Drop What You Hold

Drop What You Hold

A crow was desperate to escape the eagles chasing it.

Sensing it’s discomfort, a vulture came close and asked, “what bothered it”?

The crow cried, “these eagles want to kill me".

The vulture said, "My friend, they are not after you. They are after the piece of meat in your claw". Just drop it.

The crow dropped the meat.

All eagles flew towards the falling meat.

Vulture smiled and said "The pain is only till you ‘hold on’.  “Just Drop" it.

The crow dropped the meat and bowed, “now, I can fly higher”.

1. We carry the huge burden of "Ego," that creates a false identity in us, "I need love, I need to be invited, I am so and so.

2. We get irritated by "others actions". My friends’, parents’, kids’, colleagues’, spouse’s and get "angry”.

3. We compare us with others. Others’ beauty, wealth, life style, marks, talent and appraisals and are disturbed.

Just Drop it all. Let Go.

And you’ll be at peace.

గాలిపటాన్ని ఎలా ఎగరేయాలో - #mentorship

తండ్రీ కొడుకులు మేడపైకి ఎక్కి గాలిపటం ఎగరేస్తున్నారు. గాలిపటాన్ని ఎలా ఎగరేయాలో తండ్రి పిల్లవాడికి నేర్పిస్తున్నాడు. గాలిపటం బాగా ఎత్తుకు, వెళ్ళాక దారాన్ని కొడుకు చేతికి అందించాడు తండ్రి. కొడుకు ముఖం సంతోషంతో వెలిగిపోయింది. ఆ వెలుగులో తండ్రి మనసు ఉప్పొంగిపోయింది. కొంతసేపు దారాన్ని చేత్తోపట్టుకున్నాక కొడుకు తండ్రిని అడిగాడు.
"నాన్నా దారంతో పట్టి ఉంచితేనే గాలిపటం అంత ఎత్తుకి ఎగిరిందే! దారాన్ని తెంపేస్తే ఇంకా ఎత్తుకు
ఎగిరిపోతుంది కదా" అన్నాడు.
తండ్రి నవ్వాడు. "దారాన్ని తెంపేద్దామా మరి?" అని అడిగాడు. "తెంపేద్దాం నాన్నా" అన్నాడు కొడుకు ఎంతో ఉత్సాహంగా.
ఇద్దరూ కలిసి దారాన్ని తెంపేశారు.
"టప్' మని దారం తెగిపోగానే గాలిపటం ఇంకా పైకి ఎగిరిపోయింది. అంతలోనే దారి తప్పి అటూ ఇటూ కొట్టుకుంటూ కిందికి పడిపోవడం మొదలుపెట్టింది! చివరికి ఎవరి మేడ మీదనోకూలిపోయింది.
"ఇలా జరిగింది ఏంటి నాన్నా" అన్నాడు కొడుకు విచారంగా,
దారం తెంపేస్తే గాలిపటం ఇంకా ఇంకా పైకి పోతుందనుకుంటే, కిందికొచ్చి పడిపోవడం ఆపిల్లాడికి నిరుత్సాహం కలిగించింది. తండ్రివైపు బిక్కమొహం వేసుకుని చూశాడు. కొడుకును దగ్గరికి తీసుకున్నాడు తండ్రి. "గాలిపటానికి దారం ఉండేది. దానిని ఎగిరిపోనీయకుండా పట్టి ఉంచేందుకు కాదు. గాలి ఎక్కువైనా, తక్కువైనా గాలిపటం తట్టుకుని నిలబడి, ఇంకా ఇంకా పైపైకి ఎగిరేలా చేసేందుకే" అని చెప్పాడు. మరో గాలిపటానికి దారం కట్టి ఎగరేసి కొడుకు చేతికి దారం అందించాడు.

జీవితంలో కూడా మనకు కొన్నిసార్లు అనిపిస్తుంటుంది. కుటుంబం అనే బంధం లేకపోయి ఉంటే మనం ఇంకా ఏదో సాధించి ఉండేవాళ్లం అని ,నిజానికి కుటుంబం అందించిన ప్రేమ, సేవ, సౌకర్యాల వల్లనే మనం ఈ మాత్రమైనా నిలబడి ఉన్నామని గ్రహించాలి. కుటుంబం మనల్ని పట్టుకుని లేదు. పట్టుకుని ఉందనుకుని వదిలించుకునే ప్రయత్నం చేస్తే మనమే పట్టుతప్పిపోతాం. తెగిపోయిన గాలిపటంలా గింగిరాలు తిరుగుతూ ఎక్కడో పడిపోతాం.

Contact vs Connection - Swami Vivekananda

A Monk of the Ramakrishna Mission was being interviewed by a journalist from NY. The journalist started
interviewing the Monk as planned earlier.

