Life is an ECHO - It Gives You Back Everything

A son and his father were walking on the mountains. Suddenly, his son fell, hurts himself and screams: Ah! To his surprise, he hears the voice repeating, somewhere in the mountain: Ah! Curious, he yells: Who are you? He receives the answer: Who are you? And then he screams to the mountain: I admire you! The voice answers: I admire you!

Angered at the response, he screams: Coward! He receives the answer: Coward! He looks to his father and asks: What's going on?

The father smiles and says: My son, pay attention. Again the man screams: You are a champion! The voice answers: You are a champion! The boy is surprised, but does not understand.

Then the father explains: People call this ECHO, but really this is LIFE. It gives you back everything you say or do.

Our life is simply a reflection of our actions. If you want more love in the world, create more love in your heart. If you want more competence in your team, improve your competence. This relationship applies to everything, in all aspects of life; Life will give you back everything you have given to it.

SMILE IS THE MOST POTENT ANTIBIOTIC FOR ALL THE DISEASES OF LIFE
(13th Spiritual Club session) - Subhash (Bose)

I am glad that after the scintillating first Foundation Day celebrations in the gracious presence of Sri Ram Sir, we have gathered here for the 13th Spiritual Club session. I convey my greetings to all of you on this wonderful occasion. Today, I am going to share with you my ideas on the topic given to me which is one of the quotes by Sri Ram Sir, i.e., ‘Smile is the most potent antibiotic for all the diseases of life’.

Friends! Life is a paradox. The things of the world are not what they appear to be. We are aware that the human individual is born crying, lives complaining and dies disappointed. Most of us are unable to act; we only react. Everything we do, say, or think is either compulsive or impulsive. The spring of joy has not yet been found in modern man’s life. Thereby, we are not able to taste the true joy of life. We obviously jump to the conclusion that life is useless, meaningless and something worth rejecting. Man’s unending hunt for happiness thus continues.
Spiritually inclined people are found quite often to appear very serious. It is strange but true. They rarely seem inclined to smile. In fact, a series of smiles strung together is spirituality. No problem is strong enough to defy our delightful smile. Let us smile and fight out our tears. Smile lubricates our efforts. Rest should be left to God with an effortless smile on the lips and peace in the heart, just as we joyously leave the balloon into the sky. We need not wait for something to happen in order to smile. Rather, let us keep smiling and watch how things unroll to happen

We often feel that everything is a means towards the end called Joy. For this, were Arts invented, Sciences cultivated, Laws ordained and Societies modeled. But, in this God created universe, in fact, what looks as a ‘means’ is in fact the ‘end’ in itself and by itself. i.e., nothing but divinity. What looks as ordinary is in fact astoundingly extraordinary. In life, each incident though cosmic, looks comic. Sir always says ‘Things are apparently contradictory but inherently complimentary’. By adding this insight to our sight, we can develop sense of wonder and thereby straighten our psychic angularities so that smiles naturally blossom in the garden of our life.

Sri Ram Sir with his velvet touch of love, quite often reminds us about the infinite intelligence and inexhaustible love of ‘Nature’ the tangible and concrete manifestation of divinity. Also, he wrote that ‘The end of all Spirituality is the discovery of ununderstandable and unfelt love of Nature’. When I read in the book ‘Divinity in Nature’ and ‘Indu galadandu ledani’ that Nature’s intelligence and Love has the depth of million Pacific oceans, it brings ecstasy. There is a transfixing and healing touch of love in Sir’s words.

According to Sir, Spirituality is the ability to throw a delightful glance at the dance of divine paradoxes. Spirituality is the ability to transmit more smiles. It is the ability to be perennially happy. We, Spiritual Club members, shall imbibe this definition of Spirituality given by Sir. So, let us greet every day, every person and every incident with a gracious smile. Unfading and unalloyed smile on our face constitutes the real fragrance of life. It is the goal of all goals. When a bewitching smile visibly blossoms on our lips, it is a tangible concrete proof of our inner intangible, abstract faith in the presence and love of the cosmic mother. That is why; our search for joy shall begin with a faithful smile. Smile on the face is a greatest form of prayer. Smile is at once the cause and effect.

To trace the source of smiles, Sir has given us a key, i.e., ‘the child’. The smiles of the child stem from the child’s childhood which has (i) ‘total self surrender (ii) Sense of wonder and (iii) a goalless journey. A child is thus a spiritual key which can unlock the cosmic mystery. The captivating smile on her face is the most important iridescent ingredient of the child’s search for the mother. There cannot be a greater prayer than a patient smile. It solves all our problems.

A child is a smiling pilgrim on the cosmic journey. Every movement of a child is a spell binding cosmic dance choreographed by God. Just as the child is always in tune with her mother, we too should try to be in tune with God’s will, every second, to feel the spontaneous unfoldment of Nature’s intelligence. It is the greatest joy to do so. Once, we taste this joy, our heart refuses to taste any other joy in this world. In short, the search for the mother is fruitful only when one reduces oneself to a child and gets engaged in a goalless journey with a smile on the lips and silent love in the heart.

