Hardly I lived!

Here I lie on my deathbed n my life I  review ,
The End of the life gives you a nice birds eye view,

I had a long life, I am aged seven sevnty,
Still i cant recall a day, when I had time plenty,

From my days as a child, my days of school,
Thought only the big ones had fun, I was a fool,

As I joined the college, my goal was a career,
For years and years, I worked hard as much i could bear,

I joined a job and soon I had married,
Here was some years I was not harried,

Then I joined the race, the race that
Led me to deathbed,
Money, power, respect and to be always ahead,

It was to be a 'Have', and not to be a 'Have not',
This was the real game, but see it I did not,

The best car, the best villa, the best suit, the best gadget,
I burned my life for them, now can only regret,

Now it looks as if the years went in a flash,
My health, my youth, with them I was very rash,

Now though i have stacked property of many a million,
Time, I need most, alas that I have none,

Doctors say I may live months four or five,
You fools, my worries and attachemnts do only keep me alive,

It may all go waste, what all I  had achieve,
Others will soon blow it for fun, I can only now grieve,

Overtimes, weekends, holidays I burnt for carreer,
I made injustice to those I held dear,

My family they missed me on many an evenings,
Just as I miss them, I can feel their yearnings,

Time the only treasure, as a fool I threw away,
Millions that I have, now can't buy me even one more day,

I was young, could enjoy, could dance laugh n sing a lot,
That was my life, the life live i did not,

Family and friends, hobbies and passions,
Weekends, holidays, going on vacations,

These were the days, only worth a counting,
The race ate up the rest, the huge loss is now haunting,

Life is made of years, years made of many such a day,
So Only way to enjoy life, is to enjoy 'Today'.

If only I knew and lived so, now I would not have repented,
Could have been happy a lot more, by being just a little bit contented,

Time and youth, health once lost no one can regain,
Are the real tresures of life, that dont ever come again.

Life would be like pardise, if I knew it before,
Life is the only thing, worth ever living for,
Today is the day, worth ever living for.

एक

एक,
एक दो, दो एक,
एक तीन, तीन एक,
एक छत्तीस कोटी, छत्तीस कोटी एक,
एक छह अरब, छह अरब एक,
एक अनन्त, अनन्त एक
एक आदि, अन्त एक
एक बस एक बस एक । ।

The Real El dorado!

The expedition to locate and unearth the greatest treasure in all world will be very long and very very difficult. After many sleepless nights it will lead to some great revelations and the trail, after passing through all over the world,will finally end at your own doorstep!

शुद्ध विचार शुद्ध कर्म सुखी जीवन ।

पहला  माने तारो और ग्रहों की चाल,
दूजा  माने की हाथ लकीरों में है भाग का हाल,

तीजा करे तीरथ चौथा करे दान,
पंजा खोजे जंतर, तंत्र , मंतर में निदान,

छठा  माने शुक्कर, सात माने मंगल,
 आठ माने शगुन नहीं तो बड़ा अमंगल,

नौ करे जग, दस करे बिसेस पूजा,
गारह कहे मेरे गुरु सा कोइ न दूजा,

बारह बदले आपन नाम, तेरह बदले खिड़की द्वार,
 चौदह बने बैसनब जब न कैसे भी हो उद्धार,

 पंद्रह बांटे तिल तेल,  सोलह बांटे पिली राइ,
 कोइ न जाने कुछ भी बांटे से न मिटती भाग लिखाई,

करम के फल से कौन बचे हैं, कौन बचेंगे,
देव, नर, प्राणी, करम फल तो सब भोगेंगे,
  
जब बस तेरे कर्मो का  फल ही है तू पाता,
 फिर क्यूँ न अच्छे कर्मों से तू जोड़े नाता,

करम करे जो, फल पाये सो, प्रभु बचन है गीता में,
सत्य यही है मान ले बंधू, फिर मन काहे को चिंता में,

तृष्णा, द्वेष, मोह, भय, चिंता और हंकार, 
बुरे करम व् दुखी जीवन के बस इतने  हैं द्वार ,

ना  कर  चिंता, भय, डर , ना करना मन को निरास ,
 सुद्ध बिचार से सुद्ध करम कर, कर ले प्रभु में बिस्वास,

सार यही है , बोध यही है, सब ग्रंथों में बस इतना ही ज्ञान,
बस अच्छे कर्म से ही सुखी जीवन का है विधान ,

 छोड़ उपाय सब, मान यही बस, कर ले बस इतना नियम,
'सुद्ध बिचार- सुद्ध करम',  'सुद्ध बिचार- सुद्ध करम',
'सुद्ध बिचार- सुद्ध करम' , 'सुद्ध बिचार- सुद्ध करम'

Saving Money and Spending Life?

