well” Vadvani spoke thoughtfully, “yes, we do need some money to keep ourselves going. But if you feel that it is money that is the cause of happiness, I do not agree with you”. “See our next door neighbour, madam”, said Priti “they have lot of money so they have no problems. They not only live comfortably, but have great fun in life”. Vadvani replied, “if your happiness depends on money, you can never be happy with yourself. Wealth alone is the root cause of niggardliness, boastfulness, pride, fear and anxiety. I feel what you actually need is contentment with what you have and rejoice in the things as they are. But those running after money realize their mistake when they end up in grief and disaster. In nature’s economy, currency is life and not money. Enjoy the moments of life by being content with whatever you have. Someone’s success story cannot become yours, if you try to imitate without having his expertise. I remember myself joining hands with my son who was desirous to become rich by doing business as his friends had. We all felt that soon we would earn a lot of money and then be really happy. After my husband’s retirement, he put all his money that he got from the government, in this business. Little that I was earning we readily put in there. Lacking the expertise of how one should go about in business we soon landed in distress and disaster losing even all that we had. Desirous to be happy after becoming rich we lost all that we had and passed days in anxiety paying off those from whom we had borrowed and lost all peace because of the criminal cases heaped on us by the government. I then learnt that we need to contend with whatever we possess. If your happiness depends on possessing lot of money, then you can never be happy. You need to rejoice in things as they are. If you feel you have the expertise to change your position, definitely go ahead and work towards it, but otherwise accept whatever you have and be happy. Contentment leads to a very important feature in one’s life. And that is to enjoy the present moments of your life as you are passing through. The past is over and it will be useless to keep on thinking about it. The future is still to come why worry about it. Both ways you are losing the lovely moments of the present which you can and need to enjoy. I remember a lawyer friend of mine who was ever busy making money for his future. He charged for his services but also charged even if he talked giving his opinion. Every act of his concentrated on money and thought for the future. His child saw all this and was unhappy that his dad was never with him. He took out some small amount out of his pocket money and saved it in a small tin box. Then he went to his father and said, ‘here is some money I have saved. As you charge for your time, this is your fees, Papa. I request you to be present for just half an hour on my birthday party. This is all that I want from you on my birthday’. Tears came in the child’s eyes as he put forward the little tin box with his tiny hands. Work is essential but equally essential is to enjoy the present moments of life. Sing the song of life by enjoying the present moments of your life and not always be looking for the future. The moments that you are losing will never come back. There is neither past nor future. There is only the present. What we do is to fret for the past or are anxious about the future. Intelligent only deal with the present. This is what Chanakya told us. The present, if you think seriously, is a gift from the Divine. It needs to be enjoyed. The life as it is happening needs to be appreciated, needs to be rejoiced in. You must understand the importance of the present. Enjoy the present and that is life. A musician was given ten minutes to sing on the stage. He came and kept on preparing himself to sing, by tuning his guitar, by sitting in a proper way, then clearing his throat and so on. The time was over and he was asked to come down. He wasted his time in preparing and never sang. Let your life not be passed in preparing yourself for the future, never enjoying the music of life that is in the present”. Priti spoke a little seriously “your reflections on life are so real and connected so closely to day to day life that I myself get into a reflecting mood. I always look forward to sit with you and hear you. My other neighbours wonder why I so much love your company. They can never understand the treasure that I get from you. “Priti I may be right or wrong but I tell you what I feel about life” replied Vadvani. “Madam I am really thankful to you and wish to hear more from you” said Priti “I have some urgent work to do, we shall talk about what matters in life when we have time to sit together again”. Vadvani got up and went inside. Priti met Vadvani many times, but every time she postponed telling about her reflections for the next turn. This time Priti presuming that she will do the same began by saying, “This time I must hear from you your reflections on life as you promised long back. Postponing every time for the morrow is not good. While we postpone, life speeds away. We do not know what morrow brings for us”. “You have become very intelligent in your perceptions” said Vadani