In the preface to ‘In search of mother’ titled ‘Divine insignia’ Sir wrote so wonderfully about the sweetest bond between mother and child. Child remains untouched by Maya and in fact Maya is afraid of the child. To successfully carry on our search, we should imitate the child and hear the cosmic echoes vibrating from the lilting smiles of the child. We should develop ‘sense of wonder’ at whatever we come across. A jnani does not look at the world, though he faces the world. He also, like the child, looks with wonder filled eyes and smiles at the invisible god who is present everywhere but is absent to our mortal eyes. A child’s smiles cascade from her mother’s presence. Similarly, a jnani’s smiles arise out of his awareness of God’s presence in the form of creation, not out of his vision of the creation as ‘mere creation’. That is why the smiles of a child and of a jnani are unfading and unalloyed.

Life is the greatest blessing given by God. Let us love it, thank God for it, and be proud of it. Life is a source of intoxicatingly melodious music. For the strings of the violin to emanate music, skilful fingers (smiles) are required. Let us thus learn how to play the violin of life and make it an inexhaustible source of mellifluous music. So, ‘Smile is the most potent antibiotic for all the diseases of life’.

So, friends! Keep smiling. Thank you, one and all.

GURU- Importance in your LIFE

- Prasad

Gururbrahmaa GururvishnuH Gururdevo maheshvarah
Gurureva paranbrahma tasmai shriigurave namah -

Salutation to the noble Guru, who is Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara, the direct Parabrahma, the Supreme Reality.

Mother gives the first birth to a child. But second birth is through the Guru. The master delivers you the knowledge and skill.

We all play the role of teacher, guide, guru, but when the spiritual knowledge is so total, that one is called Sathguru. An Acharya (teacher) gives knowledge and Guru gives height of awareness and makes you alive. Acharya gives information; Guru gives intelligence, an awakened intelligence.

Guru is a tatva " an element, a quality inside you. It is not limited to a body or a form. Guru is too big for you to make. Guru comes in your life in spite of your refusing or rebelliousness. Don't struggle to make a Guru. Just relax. Wake up and see. Feel grateful. Give all your garbage to the Guru and be free. Guru makes gold out of garbage. It is easy to make that change because everyone is made up of that one thing.

When your life is full, you get a feeling of gratitude then you start with the Guru and end up adoring everything in life. Guru is just a beginning. Whenever you praise, the praise goes to the divine. When you praise someone, your own consciousness is expanding. So for your own sake, adore and venerate others.

Celebrate Guru Poornima: Guru Poornima is the day to feel grateful for the great knowledge you have received from your Master. There is a definite change inside you. Gratitude and humility together blossom a genuine prayer inside you!That is why we celebrate Guru Poornima.

त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव, त्वमेव बन्धुश्च सखा त्वमेव ।
त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणं त्वमेव, त्वमेव सर्वं मम देव देव ॥

(Oh Guru!) You are my mother and father; you are my brother and companion; you alone are knowledge and wealth. O Lord, you are everything to me.

SMILES AND TEARS

- Subhash Bose

Happiness has forever been the prime aim of every human being. All activities of man are directed towards acquiring happiness in life. Man's unending hunt for happiness continues. Material prosperity, by itself, cannot provide happiness to an individual if he has not developed a healthy inner personality with a keen aptitude to live life dynamically and fully in tune with nature. But being in delusion that material objects provide happiness, man searches for it outside. The result is that in spite of his lifelong efforts, he gets disappointment only. He fails to realize that happiness is entirely a subjective phenomenon and lies within himself.

Life is a paradox. What we want we do not get; what we get, we cannot possess; what we possess, we cannot enjoy; what we seem to enjoy may not give us permanent satisfaction. Every feeling of happiness is followed by a haunting sense of fear and anxiety and this seems to be a universal feature. Most of us are unable to act; we only react. Everything we do, say, or think is either compulsive or impulsive .Thereby, we are not able to taste the true joy of life.

The human individual is born crying, lives complaining and dies disappointed. The agonies of life far outweigh its pleasures and promises. Small wonder, then, that for the vast majority life is a series of crises and confrontations, anxieties and disappointments. What, then, is the way? Where should one seek the solace of life?

In this context, I would like to share about my feelings and thoughts regarding 'Hasitha Bashpalu'. The eighteen poems are so dense and full of clarity about Mother -Child relationship, the role and necessity of tears in human life.

Tears and Smiles are the two things which torture and thrill us respectively. Questions about and relation between Tears and Smiles have been endlessly baffling even the best brains of humanity, since time immemorial. Myriad efforts have been made to solve the riddle of the deceptive relation between a teardrop and a smile. The lasting solution to this eternal problem continues to be a distant dream.

The things of the world are not what they appear to be. Life is a game of disguises. A man of steadfast wisdom is not caught in the clutches of the deceptive relation between tears and smiles. He is well aware that, in the cosmic scheme, tears are the manure of smiles. He has enough patience to wait so that he can enjoy the smiles that would emerge from the womb of a teardrop. He is constantly conscious of the fact that revitalizing smiles have their roots deeply embedded in tears.