Money Money Money!
There is no other thing that occupies so much space in our Life.

In fact from the childhood to adulthood itself, we learn the importance of money everyday.
By the time we grow up, we think money as the most important purpose of life. We think Money will buy be Joy, peace, security, power, respect, Health even friends and family. That is why in most of our calculations money is the most deciding factor.
We tend to make mostly that choice which maximizes money in short, medium or long term, if the choice is approved by society, peer groups, law etc.

This is the "Maxima and Minima" of money in making choices. These choices start from which school we attend, what studies we take, what carreer we take, what job we take, whose friendship or social circle we aspire for, sometimes, whom we marry, who is friend and who is enemy et cetera et cetera.

In short it is the money that makes most of our choices and it is the money that runs our lives.

There is a fable of a wood cutter who lived in his small hut near a forest. He earned just enough to maintain his family. He was poor but did not complain and took life as it came.
One day, in the forest, as he selected a large and very old tree and lifted his axe to make his first hit, a 'Yaksha' appeared. The yaksha requested to the wood cutter to spare the tree, which was his home. The wood cutter replied that he had to fell this tree to buy food for his family. Then the Yaksha promised to give him a horde of Gold, of seven Urns. When the wood cutter returned home he was euphoric to find the seven urns full of Gold. One moment, one of the urns was only half full. The half urn disappointed him a bit, but not much. He spent the day in euphoria, but in the night as his excitement kept him awake, a thought crept into his mind. "If the seventh urn was also full, won't that be fabulous. Won't that make me the richest as well as the happiest." By the time he left his bed in the morning his mind was made. He would fill the seventh urn also. Buy working just a bit more and spending a bit less he planned to accomplish it. It was a matter of 2-3 months he thought.
He started going to forest half an early and returning half an hour later. It was exhausting, but just a few more days. He kept his spirit up for a few weeks, till he realized that level of gold had not increased much. "Ok!" he thought, " A bit of economizing and a bit more slogging is needed." He further increased his hours and rationed his food. It went on for a couple of months. He had to gradually increase his log again and again. He was still not getting any where. The magical urn was still not full.
One day as he bent down on a stream to drink water,  he was shocked to see his own reflection. He saw himself  aged, frail and sad. He was way off worse than he was before he found the urns. There was sadness and quarrel in the family too. It dawned on him that the chase of gold had destroyed his life altogether. He went back to the Yaksha who agreed to take his 'Boon' back.
His old life was back. Now he had less, only, he was enjoying it more.

Money is neither everything nor is money nothing. Money, as we should recall, is just a mode of exchange for goods that we need or want such as food money, clothes, comfort etc. Without its value as exchange, a kilogram of Dollars has the same value as a kilograms of old newspapers.

In transaction money can become everything available in the market, yet without transaction money is nothing. So, if  I am working day or night for an huge amount of money, which is way beyond my needs and requirements, which would remain un-exchanged at the end, perhaps I am making a Big mistake!

If Life is like a home than Money is the fuel that keeps the appliances of the home running. No fuel, no electricity, no appliance, no food or clean cloths or hot or cold air, or entertainment. Therefore money is absolutely essential to keep the home from coming to a standstill.

On the other hand, how much fuel you actually are going to need. You need the fuel to run the house lifelong, you need a bit more for contingencies also, yet can you afford to spend all your capital (time in this case) into fuel for the generator and have nothing left to buy any appliance or actual needs like food or cloths etc.
Also would like to convert all your capital into fuel only. Would you like to keep a million gallons in your storage and worrying about its safety and security or whether it would evaporate and therefore keep continuous adding up.
Just like for a household a million gallons are not a requirement but a burden, same is a billion rupee bank balance. Which car needs a thousand liter petrol tank in a car. The car will be constantly burning fuel, only to carry the excess fuel.
We need money to maintain life, yet why spend the life earning and accumulating money, till you have no life left to maintain, only money left.

