Friday, July 10, 2009
A man visited a barber's shop in his neighborhood to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed.
As the barber began to work, they started a casual conversation.
They talked about many things. When they eventually touched on the perennial subject of God, the barber was quick to say :
As the barber began to work, they started a casual conversation.
They talked about many things. When they eventually touched on the perennial subject of God, the barber was quick to say :
'I don't believe that God exists..'
'How can you say that?' the customer asked.
'Well, you only need to go out in the street to realize that He doesn't exist. Tell me, if He did exist , would there be so much pain and suffering, so many sick, unhappy people and hapless, abandoned children?
I can't imagine loving a God who would permit these things, or be powerless to control them.'
The customer paused, he didn't really want to start an endless argument.
The barber finished his work and the customer left .
Shortly after he stepped out, he saw a man in the street with long, matted, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt.
The customer quickly turned back and re-entered the barber's shop ; he said to the barber: who had meanwhile started attending to another customer, 'You know something ? Barbers really do not exist.'
This naturally surprised the barber. He asked, 'How can you say that? I I am a barber, right here, and did I not just work on you ? '
'No, no ! ' the customer exclaimed. 'You see, barbers do not exist because if they did, there would be no such people with long, dirty hair and untrimmed beards such as that man outside.'
'Ah, well, barbers of course do exist! What can I do, if people do not come to me.'
'Yes, Exactly!'- affirmed the customer. 'That's the point! God, too DOES exist! What happens, is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him.
That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world.'
'Do not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps if you're not willing to even move your feet'.
God will not declare from a roof-top that He exists. He is too shy and humble
for that ; besides, He has given us freedom to choose. He wants to see if we would love Him just for His own sake, and not merely for the sake of His many gifts of life and loved ones, food and water, rain and sunshine....We fail to thank Him even as we receive these...
Whether we believe or don't believe that He exists, He loves us all, just the same,
like even an earthly parent who would love his/her child, regardless of whether that love is reciprocated ! Wouldn't the Heavenly Father's love be much deeper, much more unconditional, than an earthly one's ?
To sum up, happiness is man's eternal and rational pursuit. Eternal because we always seek it - no matter what we do, we want to be happy. And rational because as souls (Sat-Chit-Ananda ), it is our real nature ; we are hard-disked to seek joy. But we need to differentiate joy from fleeting sense-pleasures. Yogic meditation turns us within where ceaseless joy awaits discovery. Sadness, depressiveness or any malignant mood is, Masters tell us, an offense against the ever-blissful nature of Spirit, which is our true identity.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
A 10-year-old boy decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident. The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn'tunderstand why, after three months of training the master had taught him only one move.
"Sensei," the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?" "This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll everneed to know," the Sensei replied.
Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training. Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches.
The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match.
Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals. This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the sensei intervened. "No," the sensei insisted, "Let him continue."
Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion. On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind.
"Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?"
"You won for two reasons," the sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm."
The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.
"Sometimes we feel that we have certain weaknesses and we blame god, the circumstances and our self for it but we never know that our weakness can become our strength one day. Each of us is special and important, so never think you have any weakness, never think of pride or pain, just live your life to its fullest and extract the best out of it!"
"Sensei," the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?" "This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll everneed to know," the Sensei replied.
Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training. Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches.
The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match.
Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals. This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the sensei intervened. "No," the sensei insisted, "Let him continue."
Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion. On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind.
"Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?"
"You won for two reasons," the sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm."
The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.
"Sometimes we feel that we have certain weaknesses and we blame god, the circumstances and our self for it but we never know that our weakness can become our strength one day. Each of us is special and important, so never think you have any weakness, never think of pride or pain, just live your life to its fullest and extract the best out of it!"
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Falling in love is a magical experience that happens between two people. So why do people fall in love? Lets explore the dynamics of what happens when two people are falling in love:
Q:What motivates people to seek out love?
A:Our primary motivation as human beings is to expand the self and to increase our abilities and our effectiveness. One of the ways we accomplish this is through our relationships with other people. We have learned in our research that it is important to feel that you have the ability to be an effective person, especially in our relationships.
Q:How does this theory of self-expansion explain the process of falling in love?
A:Usually, we fall in love with a person that we find attractive and appropriate for us, but also someone who demonstrates that they are attracted to us. This creates a situation where a great opportunity is open to us for self-expansion. The fact that they are attracted to us offers a significant opportunity — when we perceive this, we feel a surge of exhilaration!
Q:Does it always work this way?
A:No, an interesting exception to this occurs if we feel badly about ourselves. The process gets thrown off if we can't believe that another persons finds us attractive — like the Groucho Marx joke where we don't want to belong to a club that would have us for a member. We tend to miss out on opportunities for falling in love if we don't feel good about ourselves.
Q:What motivates people to seek out love?
A:Our primary motivation as human beings is to expand the self and to increase our abilities and our effectiveness. One of the ways we accomplish this is through our relationships with other people. We have learned in our research that it is important to feel that you have the ability to be an effective person, especially in our relationships.
Q:How does this theory of self-expansion explain the process of falling in love?
A:Usually, we fall in love with a person that we find attractive and appropriate for us, but also someone who demonstrates that they are attracted to us. This creates a situation where a great opportunity is open to us for self-expansion. The fact that they are attracted to us offers a significant opportunity — when we perceive this, we feel a surge of exhilaration!
Q:Does it always work this way?
A:No, an interesting exception to this occurs if we feel badly about ourselves. The process gets thrown off if we can't believe that another persons finds us attractive — like the Groucho Marx joke where we don't want to belong to a club that would have us for a member. We tend to miss out on opportunities for falling in love if we don't feel good about ourselves.
Q:What conditions are best for meeting someone and falling in love?
A:When you meet someone under conditions that are highly arousing — a political demonstration, turbulence on a plane, a stimulating performance — a time when the body is stirred up and excited, we tend to experience attraction at a heightened level. This effect is well documented but the explanations for it are very controversial. I tend to believe that we come to associate the arousal of the situation with this person and our own self-expansion.
Q:When do we fall in love?
A:Contrary to what most people think, the statistics show that most people fall in love with someone that they have known for a while. People only report falling in love quickly about 1/3 to 40 percent of the time. Of course, this varies from culture to culture. Falling in love happens differently between cultures but it does occur in most cultures.
Q:How does our appearance factor into the equation of falling in love?
A:This is interesting; we have found that if you are very unattractive, it can hurt you a lot in forming romantic relationships. However, being attractive doesn't help that much.
Q:How do you explain that?
A:We have found that two important characteristics, kindness and intelligence, are extremely important in the process of falling in love. And attractiveness is not connected to these things. These two attributes are things that people learn about someone from knowing them over time. Intelligence is important in all aspects of life, especially in love. But kindness is the strongest indicator for a successful long-term relationship.
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