Fisherman and a Banker

Dear Readers,

After a very long time, I have decided to contribute something for my one of the favourite blog KATHAVARTA.

It is so very weird that, the Varta (Story) is little-bit related to my own life :)

Let’s enjoy the Varta first:

An American investment banker was taking a much-needed vacation in a small coastal Mexican village, when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. The boat had several large, fresh fish in it.

The investment banker was impressed by the quality of the fish and asked the Mexican how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, “Only a little while.”

The banker then asked why he didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican fisherman replied that he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The American then asked “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman replied, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my friends. I have a full and busy life.”

The investment banker scoffed, “I am an Ivy League MBA, and I could help you. You could spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats until eventually you would have a whole fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to the middleman you could sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You could control the product, processing and distribution.”

Then he added, “Of course, you would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to a bigger city where you would run your growing enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then?” asked the Mexican.

The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You could make millions.”

“Millions? Then what?”

To which the investment banker replied, “Then you would retire. You could move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your friends.”

Moral:
Now do not take me wrong. I am not saying to not to work or do anything that can give you financial freedom, do that first. But at the same time do not forget to enjoy the life.

Thanks for stopping by to my website.

The Flea and the Ox

A Flea thus questioned an Ox: “What ails you, that being so huge and strong, you submit to the wrongs you receive from men and slave for them day by day, while I, being so small a creature, mercilessly feed on their flesh and drink their blood without stint?”

The Ox replied: “I do not wish to be ungrateful, for I am loved and well cared for by men, and they often pat my head and shoulders.”

“Woe’s me!” said the flea; “this very patting which you like, whenever it happens to me, brings with it my inevitable destruction.”

Live for Others

Ask nothing, want nothing in return. Give what you have to give, it will come back to you – but do not think of that now. It will come back multiplied – a thousandfold – but the attention must not be on that. You have the power to give. Give, and there it ends.

There is no higher virtue than charity. The lowest man is he whose hand draws in receiving, and he is the highest man whose hand goes out in giving. The hand was made to give always. Give the last bit of bread you have, even if you are starving. You will be perfect, you will become God.

This life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive.

Do not stand on a high pedestal and take five cents in your hand and say, ” Here, my poor man,” but be grateful that the poor man is there so that by making a gift to him, you are able to help yourself. It is not the receiver that is blessed, but it is the giver.

We have to bear in mind that we are all debtors to the world and the world does not owe us anything. It is a great privilege for all of us to be allowed to do anything for the world. In helping the world we really help ourselves.

In the world take always the position of the giver. Give everything and look for no return. Give love, give help, give service, give any little thing you can, but keep out barter. Make no conditions and none will be imposed. Let us give out of our own bounty, just as God gives to us.

Posted by Vikas Goyal for topmoralstories.blogspot.com

Problems in Spiritual Evolution

Many people around the Universe worship many kinds of deities; saints and angels in Christianity; devas and Trimurti -Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva- in India; great Muslim leaders in Islam; Bodhisattvas and a great array of deities in Tibetan Budism.

This is a great problem in most religions. We begin praying to the Supreme and then we find ourselves praying to lower spiritual entities, that in some cases, we find more accessible towards our demands, giving us material gains and other things that we want, but that might perilously obstruct our spiritual evolution.

By worshipping these deities, we create a spiritual connection with them, so we merge into their energy, and the stains that their souls have, because of past wrongful actions, contaminate our souls creating in us tremendous problems that will be present in this life, or in future incarnations, such as sicknesses, sorrows, sufferings, calamities, physical deformities, mental retardation, etc.

Another problem is that material gains and fortunes are prayed for and accrued by the devotees, then the deities, take away in turn, from the devotees, punya -merit or light within the soul- and baghyam -good luck stored within the soul acquired by performing good deeds- causing further lowering of their soul.

The deities, saints, angels, etc. have not attained spiritual liberation. Patanjali Maharshi, compiler of “Patanjali Yoga Sutra,” famous book on yoga, had gone on record saying that “the yogi -person who practices yoga in order to evolve spiritually- must be very careful about deities -devas. They are more jealous of the human beings than a fellow human being can ever be.” They always prevent the spiritual progress of a yogi. Hence a yogi should be very much cautious of them lest they deceive him/her, so that he/she cannot elevate himself/herself spiritually and become a rival to them. It is understandable that the worshippers of these devious deities can never attain spiritual perfection, because a deity can only give to his/her worshipper what he/she has attained for himself/herself in the spiritual path.

India’s Puranas, epics and Vedas -India’s sacred books of knowledge- prescribe a laborious method of long term practice for the attainment of spiritual realization.

The present age, which we live in, is Kali Yuga -era of great spiritual upliftment where we can evolve at a much faster rate than in previous eras. Hence it is the age of Gurumargam or the path of Guru. Though Gurumargam has been in vogue in all ages, it is only in Kali Yuga -actual era-, Guru illuminates in fullness and the Supreme is worshipped and attained through Guru. Through a fully realized Guru, people will be able to attain spiritual liberation. This Great Soul is the only one capable of dispelling ignorance in people, helping them to live and act righteously and thus enhancing their growth materially, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

Source: www.santhigiri.com.
Visit www.eTirth.com for Gurus information.

