Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

A Book called "Life"

Some of us read books and some of us don't. But it’s a fact of life that we all write a book in our lifetime which is called the Book of Life or a Book called Life. A well lived life turns out to be a best seller in the shelves. We have all heard the idiom

Take a leaf out of someone's book
Fig. to behave or to do something in a way that someone else would. 

But have you given a thought about the book of someone, or rather one’s own book. I would like to refer to it as the Book called "Life". This blog looks into that book.

As we are born, we are gifted with an unseen book. The book has a few lines written on every page, which we can read only when we reach the page. Those are the words of god. We call it fate, destiny and in myriad ways. But those are the situations or phases in our life which is a gift from God himself. That’s why we refer to today as "Present". I would like to phrase it as Gods Guidelines to live our day. We write the blank portion of the page and those are our actions. We write in our own ways and that’s what is called freewill. We can choose what we write on the blank portion of our page for that day. How we take the book forward is in our hands.

There comes a time when you have to choose between
turning the page and closing the book.
–Josh Jameson

But the sad plight is that we try to write on pages for the coming days. That’s when things go wrong. We write something on tomorrow’s page, where the first line by God doesn't match and we tend to strike it and try to rewrite it. When we write, we should make sure; there are no misspelled words or wrong usages. That will make the page look shabby and we would be disappointed to see it. Just think of the situation, where we would not be happy to show the page to anyone. But God sees those pages. Just like a father who feels sad, looking at a badly written copy of his kid, we tend to disappoint Him too.

Each events of success in life would become a chapter and get indexed. So all that we strive for in our life and the small achievements that we make also gets written in an Index in Golden letters. A book with many successes adds chapters to the book and becomes a structured book. Pleasure to read and each chapter would be a story. So the more we strive for success, the more would be chapters in the wonderful book called Life.

All the associations and friendship we make become reference points in our book. We are all a part of a big book as these characters in our book have their own books too. Also think of what another person would be writing about us in his book. When we contribute to the success of someone else, his book will have a chapter, and we would be the good character in the chapter. All the bad things will end up casting ourselves as a villain in someone else’s book. Acts hurting someone else or jeopardizing their writing will end up showing us in bad light. I am sure no one wants to be a bad guy in someone else’s book. But acts of kindness, goodness and the like would leave as a contributor in the book. Being in the list of contributors in someone else’s book is always desirable.

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; 
but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.
–Gilbert K. Chesterton

And there is a reason behind writing this book called life. We live our life, filling these pages each day. When we die, we write the last few lines and conclude the book. Probably, this is the mythological book which would be added to the library of Chitragupt. The book of life should be the bestseller and inspire others to write a better book. What we leave behind for the future is a book, which can be useful or become guidance to someone else. A well written book, with examples of life situations and how it was well written, is still one of the best sellers called "The Holy Bible".

Great books help you understand, and they help you feel understood.
–John Green

The question remains that would every book be read by someone. Reading the pages of the book called life and see to it that it was and is well written, makes it even better. When the book is completed, or the life's mission on earth is complete, we leave behind a book to be read by your children. They should feel proud, happy and excited when they read the book. They should never look at it as a trash magazine or a novel not worth reading or sharing.

Make it a rule never to give a child a book you would not read yourself.
–George Bernard Shaw

Many of us leave the page blank as it is. The opportunities given to us or the situations we are in, we just leave it as it is. Such a book will never be an attractive one. So each moment we spend in our day is a word added to the book. Making it interesting to read and leave it for others to read and to pick a leaf out of the book would be the goal to be achieved. 

I leave you to think about your book of "Life" with a few quotes by great minds, who left behind or are in the process of leaving behind a great book, theirs, in style.

You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page 
and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.
–Paul Sweeney

I think of life as a good book. 
The further you get into it, 
the more it begins to make sense.
–Harold Kushner

A great book should leave you with many experiences, 
and slightly exhausted at the end. 
You live several lives while reading.
–William Styron

Some books leave us free and some books make us free.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Books are like mirrors: if a fool looks in, 
you cannot expect a genius to look out.
–J.K. Rowling

If there is a book that you want to read, 
but it hasn’t been written yet, 
you must be the one to write it.
–Toni Morrison

A good book has no ending.
–R.D. Cumming

Last but not the least, there is a title to every book. Let me know in your feedback, what would be the name of your book !!!

Sunday, June 8, 2014

A Will to change your life ...

One of these days while travelling I happened to have a discussion with Wilson, my brother, about the state of the people in the world. Or was I destined to talk about it. I don't know. But what I realized from the discussion seems to be the right way to look at life, or that is what my understanding is. I thought it would be worthwhile if I could put the discussion in words for all to look at life in a different way. The sum total of all that happens in the world can be seen in a different eye.

The point of contention was nothing but why some people are successful and some are not. The answer was simple at first. They are bestowed with special abilities and so they succeed. But looking back in time, the success of people was never a special ability. Wilson asked me about the special grace that people have. That sparked a thought about a prayer based on Gospel of Mathew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4.

Our Father, Who is in heaven,
Holy is Your Name;
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.

The seven petitions could lead me to think about the Power of Seven, as in one of my previous blog, but that will take me away from the topic. Coming back to a simple question : Why is it that this prayer holds true for all. Then we should understand that everyone is made equal in this whole wide world. Everyone has the same set of two eyes, one nose, two ears, two hands with palms and five fingers, two legs, 206 odd bones (depending on our character too) and so on. So what is that makes a person different.