smiling. “It is the result of your company” was a quick response from Priti. Vadvani began continuing her talk on the topic she had left last time. “Priti I am reminded of a man who though placed in the best of circumstances always said, “I am under great distress” whenever I told him “I can see that you are really happy”. Looking at me, with a strange expression on his face, he would soon qualify, “You see Vadvani I will be happy when I get into a good job for which I am preparing at this moment’. Luckily he succeeded and got what he wanted. I said ‘you must be very happy now’. Quick came a reply, ‘oh no’ I was surprised and asked ‘but why’? He replied with a long face, ‘you see I will be happy when the problem of getting married to a good girl is over”. When the problem was over and he got married to a pretty, understanding girl and I asked him, ‘you must be happy now” I got the same answer. In fact every time I met him he was always under some false distress, never ever enjoying the present moments of his life, in which he was so fortunate, always worried about the future. He lost the treasure of his life, the happiness that could have been his, when last time, and it was after many years, I found him standing before an old home. “How are you here”? I asked him in surprise. He narrated his story of how he was turned out of the house by his own son. I was quiet for then he was in real distress. You see Priti, he was always postponing to look for happiness in the future, never living in the present moments of his life as he was passing through. Time does not wait for anyone. Life speeds away as we keep on postponing. Those who postpone do indefinite harm to themselves. Such persons do not live but are only anxiously looking for the future in which they presume they will be happy. Who knows what tomorrow may bring? Enjoy life as you are passing through. If your happiness depends only on postponing and looking for the morrow to be happy you are making a grave mistake. Take life as it is, enjoy the present. Live in these happy moments of today and feel good about it”. Priti responded fast, “exactly, madam, that is why I insist on you to pass on your reflections about life to me here and now and not keep on postponing for tomorrow”. They then had a hearty laugh together. Vadvani commented sweetly, “I sometimes forget to implement my own conclusions on life”. Priti took no time to pose few questions on which she wanted Vadvani’s reflections and begged of her that there be no more carrying over to the ‘next time we are together’. Vadvani replied calmly “If I told you every thing in one turn you will get so highly confused that you will not be able to bring out any conclusions for yourself. I am taking one point at a time so that I can impress something on your mind and heart”. “Yes, madam, I get your point. But today please begin by telling me what are the essentials in life that we must cultivate within us to make life going”. “Yes, Priti, I have given importance to few things in life that I practiced and found that life becomes not only easy but also enjoyable. It is entirely my point of view to which you may agree or disagree. Most important is to have a positive attitude in life. So let me talk to you about this”. “While talking about creating a positive attitude within us, I would say, what you need is to stand firm, determined to make your mind strong. Try to pray to the Divine every day ‘Lord give me new mind, new vision, new thoughts new things to make me new”. Change your thoughts. Do not let those thoughts enter your mind that put you down. Your life is nothing but your thoughts. So make all out efforts to rise high in your thoughts. Your value rises with new things. Make yourself strong to rise up with positive thoughts. Many of us fear death. But why? It is an inevitable destiny for all. In death soul mergers with Parmatma, rejoice in that. Death is there because there is life. Accept the will of the lord. In fact as someone said rightly, ‘death is the privilege of men who live life positively’. Have new experiences and thus increase your value. Pray for the strength like the sun that lights all. Mental attitude should be there to do work. Small works do not make you small. Fulfill your worldly duties towards family, society and religion. Do not ever allow those thoughts enter your mind that make you feel small. Avoid negativity in life and learn to be positive. Life with a positive attitude will give you a determination to fight in all the difficult situations. You will make your life short if you suffer from fears all the time. Learn to live a life, something precious that is given to you. Put your hand on your heart and begin the day by closing your eyes, offering your gratitude to One who has given this life to live, laugh, and meditate in silence what is right and what is wrong for you. I see you wondering at the heights of the mountains, at the huge waves of the fast running waters but you fail to wonder at the most wonderful thing that is you, yourself. You are apt to face disastrous situations in your life. If tears come in your eyes, offer them to Him for none will bother about those tears. Wipe them yourself, dry your eyes and move ahead with a new vision, new strength, with steadfastness and without negativity in life. Learn to be strong. Do not become a parrot that happily makes the golden cage its home, for he can never feel the vastness of the sky. A person who has no faith in himself will never achieve anything in life. Your faith in yourself ought to be the outcome of faith in God. A life lived in fear will be most uncomfortable. You need not become a slave to your comforts, to your surroundings and to your possessions; else you become a parrot of the golden cage that has no history. Get out of your cage and live a new life. Fly high and listen to your conscience and act according to your inward strength. Your courage which I am sure you have will make you win the worst situation. You may be defeated but never fear defeats. Your astrologer will warn you that the worst time awaits you. Tell him, “you are wrong and I do not believe you”. Let him not overpower you. It is your faith in yourself, your steadfastness, your vision that will succeed. Remember your thoughts will take you up and down. Your desire to go up will definitely take you up. But if your thoughts are otherwise, you will definitely be doomed. A dynamite inventor was called ‘a destroyer of the world’, ‘a messenger of death’ and was always associated with such epithets. He felt very sad and so he started giving out prizes for doing good work. He was then revered by all and the epithets soon changed. He was then called ‘a promoter of good’, ‘encouragement for many’. Do something good by which you will be remembered. Do something good to your circle, however small it may be. To bring change in society you need to come out. If you try to do even little it is worthwhile. Do not keep on blowing horn sitting in the car. Create a mental attitude of satisfaction in what you have, only then it will be possible for you to move on. Do something good to your circle, however small it may be, to be remembered later on. Leave this world that you are remembered by your good deeds. Give thanks to God that He gave you a lot. Remember Him in your prayers. Prayer without feeling has no meaning. They were very small people who lifted themselves, leaving far behind them very learned pandits that uttered high sounding ‘mantras’ and had great knowledge. What does God need? He has all. Have you reached your aim by visiting temples? No. I would ask you to attach your mind with Him. This has to be reached inwardly. Join your hands for Him. It is your heart now that must speak out. You forget the formalities but have a strong feeling of nearness to Him and whatever you do is a prayer. Your prayers ought to be “Oh Lord, You never sleep, You are always awake looking after us. Give me a little bit of your strength so that I am always awake to do good and to think high”. Prayer is learnt in the beginning but then it begins to come from within and then it gives you the strength to walk on the path of goodness. Even a small action towards good matters. You are only a muddy vessel that can break any time, but in life after life if you do good you will finally reach the top”. Vadvani was quiet for sometime and then she said “I have spoken for a long time, I have to go to the doctor so I will speak when we meet again”. Priti got up and said, “I shall eagerly look for that time”. They parted. In the meantime Priti went to meet her sister Punita residing in Bombay, who was highly impressed by Vadvani’s life and her chain of thoughts. She was eager to meet this very interesting personality. So she came along to Delhi with her sister and went to meet Vadvani. “This is my sister Punita” Priti introduced her to Vadvani “who is impressed by your ideas and wanted to meet you. She has come with me to see you and hear from you what more you have to tell us”. Vadvani smiled and replied “I am nothing, only that she gives high regards to me and broadly agrees with what I say. I on my part too like to sit with her because elders must pass on to the young ones some of the truths that they have felt strongly. In fact that is what I have been doing as a teacher. I feel there ought to be a constant close contact of the young with the old for the benefit of both. I always emphasise those ideas that I believe to be truths of life. I also tell her what I have heard from others and as I have followed those ideas I have found myself in a state of quiet satisfaction”. Punita replied, “yes madam, even I have been much impressed by how you have courageously fought in your life and arrived at conclusions that can also help us in making our lives better. I consider my self lucky to sit by your side and hear you”. Vadvani then spoke as she smiled, “I am no sage or a philosopher but I feel very strongly that love needs to be the foundation of our lives. It needs to come from within. This is possible only after you have learnt to forget a little of yourself. We need to try to live with a feeling of nearness to the Divine, only then we will be in a state of happiness. We are all the children of the same Father, coming from the same place. Why then get divided as to be on the throat of each other? Definitely we are with varied problems and with varied thoughts. But so what? We are all