Doubts on Guru and Guru’s Grace

Spiritual realization cannot come to you as a miracle done by your Guru. Buddha, Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, Rama Tirtha have all done sadhana -spiritual practices. Krishna asks Arjuna to develop vairagya -dispassion- and abhyasa -practice. He did not say to him, “I will give you mukti -liberation- now.” Therefore, abandon the wrong notion that your Guru will give you instant liberation. You have to strive, perform positive deeds, pray, meditate and realize. The seeker should not sit idle. He must work hard in order to attain liberation. The more you practice, the more benefit for your soul. Nowadays, many people want a magic pill to push them into full realization. If you have got such delusion, give it up immediately.

God, Almighty, guides you through a fully realized Guru. This spiritual master can show you the path. He/She can help removing your doubts and he/she is able to purify your soul. You must always act up to his/her instructions with faith, devotion and a total surrender. The Guru transmits his/her spiritual Light to the seeker purifying, transforming and spiritualizing him. No doubt, the Guru’s blessings or Guru’s grace is very important in your spiritual evolution, but you must keep in mind that you must deserve this blessings or grace by performing positive karma -righteous thoughts, words and actions-, and then alone his/her grace and blessings can do everything.

The Guru’s grace descends upon those who feel faithful to him. Real faith is a total confidence and trust in the Guru. Faith is firm conviction of the truth of what is declared by the preceptor, by way either of testimony or authority, without any other evidence or proof. The student can imbibe or draw Light and knowledge from his/her teacher, in proportion to his/her degree of faith, devotion and surrender.

The Guru tests the students in various ways. Some students misunderstand him/her and lose their faith in him/her. Hence they are not benefited. The Guru always knows what is the best for your soul. Christ stated: “judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” (John 7:24). By not possessing full spiritual knowledge, we will not be able to completely understand the actions of a fully realized soul. That is why you should never judge such a great soul. Always remember that it is impossible to fully understand the nature of the actions of a fully realized soul, so never judge him/her, or you will end up immersed into chaos and confusion. Measure not his/her divine nature with the inadequate yardstick of your ignorance. Criticize not your Guru’s action which is always done on universal vision. His/Her knowledge and experience is so vast that we will not be able to fully understand him/her. He/She only knows what is good for your soul and that he/she will give you. Maybe you will not like it but you must always remember that what he/she gives or instructs you, is the best for your spiritual growth.

Due to your ever-changing mind sometimes doubts emerge towards your Guru: “is He/She really helping me,” “I do not feel any change within my soul,” “is heshe really a manifestation of God,” “am I imagining things about his/her divine nature,” “why does he/she answer me in such a way,” “he/she does not smile at me as frequently as he/she does to others,” “he/she does not give me what I want from him/her,” “why should I surrender to a Guru, it is an absurdity,” “I have the capacity to evolve by myself,” “I do not need anyone to attain spiritual liberation,” etc.

All these ideas should be annihilated immediately because there is a great danger that I can perceive in darshans -spiritual visions. When you lose faith in your Guru, or there is a doubt or rebelliousness towards him/her, then automatically the spiritual connection that you have with your spiritual master diminishes, and you tend to move away from that precious Light that strengthens and purifies your soul, losing a precious opportunity to evolve at a higher pace, then you may undoubtedly go astray without the protection of that divine Light. This process is automatic, so be very careful on this matter. Whenever wrong ideas about your Guru rise in your mind, you must immediately pray to your Guru or to the Almighty in order to extinguish these wrongful thoughts.

Because of their ego, some become self-sufficient, arrogant, and self-assertive in these days. They do not care to carry the spiritual instructions of a Guru. They think they are in a state of super consciousness when they do not know even the A-B-C of spirituality. This is the reason why they do not grow. This is a very common mistake nowadays. Ego is the archenemy on the path of spiritual evolution.

As stated before, sage Agasthiar, one of the Eighteen Tamil Yoga Siddhas, declared that he had depended on his own self and vanity, and this had deprived him of the attainment of wisdom.

Source: www.santhigiri.com.
Visit www.eTirth.com for Gurus information

An engineer’s 10 commandments of Life

(1) Thou shalt study only during the preparatory leave.

(2) Thou shalt never write thy assignments thyself.

(3) Thou shalt begin writing thy journals only on the morning of submission.

(4) Thou shalt treat all marks above 40 as bonus.

(5) Thou shalt have at least 70 per cent attendance in the canteen.

(6) Thou shalt pass GRACEfully.

(7) Thou shalt always be an OUTstanding student.

(8) Thou shalt give thy attendance without being present…PROXY is a MUST

(9) If thou can’t convince them , confuse them.

(10) Thou shalt start every sentence with a four lettered word.

By: Jagadeesh, for http://www.19.5degs.com