Wilson opined that each persons life is determined by the situations or environment. The question in my mind took a rational course. If that is the case why is it that a few people meet with accidents on the same road and same conditions and on cars with similar conditions. The reply was instantaneous. The way they drive. Even in our life we have the same situations and how we use it makes our life move forward in the way it is. Each car has the same situations on the roads like exits, petrol stations, convenio stores and more. The next question ensued. Driving a Lamborghini or a KIA, does that not make a difference. I was looking for the answer when I understood one more fact of life. Whether I want to drive a sports car or a four wheel drive or a saloon is my decision. Thus in a short span I stumbled on the fact that God gave everyone the same environment and gave a special touch equally to everyone - "Free Will". 

Wilson came up with the next hurdle and asked: what about the difficulties in life, that's not similar. Searching was not needed in this case. Leaving behind the few in the world who are born with challenges, all the other difficulties in life are result of the decisions we take and that arises from free will. I asked him to explain what "knowledge" or "learning" is. We both arrived at the right meaning as it is in the nature. The ability to understand a difficulty and the way to overcome it is learning or knowledge. Let me split the word for you "know" + "ledge". Knowing the narrow space near a cliff from which we might fall, will save our lives. Hence the know-ledge we have saves our lives. The information or all the answers are available in this world but picking them is our free will.

I am sure many who are reading this will find the article silly, but once you understand the power of free will your life will be changed. You choose to speak, act or react in a way based on the free will you have to make that decision. So the result would be based on your action. Or so it says in Newtons third law of motion

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction"

So know the ledge and use your free will to drive safe in your life. Take some specific examples from around us or from our past. These are not comparisons, but just to show a few people who understood the power of using free will and had the know-ledge.

Helen Keller: She could have decided to remain triply handicapped but she chose not to and became an example to the world. There are many who have the wealth, health and mettle to do but they choose not to.

Charles Martin Hall: His decision, after being mocked by his teacher in class, was to devise a method for the extraction of aluminium and become rich. Others in the class with him also had the same opportunity but they chose not to.

Wilma Rudolf: The doctors comment that the four year old will never walk in life, did not let her free will down and she chose to be the fastest woman in the world. And so she did. 

Abraham Lincoln: His economic difficulties did not stop him from becoming the President of the US. or fight for the rights and become an exemplary leader. 

Ray Crock: His penniless evening made him choose a way to find the first franchising network and he became rich. Today MC Donald's is not a name that we don't see or hear.

Many of the world successes have a humble beginning or a difficult past. The question remains: How many of us can do it. The answer is simple all can. But we choose not to.

Given the same body, same sun, moon, stars and the sky, the same facilities around us, our free will can lead us to success, our fate are our decisions and they are because of our free will. The best gift from God, but still unseen by many. Blaming him for the decisions we make as per our free will. Jut stop and think for a few minutes, how many opportunities knock our doors each day. We choose not to respond or look at them. And after all this I come to one thought as mentioned in the Brahma Samhita Text 1, where the God is mentioned to be the prime reasons for all reasons in this world and beyond. That my friends is the reason why we are gifted with our free will and thus the god who gave it became the prime reason of all reasons.

So with your free will choose to take this in your life for a bright future or ignore it. It was a decision taken by free will which made me write this. I quote Late Swami Haridas Giri: It was the True Teacher and Lord, who is none other than God Himself, who directed me to bring these words to you.

Otherwise recite the famous lines of Swami Phunsuk Wangdu (Ranchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad) : "All iz well, All iz well ..."

Sunday, February 23, 2014

A Journey in a vehicle called "LIFE"


Just a while ago my attention was drawn towards a blog by Mohanlal in form of a letter to the God himself. He laid out the things that we miss owing to our life's speed and the way we overlook things. In the past ten years in Radio I have met many people, read many blogs, many posts on twitter and facebook. Everyone points to one point or the other pertaining to life as a whole.

Let me stop and think what life means to a person who is living. I can see it as a passenger on a train or a bus. He is being led forward to his destination and he has no commitment or affection towards the vehicle. Life is a vehicle and while living we don't even have a clue about the destination or the driver who is God himself. 

In the careful hands of God, the vehicle goes forward, but many of the passengers keep pestering him to stop the vehicle or speed up for their own reasons. He knows the right way and we have never asked the Drivers license while boarding a bus. It is the faith in him, which lets at least some of the passengers sleep while travelling.

There are various stops in the journey some are good and some not so good. They are the successes and failures we face. We are not supposed to be in the stops for more time, but get back into the vehicle and move forward. What we see and enjoy, is to be shared with those travelling with you. 

The Vehicle life goes through very scenic paths of the journey. We never are bothered to look outside the vehicle and enjoy the journey called life. We are more bothered about the seat not being comfortable or the color of the light not pleasing, or its neatness. Have we ever taken time to clean the vehicle called life? The answer is an emphatic NO. We don't even let our co-passengers travel in peace. We always want more. the journey is endless, but our destination once reached, we have to alight. 

At least after reading this note passed on by a co-passenger, that is me, you get a chance to look around and enjoy the journey in the vehicle called Life driven by the driver God. My only request is that while in the journey never think that the vehicle is yours alone, but understand that others travel with you too...Though the vehicle is not yours, you have your responsibility to keep it clean and set an example for others by being responsible.

While I write there are many who have boarded this bus and I am just a traveler wishing you a safe and happy journey...