one. Do not create fear in the hearts others. Do not learn to dig knife on the back of the other. The example of a scarecrow strikes me. You know it is standing in the middle of a field extending its hands to create fear in the hearts of the birds and doing so it forgets its self. Once someone asked the scarecrow, “you keep on extending your hands, bearing all types of weather rains, heat, cold and what not and you never get tired”. The scarecrow replied, “Oh! I find so much of pleasure in doing so that I completely forget myself”. The question arises are we scarecrows? Are we those who are interested in creating fear in the hearts of others? Try to think who we are and then behave accordingly. We need to save ourselves from falling low. No one can help us but only we ourselves. And I repeat no one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path. Do something good for others. We need to put our hands out only to help and not to hurt”. Punita listening to Vadvani said thoughtfully “we are always deeply involved in our own turmoil that we hardly get time to think of others”. Vadvani interrupted “why give all your time to your distress? Think of others. Give, if only a little time to their difficulties and help them out. This will provide you with lot of strength and courage within yourself. Try this. Those given to too much ease and rest and confined to themselves find it difficult to face life and its problems. Distress is something very important in life. Distress and an ability to face it bravely, give you the courage to move on in life easily. You slipped once, twice or thrice. So what? It does not matter. All that you need is to keep on moving. Learn to face your problems with ease and with confidence. Let nothing pull your spirits down. Learn to climb the steps of your life with a broad smile on your face. It is only then that you will learn to get the courage to face the worst that can happen to you. Happiness needs to be found in the small happenings of day to day life. Search the need of your life yourself. It cannot be borrowed. As you proceed in life, be happy. Enjoy whatever you have and be satisfied. Anger, disgust and frustration are habits that you need to keep away. Avoid such habits. Instead learn to smile. Learn to help others. It will make your life so easy. Priti said, “madam, your reflections coming from what you have gone through yourself in life really touch the heart and mind both and convincingly shows the path that we need to follow”. Punita intervened and said “but I would like to know as to whom you would place the highest in your list of good men, for we meet with all types of persons in our day to day life”. Vadvani, “It is difficult to answer your question straight off. It is the sum total in a person that gives him a place in the list as to where he stands. But if you ask my opinion, there are certain qualities that one needs to cultivate in his self. One must keep a balance in life. Anything you do, you need to keep a balance, else it is likely to create havoc. While rising high in life, remember the Lord whose blessings are behind it. Remember pride of any type is bad. Pride over beauty, pride over possession, pride over wealth, or pride over wisdom will be disastrous for you. Do not begin to think too high of yourself if you have any of these. Also you on your part do not begin to think you are right and others are wrong. You need to be humble and remember humility always pays. Always remember God. Offer your gratitude to Him, only then you will feel that inside you a sweet flower is growing and this is the flower of humility. The highest is one who dedicates himself to do good to others. Where there is no love and compassion, you need not enter. You need to act so that the smiles come on the face of others. Let your eyes moist to see the tears in the eyes of others. In order to earn or to rise never do it at the cost of others. Nothing can be more hateful than this. Try to help at least do not pull down others. At least do not be guided by what they say ‘let us be smart’. Another thing to remember is that we need to expand our limits. A candle or a ‘deep’ if put on a higher level gives light to a larger area than if put on the ground. Each one of us wants to rise, but obstructions on the path pulls the person down. I would suggest that you need to have a single vision after which you must go. Go after it with all the strength at your command. Having too many visions, and running after many, you may not succeed even in one. If you dig at many places for the water to come out, you will fail. But if you keep on digging at one place the water is bound to come out. Try to pick up knowledge from all men and from the smallest events as you go about. Newton learnt the law of gravitation from a very small and simple event in his life. “My last query to you madam, before I leave for Bombay” requested Parnita “is your promise to tell me how to have ‘Anand’ in an ordinary life.” Vadvani sat down, and then spoke thoughtfully with a lovely smile on her face. “Love and music comes from within. It is a state that comes after you learn to forget yourself. You need to get out of your selfishness and that is by not confining to your