The fact that tears and smiles are apparent antonyms and they are misunderstood synonyms eternally eludes to be understood by most of us. It is really very difficult to all of us to realize that a tear drop serves as a transcendental bridge between the devotee and divinity by filling the gap between knowledge about and experience of the divine. It continues to be a cosmic mystery for the human to realize that misery is God's mercy. "Cosmic" mother continues to love and the "Dramatic" child continues to cry.

Things are not what they appear to be. Similarly, a tear drop is a disguised smile. We eternally search for a Guru in human form but fail to realize that disappointments, difficulties and sufferings have an intensely positive role to play as a transcendental teacher of our lives. At the end of our myriad unsuccessful attempts to avoid tears, we will be certainly taught that there is no other way to taste the transcendental joy except to fall in love with tears. Sri Ram Sir, in his preface to "SMILING TEARS' outlined three most successful and natural steps to avoid tears, i.e., to invite a teardrop, to thank God for the teardrop and eventually falling in love with it. The centripetal core of spirituality lies in one's ability to ecstatically accept difficulties and disappointments as they come.

In order to really smile, Sir advised us not to mind shedding tears beacuse when we shed tears transcendentally; we are doing the highest Yoga practice. Can we smile through tears? is the only litmus test. Let us pray God to make us realize that tears act as the best detergent that cleanses the impurities of dust and dirt accumulated over ages on our lives. Real Krishna was available to Arjuna only when his eyes were filled with tears.

Thank God, there are tears. Happy are those who are unhappy. Tear drops are the precursors to the crystallized drops of divine grace. A tear drop is a chance given to us by God to get a glimpse of his glory. The eyelids that hide tears bear the transcendental imprint of celestial lips. God breaks our hearts only to enter it.

I would like to quote Sir's words from 16th letter in 'Journey into Joy' addressed to Vakati Panduranga Rao garu. "Let us silently smile at our tears, at our problems, at our aching hearts. No problem is strong enough to defy our delightful smile. There is no teardrop that is not a blessing in disguise. Use the bow of silence and the arrow of smile to face the slings of adversity. A tear drop is a cosmic convex lens that makes us get the better vision of God. We are never pricked by problems. All our problems stem from cosmic illusion. We are surrounded not by problems but by solutions which appear to be otherwise under the dramatic impact of Maya. So, no need to try for solution. Let us realize that what is apparently a problem is inherently a solution. We need not try for liberation also. We are already liberated. Real liberation is the liberation from our illusion that we are imprisoned."

It is always to be remembered that we are not just five or six feet psycho-physical organisms destined to be thrown into the dust bin of time. We are glorious children of immortality descended down to enable the divine purpose of universe to unfold. The only thing is we are not aware of it. Nothing is taken away from us. We have not lost anything. Nor we are going to lose anything. Smile, come what may.

The end of all spirituality, according to Sir is "Discovery of ununderstandable and unfelt love of God". So let us feel the eternal touch of cosmic mother's hand. Let us lead our life like a full blown lotus; like a baby being rocked to sleep in the cradle of mother's love, dissolving ourselves into unalloyed bliss.

HOPE

"Hope for the Best, Best comes in your way"- Prasad

Hope is what we survive on. Without hope, life wouldn't have been possible. When we raise our hands for prayers, if it? not hope, what else do we rely on? Like a candle where the glowing wick is held in place by wax, it is faith in the heart that keeps the hope intact. After dark, comes light. A better tomorrow, it? just in sight.

"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.-Winston Churchill
Regardless of our personality, surroundings, beliefs. Within us all there is hope, it may be more stronger in some than in others, but everyone has hope, it could be a lot it could be a little but at the end of the day it exists.

"The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy."
We put our hope in God because we know he has his reasons for everything so we hope that he will provide us with answers, we put our faith in him. Knowing no matter what happens tomorrow will be better and the sun will eventually rise and shine again.

"The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don? wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.- Barack Obama
In life, we are often faced with so many different scenarios, experiences change us, we loose hope, we gain hope, but at the end of the day it is best to remember to keep hope close by, because without hope we will definitely struggle to live.

You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself. - Swami Vivekananda
Hope is the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. It is a feeling of what is wanted can be had or that things will turn out for the best.

"Have faith in God and in yourself; that will cure all. Hope for the best, expect the best, toil for the best and everything will come right for you in the end. - Ramana Maharshi
To be hopeful is to look on the future positively, to see opportunity in challenges (rather than challenges in opportunities), to ?ook on the bright side of life."

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning. - Albert Einstein
Hope is important for a great many reasons but here are some of the most important:

• Hope motivates positive actions that will lead to positive results
• Hope is a natural stress reliever
• Hope helps strengthen the immune system
• Hope improves social relationships (you?l get more friend being an optimist)
• Hope simply makes you happy
• Hope broadens and builds your mind

"What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life."