It is better to have money for a decent life, a bit more for contingencies and then divert the time we have to ourselves, our own health, our own family, our own friends, our own comfort, our own peace and happiness.

Maintain your liquidity. Like a hill station, In life also, The journey is meant to be much much more enjoyable than the destination.

 The Time is the actual asset in our life, which depletes constantly and is irreplaceable even for the King of the earth. We earn money only by giving our time. Time is the youth, time is the age, time is the seconds, minutes and hours that add up to our life.
Family is the tree that should be nurtured with time and money.
Health is the actual property which should be cared for and protected with time and money. We learn this very late and then we have to we spend all the money we have accumulated to purchase health, the same money for which we earlier spent all our time and health.
We spend our millions in old age, just to give our aged and frail bodies a few more days to live, while when we had youth, we spent all of it and countless days to accumulate money.

Ask a man on a death bed, does his money give him health, life, time or happiness. No, it only gave him worries. Who will capture and waste my money, which I accumulated through my lifetime of misery, suffering and effort. I suffered and they will enjoy. Oh my money!

So Health for Money, and then Money for Health, funny ain't it!

So friends, earn money and save money, but save time also, time is the actual treasure. Spend your days wisely, to enjoy, to love and to be loved, to be at peace and to be happy. To care and to be cared. For self, family and friends. Live and Love your life. Enjoy today, it wont come back. See the sunset and sunrise, the rainbow, the chirping of birds and the flowers. The laughter of the child and the smile of the life partner and love of the parents.

Don't Save money and spend Life. Save Life and spend Money instead. Enjoy

Lost and Found!

Losing the self and finding oneself!

Short of time?

Time is something we are always short of and therefore we have to be in a rush all the time. 

In this 24/7 race against time, sometimes we forget the puepose of the race itself.
Once I heard a joke which goes like :

A man sees his friend running on the road and dragging his bicycle with him as well. The man asks, " Hey, why don't you ride the bicycle!" He gets the answer, " I im in a hurry. I don't have time to sit on the bicycle."

Funny, but in our day to day and dawn to dusk racing, what happens is that the  troubled and unfocussed mind also works at the lowest efficiency.

In the race to live, we forget to live at all and also how to live.
As a result, all of us, who actually are capable of much bigger and much better accomplishments are doomed to a mediocre life, and at the twilight zone, we wonder where did the life go away, how did the 70 years pass away and what the hell the hurry was for? The hurry doesnt seem to make any difference at the end.

At the end we realize that time was the actual wealth, the actual capital that can only be spent, the property that can not be bought at any price. The  total wealth of the universe  an create matter and energy but can not create even a minute of time.

So, what this precious wealth , the Time actually is?

We do not know about it. We are not sure about it. We can't see/ smell/ touch/taste it. None of the finest scientific instruments including those who can see the atom to those who can see billions of kilometers far away fail to sense it.Still, Surprisingly, we, every single one of us, claim to keep its account always. What is it?
It it Time!
We claim to measure Time, though we can't detect the existence of even a single second of it.

Every calendar, clock, wristwatch, cellphone, computer, TV, dvd upto the microwave seem to be keeping track of Time.

Time is the most fundamental law of the existence of the universe as well as the Life.
What we percieve and name as Time is nothing but the most obvious yet unnoticed fact of the cyclic nature inbuilt in each atom, each phenomenon of the universe.

 Time is the Solemn Statement of God himself, stating the non existence of any begining or any end. Only cycles!

We first observed this law as well as  the existence of Time itself with the sunrises and sunsets and invented Day, Then hours and minutes. We watched seasons and invented Year. We watched Moon phases and counted months. Our calendars count the days and watches count the minutes. 

Our watches do not measure the time, not at all. They only keep count of the cyclic mechanism, whether springloaded, pendulum, sunlight, sandfall, peizo or atomic. The clocks then compare their cycles with a cycle of nature, ie day and year and fragment it into seconds and beyond.

Hacking Time:

Still, the Time remains unreplenishable, exhausting every second, mercilessly.
Can nothing be done to slow the time even minutely! Can a few minutes not be added at all. Will we never come out of this shortness of Time?
Answer is 'Yes'.

