LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENT

The world is a beautiful place to live in. With all the oddities of human beings and all the eccentricity of pain, there are too many things to live for. Life isn’t all about ‘the bigger, the better’. As Johnson says, in small proportions, we just see beauties; and in short measures, life may be perfect. One doesn’t need to be overly intelligent, or rich, or handsome to lead a perfect life. It lies, as it were, in a sense of achievement that you derive from your life.

Now, then, an achievement may mean different things to different people depending on their frame of reference. Some seek it in fame, some in wealth and others in peace perhaps. Everyday millions are born and millions die. But who weeps for those who die? Hardly a few friends and family members. It indicates very clearly how much worthy our life is. Being a part of the crowd is the easiest thing to achieve, but then its satisfaction value is zero. And the sense of achievement is as unlikely as horns on a donkey’s head. You should lead the crowd instead of following it. You should try to be a man with a difference, a man less ordinary.

Everyone lives for himself, even the animals. But we are ways ahead of them on moral and intellectual grounds. We ought to live for others. The achievement is in giving, not in taking. If you can wipe someone’s tears, or can restore the smile of somebody, do it and never count the cost. And as the saying goes, do it in such a way that even your left hand shouldn’t know that your right hand is doing an act of charity. Moreover, maintain humility all the while, for humility is not a wasteful luxury, but a sound investment. Mark my words! This is sure, if not the shortest path towards a perfect life. And the sense of achievement will be of colossal proportions.

Now, a few words for the sceptics (it’s a shame that anyone should be sceptic on so profound a matter). Life doesn’t always look like a blessing. When the grief and melancholy take possession of you, then the moonlit summer sky looks like the murky sky of August. You may well argue that darkness is ever so horrible, but I will always disagree. There is no bliss in perfection. It leaves you to a standstill well and truly. Without the scope for betterment, there is no fun in the game. Life is a game, isn’t it? And the difference lies in the fact that how keenly, how whole-heartedly you play it. After all, the genuine players can always derive a sense of achievement out of it.

SCATTERED PAPERS

Once upon a time an old man spread rumors that his neighbour was a thief. As a result, the young man was arrested. Days later, the young man was proven innocent. After having been released, he sued the old man for wrongly accusing him.

In court the old man told the Judge: ‘They were just comments; they didn’t harm anyone.’

The judge, before passing sentence on the case, told the old man: “Write all the things you said about him on a piece of paper. Cut them up and on the way home throw the pieces of paper out. Tomorrow, come back to hear the sentence.”

The next day, the judge told the old man: ‘Before receiving the sentence, you will have to go out and gather all the pieces of paper that you threw out yesterday.’

The old man said: “I can’t do that! The wind spread them and I won’t know where to find them.”

The judge then replied: “The same way, simple comments may destroy the honour of a man to such an extent that one is not able to fix it. If you can’t speak well of someone, rather don’t say anything.”

Let’s all be masters of our mouths, so that we won’t be slaves of our words.

ANGER MANAGEMENT

For some time, therapists have believed that anger is OK. In fact, many therapists still believe that it’s good to get angry once in a while. Around fifteen years ago in Japan it was discovered that around 10,000 executives were dying every year from overwork and they found the cause to be excessive, but suppressed anger. So they created ‘anger rooms’ in the basements of their offices, padded the walls and put a baseball bat in the room. They told executives that if they felt anger developing inside them, they should go to the room and just hit the walls with the bat as hard, and as much as they wanted in order to get the anger out of their system. Two years later, they measured the results. The amount of anger had increased. Why? After much thinking, they finally realised that people who were going to the rooms regularly were practising getting angry and simply repeating the habit.

Anger is a condition in which the tongue works faster than the mind.

You can’t change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying over the future.

Don’t suppress and don’t express your ANGER - but transform it by practising Meditation. Peace is my original nature but not anger. I AM A PEACEFUL SOUL.

Love...and you shall be loved.