Wednesday, December 28, 2011

We are all made to fly


Once upon a time there was a king who received a gift of two magnificent peregrine falcons from Arabia. They were the most beautiful falcons he had ever seen. He gave the precious birds to his head falconer to be trained.

Many days later the head falconer informed the king that though one of the falcons was flying majestically soaring high in the sky, the other bird had not moved from its branch since the day it had arrived.

The king summoned people with knowledge of birds and requested them to do something to make the bird fly. But no one could succeed. The bird refused to move from its perch. Having tried everything else, the king announced a big prize to any person who makes the falcon to fly.

In the morning the king was thrilled to see the falcon soaring high above the palace garden. He said to his personal servant “Bring me the doer of this miracle.”

The man who won the prize was a farmer. He came and stood before the king. The king asked him, “How did you make the falcon fly?”

The farmer said to the king, “It was very easy your majesty. I simply cut the branch where the bird was sitting”

We are all made to fly – to realize our incredible potential as human beings. But instead of flying high we sit on our branches, clinging to the things that are familiar to us. The possibilities are endless. But they remain undiscovered for most of us. We cling to the familiar, the comfortable and the mundane. So, most of our lives are mediocre instead of exciting, thrilling and fulfilling.

Sometimes God is kind enough to cut the branch we are sitting comfortably, so that we could soar high. By changing nothing, nothing changes. We cannot discover new oceans unless we have the courage to lose sight of the shore. Let us remember this truth whenever our routine and comfortable life shatters by unforeseen circumstances. God may be helping us to soar high in his subtle ways.

- N.Ganeshan


Wednesday, December 14, 2011

If …



We all dream in our life. But all of us do not have the strength and will power to carry on the dreams till the end. Most of us lose the dreams in face of reality. Some of us remember the dreams with fondness and pain. Many of us forget even about their past existence. But a few of them carry on their dreams till the end of their life. They are the real heroes. Rudyard Kipling calls them real men. In this beautiful poem he explains what makes such a Man. Read the inspirational poem and do not lose sight of your dreams….

- N.Ganeshan
  
                     If …

If you can keep your head when all about you 
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, 
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, 
But make allowance for their doubting too, 
If you can wait and not be tired of waiting, 
Or being lied about don’t deal in lies; 
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, 
Yet don’t look too good nor talk too wise; 

If you can dream and not make dreams your master. 
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim, 
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, 
And treat those two imposters just the same, 
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken, 
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, 
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, 
And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools; 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings, 
And risk it on one turn of pitch and toss, 
And lose and start again at your beginnings, 
And never breathe a word about your loss, 
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew, 
To serve your turn long after they have gone, 
And so hold on when there is nothing in you, 
Except the will which says to them, “Hold on”; 

If you can mix with crowds and keep your virtue, 
Or, walk with kings, nor lose the common touch; 
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, 
If all men count with you, but none too much; 
If you can fill the unforgiving minute 
With 60 seconds’ worth of distance run, 
Then yours is the world and everything that’s in it, 
And what’s more—you’ll be a Man, My son! 

— Rudyard Kipling 

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Zen Thoughts On Life


Learning the way of Zen is not difficult. All it needs is an open and alert mind. You don’t have to learn any special rituals or memorize large and difficult texts. The key to Zen is attention in the present moment, so clear your mind and take the Zen path.


Our minds are clever little things, and endlessly justify why we cannot do what we say we are going to do. The last thing our egos want is seeing everything as it is.

If we complain about something it means it is something we don’t like. Things don’t change by themselves just because we don’t like them. When you realize this, you’ll stop complaining. In fact it would be a very liberating experience to not have to complain. You can just experience the world, work on things you really want to change and accept the rest as it is.

We endlessly self-describe, and because we think it, we tend to stop there, believing we are as we think ourselves to be. Therefore, to change is, first, to change your self-description.

We call reality what we experience, but a lot of it is actually interpretation. Being afraid of the dark is not proof the dark ‘is’ scary. But it only says you think it is. Others may love to walk under a starry dark sky.

Perhaps you don’t even have to choose but to just see things as they are, without choosing to love or hate it.

If you don’t know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else. So have a clear idea.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, but only if you take it. 


If you come to a division in the road, take it. Do not just stand there, stare at the division, and refuse to choose or to move or to decide. At the same time do not travel on the road that’s not getting you where you want to go. Life presents endless divisions in the road. In general, any choice we make can be changed at any time. Pick one that takes you to your goal and start walking. You do not get the time you waste back at the end of your life.


You cause yourself problems by over-thinking and worrying. Simplify things and do everything with awareness. Your problems will disappear automatically.

Watch the sit­uation uncritically as it unfolds before you. Usually your mind will struggle to create a drama to judge. Observe your mind playing games and realize that they are just games. In this clarity, you can choose a way to respond that is appropriate to the current moment and situation, without getting tied up in the games and dramas your mind loves.

In every area where you think you are stuck, you are stuck because you are holding on to something that does not work. Let that go and move on.

Live each and every day with vitality, never failing to take everything that happens as an opportunity to open and expand your inner life, exerting yourself to the fullest in the place you find yourself now.


- N.Ganeshan