The secret lies in our minds. Time has one more diamension, present in our minds. 

Time exists in our minds as well. Which means that Time moves as slow or as fast as we percieve it to.
For example, imagine a 100 m sprint. A Casual watcher who is bored, daydreaming or talking would almost fail to notice anything except the start or finish. An avid watcher would watch the race as it happens but at a very fast speed, too fast to watch all contestents. But the sprinter, for him the time slows down before the race starts, remains slow and becomes slower as his chest touches the ribbon. The experince of these persons of the same 10 seconds quite differ. For the casual watcher, these 10 seconds did not exist at all, for the avid watcher these were like 10 seconds and for the sprinter the time almost took half a minute as per his own perception. In sports many a time a batsman, bowler, golf player or football player finds himself watching the ball frame by frame, almost as if in a slow motion.
This is the power of concentration. The deeper the concentration, the slower is the time. Vice versa, the more fragmented the focus, the lesser aware the mind, the faster is the time. Amphetamines and other stimulats raise the wakefulness to this end.
So, by reducing the extra worries and random thoughts awareness can increase. 

Strangeness:

Another example: visiting an unknown place seems to take more time than a known place at the same distance. In fact, always, going to an unknown place seem to take a lot more time than coming back. Reason is awareness, in this case known as strangeness.

A strange unknown environment raises concentration or awareness and then the time slows down.
Another well known example, while running and falling the time slows down.

 Also a strong slap and its stimulus to the mind, slows down time considerably. This technique is used heavily in Zen temples, where a master sometimes slaps or hits a pupil who seems to be at the threshold of enlightent, who is missing the final piece of the jigsaw, who is missing just the bit. In such a case, a slap or a hit might give him the strangeness, that moment of time of heightened awareness when everything comes into place and the light is switched on in the darl, as if a myopic suddenly got the correct glass suddenly.

This is the value of strangeness.
In fact enlightemnt is nothing but a moment of strangeness after one or more lifetimes of query, search and meditation.

The strangeness is also the reason, that travelling helps so much in this query. When going through unknown areas and meeting strange people,  one is in a deeper awareness,can question, observe and think over the same things, that he would miss entirely at his own home.
Another exaple of this is that while we can notice all the cobwebs and spiders in the drawing room of a host we are visiting, we do do not notice much larger ones in our own drawing room.
So, the secret of the time is the awareness. By keeping our minds lighter loaded and externalising our minds, we can improve our awareness and then we can be far more efficient, productive and successful. Hours, Days, months and Life will all become longer in your own frame of reference resulting in success and thereby happiness
Some suggestions to this purpose are organizing things and routine, cutting down TV time, being online once in a day or only as per need rather than the present 'always on' system,  Reducing the 'multitasking' as far as possible and greatest of all, by meditating.
Good luck to you in developing awareness and harnessing the most previous resource of time!

Bad things happening with Good people!

Many a times we feel that it is mostly the good and the righteous who suffer, while the evil live and enjoy their evil deeds.

One of my favorite zen anecdotes-
The horse of a farmer runs away to the forest. All the neighbours consoled the farmer and commented " How unlucky! Losing his only horse.". The farmer only replied "maybe".
In a few days the horse returned alongwith another mare with it. Now the neighbours said, "Getting a mare for free. How lucky! The farmer again replies "maybe".
One day the farmer's son falls from the mare and breaks his leg. The villagers expressed their sympathy and say, "How unlucky. Such a young boy breaking his leg." Again  the farmer replied only "maybe". After few days a war started between this country and its neighbouring country. All the young or able males were getting conscripted in the army. The king's staff do not conscript the farmer's son due to the broken leg. Now, thd villager's were envious and said, "Lucky chap. Breaking his leg at the right time and getting away."

Now, the farmer listens and only says , "Maybe."

Like this story, life is not a single event, single match or a single hand of a game. Life is like an almost infinite stream of events. Every event, however small, affects every event, however large, downstream in this current of time. In this incalculably complex mechanism, life simply becomes completely unpredictably. Who knows who all will meet him for what and what plans will begin, when a natural calamity will come, when a war or recession in a far off country will rain money on some and close many other shops.
Some microspic events also initiate transformation of thw whole world. There are many such example throughout history.
For instance, discovery of steam engine started Industrial revolution and empire building from Britain.
A painter who when refused admission in Vienna acdemy developed a career in politics and went on to start World war 2, Hitler.
An arrow stroke to the eye of Hemu, the Indian ruler changed the loosing battle of Moghuls in India and completely changed the present and future for thousand of years.
Alongwith thousands of such visible cause and effect relationships, there are also present trillions of undercurrents of many cause many effect relationship beginning and culmimation every second.
There are no individual cause and effects. There are no individual fortunes.
Therefore, we can never know that what good waits us after this bad turn. Or what bad may come after this victory. It is very much possible that this failure or harm is going to get me a bigger gain in future. Maybe this lost battle has changed the scenario to get me a bigger war.

No event can be judged as good or bad in isolation. In this chaotic mechanics any event can lead to any outcome. Therefore, let us place total trust in the God that we believe in and take the things as they come.
By being fluid not rigid, being open and not closed, being dynmic and not static I can utilize even the problems I face into opportunities for myelf. By changing the approach and planning dynamically as per the situation one can make the best of almost any situation to his benefit and this is the secret to success.  Utilizing even the problems.

Further,I am good or not only God knows,  because all 6 billion people are good in thier own eyes.
What happens to me, is the result of what I have at some time done to others. This is the whole theory of Karma i.e. Sowing and reaping and what goes around, comes around.
So, if I want very good things to happen with me, worrying and criticising will not help at all. Praying to God will help, but what will help many more times is being good to others and doing good things. What is best, is doing good things spontaneously, as a duty without any expectation or calculation of gains. This is is the teaching of Upanishads, Karmayoga, Geeta and also of Tao. This is the hidden algoritham behind the above mega-complex chaotic multi cause-multi effect chain.
To summarise, let us accept that
We all are good, let us try to act good spontaneously and accept the events as Gods will in our best interest, as a parent to a child.
Accept things as they come, evolve upon them and have faith in God.

We all are Good and things that happen to us are also Good and will be better if we ourselves become better.
This is secret of eternal happiness.

Love is God!

Love is not only the happiness and joy of life but Love is the path to God also.
The road to God goes through the steps of Query, doubt, knowledge, assimilation and application of this knowledge with meditation for instance, Achieving Awareness of the true nature of the life, the world and God and then comes the enlightenment leading to God.

But, On this path, our brain and thinking can only take us upto the level of knowledge only and no further! The thinking brain can look  but it will not see or percieve.

After that level only the heart can be the guide, to the hidden path of Love.

God and his spirit is everywhere in this world, all around us and in fact inside us also. Every Human, animal or particle us hiding the divine glow inside itself and this cloak of invisibility of is called 'Maya' or Ignorance.
Ishvasyopnishad says that all that is visible and all that is invisible is Supreme God himself. Also it says that "The enlightened is the one who sees all in God and God in all."

In an anecdote, Once when Guru Nanak Dev ji was sleeping in Holy Mecca with his feet towards the Kaaba, he was reprimanded by somebody for keeping his feet towards the "Home of God". He expressed his tiredness and requested the person to kindly move his feet towards the direction where God did not reside. When the angry person started moving his feet he was amazed to see that whatever direction he moved he would see Kaabasharif in front of him. God was residing everywhere, and he was blessed to see it.

Our God, whom we try to love with all our hearts is with us and inside us all the time, yet we, the innocent children in our ignorance can not see him. Our reliance on our physical eyed fail us. We search him in temples and churches. We go to far away places for pilgrimage. We go to Masters, Gurus and Babas. Finally we find him, if we are successful, in our hearts. We find him in ourselves, in our parents and family, in our neighbours, in all humans, in all living beings and in all the non living as well and then is our journey to our dear eternal home completed.
When we see God in all humans, it is not just a statement but acceptance of all, any caste, creed, color, age, gender or wealth as our dear ones. When the enlightened sees into the eyes of any person he sees the spirit of God hiding in those ignorant eyes. He treats all the Living with same compassion as with his beloved.