Journalist - "Sir, in your last lecture, you told us about "Contact" and  "Connection." It's really confusing. Can you explain?"

The Monk smiled and apparently deviating from the question asked the journalist:

"Are you from New York?"

Journalist: "Yeah..."

Monk: "Who are there at home?"

The Journalist felt that the Monk was trying to avoid answering his question since this was a very personal and unwarranted question. Yet the  journalist said: "Mother had expired. Father is there. Three brothers and one sister. All married..."

The Monk, with a smile on his face, asked again: "Do you talk to your father?"

The  journalist looked visibly annoyed...

The Monk: "When did you talk to him last?"

The journalist, supressing his annoyance said: "May be a month ago."

The Monk: "Do you brothers and sisters meet often? When did you meet last as a family gathering?"

At this point, sweat appeared on the forehead of the journalist.

It seemed that the Monk was interviewing the Journalist.

With a sigh, the Journalist said: "We met last at Christmas two  years ago."

The Monk: "How many days did you all stay together?"

The Journalist (wiping the sweat on his brow) said: "Three days..."

Monk: "How much time did you spend with your Father, sitting right beside him?"

The journalist looking  perplexed and embarassed and started scribbling something on a paper...

The Monk: "Did you have breakfast, lunch or dinner together? Did you ask how he was? Did you ask how his days are passing after your mother's death?"

Drops of tears started to flow from the eyes of the journalist.

The Monk held the hand of the journalist and said: "Don't be embrassed, upset or sad. I am sorry if I have hurt you unknowingly... But this is basically the answer to your question about "Contact and Connection ." You have 'Contact' with your father but you don't have 'Connection' with him. You are not connected to him. Connection is between heart and heart...
Sitting together, sharing meals and caring for each other, touching, shaking hands, having eye contact, spending some time together... All your  brothers and sisters have 'Contact' but no  'Connection' with each other..."

The journalist wiped his eyes and said : "Thanks for teaching me a fine and unforgettable lesson."

This is the reality today.
Whether at home or in the society everybody has lots of contacts but there is no connection. Everybody is busy in his or her own world. ...

Let us not maintain just "Contacts" but let us remain "Connected."  Caring, Sharing and Spending time with all our dear ones.

                    ***

The Monk was none other than Swami Vivekananda
=============

Why do we have Brakes in a car ?

The Answer will blow your mind... 

Someone asked...
Why do we have Brakes in a car ?

Varied answers received, like,
"To stop", 
"To reduce speed",
"To avoid collision" etc., 

But the best answer was, 
To enable you to drive faster....

Give it a thought.
It's true but seldom such smart out of box thinking is done,  much less appreciated. 

For a moment assume you have No brakes in your car then how fast will you drive your car..?

It's because of brakes that we can dare to accelerate, dare to go fast and reach destinations we desire 

At various points in life, we find our Parents, Teachers, Mentors, Friends and Spouse etc. questioning our progress, direction or decision. 
Many a times We consider them as irritants or consider such inquiries as Brakes to our ongoing work. 

But, remember, it's because of such questions (read as  periodical brakes) that you have managed to reach where you are today. 
Without brakes, you could have skid, lost direction or gone a stray or even met with an unfortunate accident..!!!

Learn to appreciate the brakes in our life.
Use them wisely...
Have a great time.

Who hurts you!!

Who hurts you!!

When Abraham Lincoln became the president of America, his father was a shoemaker.  And, naturally, egoistic people were very much offended that a shoemaker’s son should become the president.   On the first day, as Abraham Lincoln entered to give his inaugural address, just in the middle, one man stood up.  He was a very rich aristocrat.  He said, “Mr. Lincoln, you should not forget that your father used to make shoes for my family.”  And the whole Senate laughed; they thought that they had made a fool of Abraham Lincoln.

But certain people are made of totally different mettle. Lincoln looked at the man directly in the eye and said, “Sir, I know that my father used to make shoes for your family, and there will be many others here because he made shoes the way nobody else can”. He was a creator. His shoes were not just shoes; he poured his whole soul into them. I want to ask you, have you any complaint? Because I know how to make shoes myself. If you have any complaint I can make you another pair of shoes. But as far as I know, nobody has ever complained about my father’s shoes. He was a genius, a great creator and I am proud of my father”.

The whole Senate was struck dumb. They could not understand what kind of man Abraham Lincoln was. He was proud because his father did his job so well, with so much enthusiasm, such a passion, and perfection.

It does not matter what you do.  What matters is how you do it – of your own accord, with your own vision, with your own love.  Then whatever you touch becomes gold.

Moral

No one can hurt you without your consent. It is not what happens to us that hurts us. It is our response that hurts us.

