Not Take Anything For Granted

It's said that we women should do our household activities with enthusiasm and not treat them as a chore. How can we do it with enthusiasm asked my aunt. Where will that come from? I thought there is enthusiasm in a celebration. Think of every day as a celebration then there will be enthusiasm. Not very convincing??? Well treat every day as an opportunity given to you to serve the Lord. Don't look at your husband, children, parents and in laws just as people who need you. Take every task to cook, serve, feed, bathe, clean as an opportunity Lord has given you to please Him through all these people. We cannot reach or serve the Lord directly. We can only see Him through idols, photos or living adhishtanas like parents, husband, children etc.

If we have this in mind we will look forward to every day as a rare opportunity not to be missed. It's when we take things for granted that we lose our enthusiasm. We must always count our blessings and remember that whatever good we are enjoying is a result of the Lord's kindness and he can take it away from us any moment. Let's make the most of them while we have them and truly enjoy living!

Women's Day

Yesterday the papers were all about Women's Day celebrations. There were notable women personalities featured in the papers. Each of them were giving advice and tips to women. There was talk about how to have better laws for women, more empowerment, more independance etc. Not a word in all those sheets was any mention of how important God is in our lives.

Women face risks today as ever. Stresses of modern life is taking its toll on women's health. Outside it's an unsafe place with danger lurking around the corner. When Draupadi was in need of help it was not her five able husbands or the laws of the land that helped her. It was when she remembered the Lord's names and surrenderd to HIM that HE rescued her. It was He who rescued her. Not only her but every soul living in this world and the next is under the loving care of the Lord. It only befits us that we remember HIM in every breath we take.

An Attitude of Gratitude

It's so easy for us to forget the favors which we have received. On the contrary we remember the favors which we may have on an occasion bestowed on someone and always remember the bad things others have done to us. Somehow when it comes to remembering other's timely help to us and our helpless condition at that time, our memory lets us down. It's important to remember favors received from the Lord through our parents, relatives, friends, sometimes strangers and rarely even animals. Keeping this in mind will keep our ego in check and help us remember that we are not all that powerful and we need others. It also helps in maintaining good relationships with them as we are nicer to people who are of us to us than who are not! The next time we see someone in need we will offer our help. Remembering the good things others have done also reinstates positive thinking in us. We will also remember the Lord while remembering them.

It's So Simple To Be Happy But.....

We need very little to be happy. Truth is we don't need much.
Now I know why rishis would retreat to the Himalayan forests in
search of peace and perform penance. When we live in such
places the sense objects dont come in contact with the objects
of desire hence no desire springs. The mind can be trained to
think of the Lord all the time and gradually reduce all
desires.

Most of all there will be no other people around us
with whom we can compare and see if we are 'richer', 'happier',
more powerful etc. I think most people would be happy with what
we have if we didn't look at the other person has. Most of the
time our contentment is lost when we look at what the other
person has. It's compared to going to a restaurant with friends
and ordering. When the dishes arrive, somehow what your friends
have ordered always looks better than what we have. I think
this is also in some ways similar to why when we are standing
in a queue it always seems like the line next to ours is moving
faster! This is just the working of the mind. It plays many
tricks on us. It helps to remember an example regarding this.

My friend and I go to a shop to buy a few things each. I pay for the things that I bought but I see that my friend got the stuff without paying for them. I ask myself how come I had to pay and she got them for free.. What I know is that I paid and she didn't. What I don't know is that she already has credit with the shopkeeper and is buying things off it. Because there is nothing 'FREE'. Good things we enjoy in this life is because of good deeds done either in this birth or the previous ones.

Each of us is like a pot of various capacities. Each pot can only fill itself upto its capacity. A large sized pot, a medium sized jar and a small glass cannot be compared with each other. Each has it's own use and it's own limitation. One cannot do the other's job and each of them is capable of being it's best self.

Now back to original statement. It doesn't take
much for us to be happy. Food, clothes, shelter among the
material things. Love, trust, intimacy, a sense of security,
sense of purpose in life and some degree of control over our
lives- among the intangibles. Above all else knowledge of God.
Forgetting the Lord is the cause of our sorrows. Remembering
HIM is the receipe for happiness. This is true because when we
remember HIM we remember that both sorrow and happiness is
given to us by Him and they are only a result of our karma. Good knowledge destroys ignorance which casuses misery. Hence Knowledge-> Bhakti-> Moksha or Salvation

Just like sorrows come to you without your asking, happiness will also come to you like that. You need not ask for it or try very hard to acquire it. Let our efforts not be towards finding enjoyment or going where there is happiness. Because in this world, any happiness is combined with sorrow too. To get a little joy you have to overcome a mountain of sorrow only to find that even that little joy is not permanent and can be taken away from you at anytime. There is fear all the time and every place. There is worry all the time for humans irrespective of wealth, possessions, marital status etc. Hence the only way to be free from these constant stresses is to remember the Lord at all times.

In my opinion the best form of worship is to listen to harikatha.. Listen to discourses like Srimad Bhagavat, Mahabharat, Ramayan etc. It takes little money and effort as compared to a yagna or dyana respectively. All it takes is time and most of all it's enjoyable.We are transported to a different land as we listen to the awe inspiring episodes of the Lord and His many devotees. The stories are truly inspirational. They bring gnana, bhakti and vairagya in us. Listening to them rids us of our many sins and brings us punya. Since the stories also describe the wonders of the many Gods (there are 33 crore Gods and Goddesses) the listener gets the blessings of all of them. The content is not only history that happened several thousand years ago. The message it carries is relevant even in this day. There's wisdom in every word. It is said that listening to the importance of a holy place brings the same punya as actually visiting it. For example it's as important to listen to Venkatesha Mahatmya/Srinivasa Kalyana as it is to make a trip to Tirumala for the Lord's darshan. Knowledge or gnana is the key to moksha or salvation and true gnana is learnt at the feet of a Guru and not just by reading books.