small family, and to yourself, a very limited circle. Self needs should be subdued. To bring this change, create a mental attitude of satisfaction in what you have. It is only then you can move out of yourself. Do good to others and their happiness is sure to give you immense happiness. Happiness is nothing but living every minute with love and compassion. It is like a perfume you pore on others but you are sure to get some on yourself. Happiness is not a ready made formula; it comes from your actions. You need to love those around you and not only yourself. And as ParamHans points out, ‘A happy man attracts into his body a great supply of ‘universal life energy’ that keeps him away from distress and diseases’. Learn to smile to make your life easy in the worst of circumstances. Develop an attitude of gratitude and give thanks for every thing that happens in your life, knowing well that every step forward is a step towards achieving something bigger and better than your current situation. You asked me where is ‘Anand’ to be found. Remember you have come from Anand and can well find it in the small happenings of your life. Learn to be happy in whatever you have and don’t think that happiness will come tomorrow when your expectations make you to imagine that you will have more. What if those expectations do not come true? You are apt to land up in tensions and frustrations. Face all the events of your life bravely and with a smile on your face. You need to find Anand in the small happenings of your day to day life. Balance your life in searching for happiness in the daily happenings, in little things you have and the little ways that you can help others. Search the need of your life yourself. It cannot be borrowed. As you proceed in life experience ‘Anand’ in every moment. Anger and frustration are not good for your health. You will not be punished but finished by such habits Why then have them? Instead instill in yourself the habit to smile. It will be so easy to proceed in life. A procession of men that ran to safer places from that of disaster took on the head their best. The one who carried jewelry , gold and silver walked with expanded chest, those who followed went according to their possessions, but at the end walked a great philosopher with torn clothes , with nothing to carry yet with expanded chest. All laughed at him and commented, “Look at that fool. He has nothing to possess, not even proper clothes, yet he is walking with expanded chest more than the best”. The man very humbly replied “I have that which I will never lose my Anand, my Smile”. The one lesson that you need to learn is to smile under the worst condition. Your thoughts must be high. Depression at all cost must be avoided. If you have learnt to smile as you proceed in life, you have learnt the right lesson. Depressive thoughts at all cost must always be avoided. If ever such thoughts enter your mind change them immediately. Depression is a disease that finishes a life. Do not allow ever such thoughts to over power you. Your thoughts must always be high to bring a charming smile on your face. If depressive thoughts ever disturb you throw them into a dustbin. There should not be a second thought on this. Change the low into high. Leave all that worries you, this very moment. Enthusiasm, courage and smiles are the things you need. Sit alone, be with God and think how you need to stand in life. Definitely not as one who has lost all enthusiasm to live. Happiness and troubles follow each other for this is what life means. Take them in a stride and walk the path of life with a head held high and a winning smile on your face. Do not be an introvert. Be an extrovert who smiles, and laughs, as he crosses the path of life, extending his hand to any that needs it. You need to remember one thing that is very important for you. Never for a moment forget One who is always watching you with compassion. Do not rush to the mountains or to the temples to search Him. He has vacated these places for He got disgusted and disgruntled with people thronging Him always complaining of their ills. He pondered upon places where He could hide Himself from this mad rush. After much discussion, He thought of a place where men do not go. He ran and hid Himself there. Can you guess that place? He ran and hid himself in the hearts of men, a place where we never go. So you have to search Him there where He is sitting and looking at you, waiting for you eagerly, smiling that you are not reaching Him. You are the one that He loves the most. He wants you to have faith in Him, confidence in yourself and a smile for all as you walk the path of your life. Priti, I know well that I am a category in myself because my approach to the problem of Life is quite different from many. I am not against what you think about your problems and how you need to look at life. But I am against principles that may be thrust forcibly on me or for that sake on any one. I am in full agreement with the writer who says: “To the question of your life, you are the answer and to the problem of your life, you are the solution”.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 10:08:00 +0000
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