“Ships don’t sink because of the water around them; ships sink because of the water that gets in them. Don’t let what’s happening around you get inside you and weigh you down”

watermelon-eating contest

Worth a read: The story of watermelons by Manohar Parrikar:

"I am from the village of Parra in Goa, hence we are called Parrikars. My village is famous for its watermelons. When I was a child, the farmers would organise a watermelon-eating contest at the end of the harvest season in May.

All the kids would be invited to eat as many watermelons as they wanted. Years later, I went to IIT Mumbai to study engineering. I went back to my village after 6.5 years.

I went to the market looking for watermelons. They were all gone. The ones that were there were so small.

 I went to see the farmer who hosted the watermelon-eating contest. His son had taken over. He would host the contest but there was a difference.

When the older farmer gave us watermelons to eat he would ask us to spit out the seeds into a bowl. We were told not to bite into the seeds.

 He was collecting the seeds for his next crop. We were unpaid child labourers, actually. He kept his best watermelons for the contest and he got the best seeds which would yield even bigger watermelons the next year.

His son, when he took over, realised that the larger watermelons would fetch more money in the market so he sold the larger ones and kept the smaller ones for the contest.

The next year, the watermelons were smaller, the year later even small. In watermelons the generation is one year. In seven years, Parra's best watermelons were finished. In humans, generations change after 25 years. It will take us 200 years to figure what we were doing wrong while educating our children."

Unless we employ our best to train the next generation, this is what can happen to us. We must attract the best into teaching profession".

Great story indeed! Each one of us are responsible to offer our best culture to next generation!

The whole world is looking to India as a Spiritual Leader.

Unfortunately, hardly few are aware of the great heritage we have carried!
 
If we don't pass on right things to next generation, they will be misguided.

మీరు ఇతరులతో పంచుకోగల ఐదు నిధులను💰 కలిగివున్నారు

ఒకసారి చాలా పేదవాడు బుద్దుడి వద్దకి వచ్చాడు. అతను అడిగాడు..
'నేను ఎందుకు పేదవాడను?😟

బుద్ధుడు సమాధానం చెప్పాడు: మీరు ఎందుకు పేదవారు  అంటే మీరు  ఎటువంటి ఔదార్యము  కలిగి లేరు మరియు దాన ధర్మాలు చేయరు.😌

నేను ఇతరులకు దానం చేయడానికి నావద్ద ఏమున్నది? అని ఆ పేదవాడు అడిగాడు. 🤔


అప్పుడు బుద్ధుడు ఈ విధంగా చెప్పాడు

మీరు ఇతరులతో పంచుకోగల ఐదు నిధులను💰 కలిగివున్నారు.

 మొదట మీ ముఖం👩🏼 ఉంది. మీరు ఇతరులతో మీ  ఆనందాలను (నవ్వులను) పంచుకోవచ్చు .. ఇది ఉచితం ... ఇతరులపై అద్భుతమైన ప్రభావాన్ని చూపుతుంది ..

రెండవది మీ కళ్ళు👀 మీకు ఉన్నాయి. మీరు ప్రేమ మరియు శ్రద్ధతో  ఇతరులను చూడవచ్చు .. నిజం.. మీరు లక్షలాది మందిని ప్రభావితం చేయవచ్చు .. వాటిని మంచి అనుభూతిగా చేయండి ..

 మూడవది  మీ నోరు👄 మీకు ఉంది. ఈ నోరుతో మీరు ఇతరులకు మంచి విషయాలు చెప్పవచ్చు .. మంచి చర్చించండి .. వాటిని విలువైనదిగా భావించండి .. ఆనందం మరియు సానుకూలత వ్యాప్తి చెందుతాయి ..

 నాలుగవది మీకు గుండె ఉంది. మీ ప్రేమగల హృదయంతో❤ మీరు ఇతరుల ఆనందాన్ని కోరుకోవచ్చు .. ఇతరుల భావోద్వేగాలను అనుభూతి చెందవచ్చు.. వారి జీవితాలను తాకవచ్చు..

 మీరు కలిగి ఉన్న చివరి సంపద మీ శరీరం .. ఈ శరీరంతో మీరు ఇతరులకు అనేక మంచి పనులు చేయగలరు ..👍అవసరమైనవారికి సహాయం చేయగలరు ..

సహాయం  చెయ్యడానికి  డబ్బు అవసరం లేదు ..

ఒక చిన్న శ్రద్ధ ,సంజ్ఞలు జీవితాలను వెలిగించగలవు.
భగవంతుడు మనకిచ్చిన జీవితం..
కలకానిదీ ! విలువైనదీ ! సర్వోత్తమమైనదీ !

ప్రతిక్షణం ఆనందంగా ఉంటూ, పదిమందికి సహాయపడుతూ, జన్మను చరితార్థం చేసుకుందాం.
            లాడి కిషోర్


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