The sufis and fakirs have realized this for a very long time and in a story, once  a fakir was sharing a bread with a dog. When somebody asked him why he behaving so absurdly, he was answered by the fakir that, " The  God and The God are sharing The God, why are you asking O God."
This is the true path to God and whatever form we worship our God in and whatever temple or church we go to, let us first love ourselves, our parents and family also. Let us embrace our neighbors and all others with the same compassion. Has anybody ever seen any fault or ugliness in his beloved, his mother or his child. Love sees only the good and that is why Love is the beauty of life. Yes, it is not easy and yes, it will not happen any time soon. But, it is the true path, it will happen gradually and surely and life will be much more beautiful on this path.
The person who needs the most compassion  from you first is nobody else but yourself. Forgive yourself for past errors and all, accept and appreciate yourself the way God has made you and look at yourself with the same compassion. Then let us do the same with the family, the neighbours, the acquaintances and the strangers, whoever they be. What is the surprise is that the Love spread by you is also returned to you by others and the only way of getting Loved has always been by Giving the  love.
Since we already love our family, the first person of non-family encountered to us is our neighbour and maybe that why God askes us to "Love our neighbours" as that is the first step to loving all living beings.

This is the way to have a happy life and build up a Beautiful and Happy world brick by brick and also the path to our beloved God.
The path of Love.

The Overheated Chip !

In many ways the human mind and brain can be compared to the computer os and the hardware.
When a child is born, he is born with minimal capabilities and information. He knows just to breath and to partake of his food, i.e. milk as per gods design. He can not see. He can not control the limbs, other organs or the natural needs. He can hear and the only response he has is the  crying. Crying of a child can be for 13 different reasons from hunger, pain, cold, hot in short anything abnormal.
Then in a few weeks, the device drivers of the optical, audio and the motor units start getting installed. Then starts a massive data uptake, compilation, linking and summary of the information collected continuously of all sense organs.
Then more complex programs of speech, identification etc are loaded and in a few months a fully loaded supercomp is running at full speed.
At the twilight, the reverse happens. Memory blocks start getting corrupted. Drivers fail. Motor mechanisms also become slow and unsteady and so on.

What happens in between?
In the period of youth and afterwards when the hardware is finally set up, it can not develop or repair any more but starts getting corrupted block afte block.
Also, if one could see inside the task manager of an adult human, he would find at least 20 programs running on the front end and a hundred in the background. Remember, how Windows start shaking and hanging at just 50 programs. These programs include the boss, the colleagues, the life partner, kids, school, promotion, house, emi, tax, investment, neighbors, friends, relatives, nation, politics, cricket, vacation, bills, past, present, future and so on. Many of these background programs take over in idle time i.e. sleep in shape of dreams. That is why dreams show us what is running undreneath the conscious mind and are called "Golden road to the subconscious." or something like that.
So we are looking here at a chip multitasking and severely overloaded and overclocked. The result is obvious, burning out if the chip at a fast rate and reduced life, besides reduced efficiency coz any productive work like your ppt would take forever.
So what to do to save ourselves from burning out early as well as fatal health repercursions and also to improve our efficiency and thereby our success.
Easy, the same as tweak our comp.
First, unwanted programs running in the background need to be terminated. Most important of them are memories of past and 10-20 year plans of future. The paat is already dead and the future will be allright if you do well in the present. Second is the worrying part. Worrying a lot doesnt help in solution. After that, things have to be let go, upon the trust in God, destiny as well as the confidence in oneself. We will tackle it when it happens. You can not plan every move and response in life. Let go the illusion of being in control and take it easy a bit. Worrying 24 hours will not help more than worrying 8 hours or so. What will help is, relaxing a bit and tackle the issue again after a while. A relaxed and calm mind can tackle almost all situations.
To these ends most helpful is meditation. It helps in calming the mind, relaxing, clearing, improving focus, summarizing and finding hidden solution in peripheral vision. With a bit of physical exercise or breathing exercise results can be wonderful.
Getting good 8 hours comfortable  sleep is most essential as a necessity. The REM sleep of 2 hours is the basic requirement for repair and maintenance of body and mind. The Body and mind are our most vital equipment, which has no upgradation, replacement and sometimes no repair as well. Therefore let us not burn them out and give sufficient cooling. Sleep also helps in defragging the mind and is almost a meditation. That is why the most wonderful ideas are born in early sleep or just at the time of awakening.

So friends lets handle the hardware and software with a bit of love and care and you will love the long and wonderful life you will have and yes without any error mesaages.