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Sunday 28 April 2013

O.S. MARDEN - CHEERFULNESS

2013-14 O.S. Marden - Cheerfulness




















 [Here is Another great Secret to Success in Life from Orisson Swett Marden – Cheerfulness. I learnt about it from his book Cheerfulness As A Life Power.]

Cheerfulness has a wonderful lubricating power. It lengthens the life of human machinery, as lubricants lengthen the life of inert machinery

Life's delicate bearings should not be carelessly ground away for mere lack of oil. What is needed is a habit of cheerfulness, to enjoy every day as we go along; not to fret and stew all the week, and then expect to make up for it.
Dwight L. Moody once offered to his Northfield pupils a prize of five hundred dollars for the best thought. This took the prize: "Men grumble because God put thorns with roses; wouldn't it be better to thank God that he put roses with thorns?"
We win half the battle when we make up our minds to take the world as we find it, including the thorns. "It is a great obstacle to happiness to expect too much." This is what happens in real life. Edison never worried if he did not succeed the first time.
Oliver Wendell Holmes acknowledged his debt of gratitude to the nurse of his childhood, who studiously taught him to ignore unpleasant incidents. If he stubbed his toe, or skinned his knee, or bumped his nose, his nurse would never permit his mind to dwell upon the temporary pain, but claimed his attention for some pretty object, or charming story, or happy reminiscence. To her, he said, he was largely indebted for the sunshine of a long life. It is a lesson which is easily mastered in childhood, but seldom to be learned in middle life, and never in old age.
Children should be taught the habit of finding pleasure everywhere; and to see the bright side of everything. "Serenity of mind comes easy to some, and hard to others. It can be taught and learned. We ought to have teachers who are able to educate us in this department of our natures quite as much as in music or art. Think of a school or classes for training men and women to carry themselves serenely amid all the trials that beset them!"
"Difficulties melt away before the man who carries about a cheerful spirit and persistently refuses to be discouraged, while they accumulate before the one who is always groaning over his hard luck and scanning the horizon for clouds not yet in sight."
"Health and good humor are to the human body like sunshine to vegetation." 
Why not we wear a SMILE on our lips and practice CHEERFULNESS, right from NOW?

Sunday 21 April 2013

BHAGAVAD GITA: DIVINE WEALTH - DAIVI SAMPAT [BG 16.1-3]

2013-12  Bhagavad Gita: Divine Wealth - Daivi Sampat  [BG16.1-3]






















[Here is a very important lesson I learnt from the Bhagavad Gita [16.1-3] – Divine Wealth. Twenty six [9+11+6 = 26] attributes are listed in the first three slokas of Chapter 16. The more we practice them in our daily lives, the more do we manifest the Divinity within.]

1Fearlessness [ अभयम्  ]
2 Purity of heart [सत्त्व संशुद्धि ]
3 Being established in knowledge and yoga [ज्ञान योग व्यवस्थिति ] 
4 Charity [दानं ]
5 Self Discipline [दम ] 
6 Sacrifice [यज्ञ ] 
7 Study of Scriptures [स्वाध्याय ] 
8 Austerity [तप ] 
9 Straight-forwardness [आर्जवं ]  [16.1]

10 Nonviolence [अहिंसा ] 
11 Truth [सत्यं ] 
12 Absence of Anger [अक्रोधं ]
13 Renunciation [त्याग ] 
14 Peacefulness [शांति ] 
15 Absence of  Ill-feelings about others [अपैशुनं ] 
16 Compassion [दया भूतेष्व ] 
17 Non-covetousness [अलोलुप्त्वं ] 
18 Gentleness [मार्दवं ] 
19 Modesty [ह्री ] 
20 Absence of Fickleness [अचापलं ]  [16.2]

21 Energy [तेजः ] 
22 Forbearance [क्षमा ] 
23 Fortitude [धृति ] 
24 Cleanliness [शौचं ] 
25 Absence of Hatred [अद्रोहो ] 
26 Absence of Pride [नातिमानिता ]  [16.3]

 – these are the wealth of people who belong to the daivi sampat [ दैवी सम्पत् ] category.   

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Sunday 14 April 2013

BHAGAVAD GITA: WORK; WITH EVENNESS OF MIND 2.47-48

2013-11 Bhagavad Gita: Work With Evenness of Mind BG 2.47-48





















[I started studying Gita at the age of 15.  Over the years I studied various commentaries such as Swami Chitbhavananda's, Gandhiji's Aanasakti Yoga, Bala Gangadhara Tilak's Gita Rahasya, Saint Jnaneshwar's Bhavartha Deepika and the latest at 70 years, Swami Ranganathananda's Universal Message of the Bhaghavad Gita.  Among these, Swami Ranganathananda's 3-Volume Set, appeals to me the most, as it gives a lucid, verse by verse exposition of the Gita, as applicable in our everyday life.]

I learnt the following first lessons of life from the Bhagavad Gita:

Your right is to work only; never to its fruits.
Do not work, motivated by its fruits. Do not be attached to inaction.                                 [BG 2:47] 

कर्मणि एव  अधिकारस्ते  मा  फलेषु  कदाचन |
मा कर्मफल 
हेतुः  र्भूः  मा  ते सङगः अस्तु अकर्मणि       ||                                                          [BG 2:47]  


With a balanced mind, do all the work, giving up attachment on fruits of action;
keeping the mind even, in success and failure. This evenness of mind is called Yoga.
         [BG 2:48]

योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनञ्जय |
सिद्धिः असिद्धियोः
  समः  भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते  ||                                                           
[BG 2:48]











Sunday 7 April 2013

DR EDWARD BACH - 10 BACH FLOWER REMEDIES


























DrEdward Bach graduated from the University College Hospital, London in 1912 at the age of 26. He was employed as a House Surgeon there; he also set up a consulting room in Harley Street and had a busy practice.  The busier he was the more dissatisfied he became with the treatment through orthodox medicine. He could not accept the way doctors concentrated on diseases and not on the patients who suffered from them.

In 1919 took up the position of pathologist and bacteriologist at London Homeopathic Hospital.  There he came to know about Dr Samuel Hahnemann’s pioneering work and studied his masterpiece, The Organon. Bach was struck by the great similarity between Hahnemann’s ideas and his own – treat the patient; not the disease. He developed a set of seven bacterial nosodes or vaccines which became famous as the Seven Bach Nosodes.

Dr Bach had been working with bacteria, but he continued to search for simpler and purer methods of healing. He began collecting wild flowers  in the hope of replacing the nosodes with a series of gentler remedies. After identifying 38 basic negative states of mind and spending several years exploring the countryside, he managed to discover a flower based remedy for each negative state of mind. Dr Bach passed away peacefully on 27th Nov 1936, his mission completed. 

Here are ten popular flower remedies [other than the five in the Rescue Remedy]:

1 Walnut for change of life, e.g. marriage, menopause, retirement from service
2 White Chestnut for recurring unwanted, unpleasant thoughts
3 Mimulus for fears of everyday life, e.g. illness, darkness, poverty
4 Scleranthus for uncertainty, double-mindedness, postponing things
5 Olive for physical and mental exhaustion, fatigue, boredom

6 Chestnut Bud  for repeating same mistakes, poor memory
7 Beech for overcritical attitude, intolerance,hard taskmasters
8 Willow for bitterness, resentment, always blaming others
9 Holly for envy, jealousy, suspicion
10 Crab Apple for feeling unclean, impure, stretched to impractical limits

Readers who are interested in the original writings of Dr Edward Bach may refer to: