VALUE OF LOVE

A better place to live?

She Always Loved Him But...
See what daddy got me,
A magic gun to shoot Tony at School
and turn his shirt red.
Aren't you happy!?
She smiled with a nod, but he thought
She was looking for something else!

Guess what, I won the football cup for my college and now
I can play for the best league in the town
Aren't you happy!?
She smiled with a nod, but he knew
She was looking for something else!

Look, I bought a mansion in the best city
With all Best interiors and a pool
By the side of a private golf course.
Aren't you happy!?
She smiled with a nod, but he was sure
She was looking for something else!

Oh! I am counting days on this lonely bed,
Wont you at least now tell me what
You've always been looking for?

It was love from various sources
you got through out your life,
That I was looking for;
but you never brought It up to me
She smiled with a nod, told
I'm Still happy for you because I have always loved you!

(Here SHE = SOUL and
HE = EVERY PERSON WHO FORGETS TO VALUE LOVE)

COURTESY:SNITU.

BEAUTY OF YOUR SELF

One can see one's own reflection in the mirror only when a particular chemical is coated on the other side. Likewise, coat the chemical of love on your heart in order to have the vision of God. Fill your heart with love. Then there will be no place for evil qualities like jealousy, anger and hatred. Just as wax melts when it comes in contact with heat, the heart melts when the rays of love fall on it

Keep the faith in the Lord undiminished; you can then safely move about in the world. No harm can come to you! Be like the village women with pots over their heads, one over the other, keeping balance even while talking and walking along the winding lane. They do not forget or ignore the burden or the goal. They are vigilant, conscious of the hardships on the way, the stones and the pits; it is the inner concentration that pays dividends.

Where the six qualities of zeal, determination, courage, intelligence, ability and heroism are present, there divinity becomes manifest. Success and prosperity comes to the one with these six virtues. However, these qualities are put to test from time to time. Just as a student has to face various tests, these qualities are also subject to trials. Such trials should be regarded as stepping stones to higher achievements. These trials are in the form of losses, troubles, pains, sufferings and calumny. One has to overcome these troubles with courage and self-confidence and forge ahead. Without self-confidence, these six qualities cannot be acquired.

There is no greater friend for anyone than God. He is beyond the reach of praise or censure. He does not give up man on the ground of the latter's failure to come up to His expectations. That is why God has been given the appellation, Suhrid (a good friend). God desires no offerings from any devotee. God is the only one friend who confers benefits on devotees without expecting any return. Nevertheless man does not readily accept such a friend. Only the man who accepts God as such a friend and is guided by His advice can understand the full meaning of Divine friendship. Faith of this nature alone constitutes true Jnana (wisdom).

It is only purity that attracts Divinity. If the iron filings are rusted,
even the most powerful magnet will not attract them

Do not worry about the ups and downs of life, loss or pain, joy or grief. You are yourself the maker of the ups and downs. If you so wish, everything can be on one smooth level. You label one thing as bad and something else as gain. You crave for a thing and, when you get it, you call it joy; if you don’t get it, you call it grief. Cut out the craving, and there will be no more swinging from joy to grief.

There can be no sacredness in service, if good thoughts and good feelings are absent.

What should be the qualities of the actions we offer at the Lotus Feet of the Lord?... For example, if we want to offer a rose to the Lord, we first select a beautiful, fragrant bloom. Then we remove the insects from the flower. Next we remove the thorns or any imperfect leaves from the stem and in a number of other ways we make our offering as beautiful and pure as possible. Every action we perform should be like this. Our actions must be saturated with the fragrance of love and sacredness and must be good and pure. This is the true: Yoga of Action as laid down in the Gita.

It is only during rainy season that the clouds come in the way of sun rays. Similarly, it is only when our mind is wavering and disturbed we suffer from sorrows and difficulties. When our mind is steady and firm, no ‘clouds’ can disturb us. Hence, keep your mind pure and steady. Develop courage and fortitude.

Master The Mind, Be a Mastermind.

There is a Tibetan saying, that a hundred persons start to seek the truth, and perhaps only one reaches it. Ninety-nine get lost somewhere on the way. They either become involved in some other business or they go astray. There are thousands of ways of going astray and there is only one way of going into yourself. And thats the beauty of yourself.

Aano bhadra krtavo yantu vishwatah.(- RIG VEDA)
"Let noble thoughts come to me from all directions"

REGARDS
Miss.Shaija Vallikatri Bhaskaran

FAITH STORY BY RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA

Sri Rama Krishna Paramamhsa often used to describe a story to highlight the importance of faith
A farmer's daughter duty was to carry fresh milk to customers in various villages had, one of whom was a priest. To reach his house, the milkmaid had to cross a good-sized stream. People crossed it by a sort of ferry raft, for a small fee.

One day the priest, who performed worship daily with the offering to God of fresh milk, finding it arrived very late, scolded the poor woman. "What can I do?" she said, "I start out early from my house, but I have to wait a long time for the boatman to come."

Then the priest said (pretending to be serious), "What! People have even walked across the ocean by repeating the name of God, and you can't cross this little river?" This milkmaid took him very seriously. From then on she brought the priest's milk punctually every morning. He became curious about it and asked her how it was that she was never late anymore.

"I cross the river repeating the name of the Lord," she replied, "just as you told me to do, without waiting for the ferry." The priest didn't believe her, and asked, "Can you show me this, how you cross the river on foot?" So they went together to the water and the milkmaid began to walk over it. Looking back, the woman saw that the priest had started to follow her and was floundering in the water.


"Sir!" she cried, "You are uttering the name of God, yet all the while you are holding up your clothes from getting wet.

That is not trusting in God!"

If you lose faith you lose everything. Faith in our selves, faith in god this is the secret, greatness. If you have faith in all the three hundred and thirty million gods... still have no faith in yourselves, there is no salvation for you,


Aano bhadra krtavo yantu vishwatah.(- RIG VEDA)
"Let noble thoughts come to me from all directions"

REGARDS
Miss.Shaija Vallikatri Bhaskaran

LIFE LESSONS - AN INSPIRATIONAL STORY-BY FATIMAH MUSA

Jushi was physically abused as a child. She lived with a mother who was diagnosed with post depression and a father who was a wife abuser.

Her parent divorced and left six of them with her mother. She left school at 15 and went to work waiting tables to help her mother feed them all.

At 18 she met and fell in love and was married soon after. Then she found out that her husband drank too much, slept around with other women, a wife abuser and took drugs. She was divorced at age 20 with two children. Her husband took their son away and handed him to his friend. He was sent to jail for an offence with the law.

Her husband's friend did not want to hand the boy over to her and demanded money in exchange. The child had scars on his chest due to burnt from cigarette butts. That was what he got for crying out for food.

She finally managed to get her son back. She left her children in her mother's care while she left to find a job.
At 28 she had an accident. Her dress caught fire and she suffered 2nd degree burns.

With that her self-esteem and self-confidence went down the pit. She was depressed. She attempted suicides several times and was given psychiatric treatments.

After a major surgery and lots of counseling and support from relatives and friends, she started her life all over again even with one partly deformed hand and fingers.

Her anxiety was all the time still present. It was tougher to find a job. She felt like a disabled person.

The one thing that kept her going in spite of her misfortune was her will to be able to feed herself and sent money for her children. She did not want to ask for financial support.
At 38 she was diagnosed with cancer of the cervix. That was a big blow to her. She went through another depression episode.

"Why me?" was the question she repeatedly asked. Of course when she asked that question, she got all the wrong answers. She felt more depressed. She blamed her father, her mother and everyone for what brought her sufferings. Worst, she blamed herself.

She agreed to go for the treatments, chemotherapy and cesium, because she did not want to go through the pains.

This was when she took the time to look within her. She thought that she might not live long enough so she decided to reconnect with her children. It was not easy especially with her son who had gone through his own childhood trauma.

She turned to her family for moral support and she turned to God.

Now eight years later, she is still alive. Waking up and able to breathe for another day is a gift for her.

She has two grandchildren whom she adores and that give her much joy. She takes some jobs every now and then when her health permits and rests when she needs it.

Her question has changed. She now asks what is it she could do to get more out of what is left?

FROM THIS STORY ALL CAN LEARN:-

Things happen and happen to us all. Life does not play favorites. Everyone has a story to tell. It is how we handle it that matters. We do not have to wait until a major catastrophe interrupts us to think of what we should do with our lives.

It is up to us to make or break us. No one can tell our brain and mind what to do. No one can tell us what to think of and what to put inside our head. We have the power to think what we want to think. To forget past hurts or to linger with them.

We can decide, plan and take action on what we want to have, do or be.
At least when the universe intervenes, we know that we have done our best.

HELP FOR BETTERMENT OF OTHERS

Exams were going on in the examination hall. All the students were busy solving the question paper. Ishwar chandra vidya sagar who was a brilliant student was also calmly solving his paper but his friend Manish who was sitting behind him was very dull in studies and was trying to catch Ishwar's attention for some help. After finishing the paper Ishwar was revising his paper, grabbing the opportunity Manish again indicated Ishwar for some help. Initially Ishwar was scared at the idea of helping him but when he looked at his friends sad face he placed his answer sheet in such a way so that Manish could copy easily but nothing skipped from the sharp eye of the teacher. He beated Ishwar for this, Ishwar got really hurt with this insult.

After the exam got over the teacher called Ishwar in the staff room and said, 'I am feeling really bad for beating you today'. Ishwar said, 'Sir, I was not cheating I was only helping Manish'. Sir then explained him, 'One who does wrong is certainly a sinner but one who helps the wrong doer is also a sinner. You were not helping Manish rather you were supporting his laziness and dulness. In future he will not be able to do anything without support'.

Moral: The result of every work is a mixture of good and bad. We must indulge ourselves in such works which result in betterment of others.

SUCCESS PRINCIPLES

The Catalina Island is twenty-one miles away from the coast of California, and many people have taken the challenge to swim across it. On July 4th 1952, Florence
Chadwick stepped into the water off Catalina Island to swim across to the California coast. She started well and on course, but later fatigue set in, and the
weather became cold. She persisted, but fifteen hours later, numb and cold, she asked to be taken out of the water.

After she recovered, she was told that she had been pulled out only half a mile away from the coast. She commented that she could have made it, if the fog had
not affected her vision and she would have just seen the land. She promised that this would be the only time that she would ever quit.

She went back to her rigorous training. And two months later she swam that same channel. The same thing happened. The fatigue set in, and the fog obscured her
view, but this time she swam with faith and vision of the land in her mind. She knew that somewhere behind the fog was land. She succeeded and became the first
woman to swim the Catalina Channel. She even broke the men’s record by two hours.

SUCCESS PRINCIPLES

When you set your goal, keep pressing on even when you are tired, physically and mentally, and even though there are many challenges ahead. Keep the vision of
your goal crystal clear before you and never, never, never… give up! See the reaching, commit to it, and you will surely see your goal realized.

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE

"I can't do everything, but I can do something. If we all did something, we could conquer anything."

LORD RAMA AND AYODHYA

Asusual first post.....

[Tale to Understand the Importance of Having a sense of Patriotism for One's Own Country at all times!]

In Ramayana, after the death of Ravana, Vibhisbana fell at the feet of Rama and said, "Swami, I never aspired to be the King of Lanka. I only wanted my brother to give up his bad qualities. I pray to you to take over the Kingdom of Lanka."

All the rakshasas also came and prayed to Rama that he should become King of Lanka.

Lakshmana also supported them saying, "O brother, Bharatha is already ruling over Ayodhya. Even if you return to Ayodhya, you may not be crowned as the King.

So, I request you to take over this kingdom and transform all the rakshasas.Lanka is full of golden mansions. Where else can you find such a beautiful place? I will be very happy if you rule over this Kingdom."

Rama lovingly took Lakshmana close to him and said,

"Lakshmana, how could you get such a silly desire? Just because one's mother is ugly, can he call any other beautiful woman as his mother? Even though my country is poor compared to Lanka, I still consider it as my mother. Lanka may be full of gold, but I don't want it"!!

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SPIRITUAL COMMENTARY

What a tremendous patriotism Lord Rama had for his own kingdom Ayodhya! He respected and adored his kingdom like his own "mother" as, any country we belong to becomes our "motherland" since we have been nurtured and brought up in that country, like how a mother nurtures her child.

We should develop this kind of love and faith towards our country. Parents and teachers should inculcate such spirit of patriotism in their children and students. We should declare wholeheartedly with a sense of pride that this is my country, this is my mother tongue.

A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle;and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.Unless our conception of patriotism is progressive, it cannot hope to embody the real affection and the real interest of the nation.

We should love and serve our homeland; at the same time not hate or hurt the homeland of others. We should not indulge in criticizing other countries or people belonging to other nations. Having trust and faith in our own country, we won't try to put down any other country. We should never bring grief or sorrow to our country. To have pride in our own motherland is important.

There are millions of educated men and women all over the world, but how many really benefit or contribute to the society's progress? We are utilising our education for our own selfishness and self-interest alone.We have to eschew selfishness and self-interest and make our education useful by resolving to serve the society and our country,for its progress and development.That way we should make the best use of our education we have recieved.

Let us respect and revere our elders and our country and set an ideal to humanity.Let our conduct befit the degrees we have acquired.Education is meant to broaden the mind.Education and discrimination should go hand in hand. The prosperity of the nation depends on the progress we make in the field of education.The future of the nation rests on the students and the dynamic youths a nation produces and nurtures.

Every Nation has stocked plenty of wealth for us. What is this wealth? It is the spirit of sacrifice, which can be acquired through service to society.

"Karmanu bandheeni Manushyaloke",
human society is bound by action.

"Sareeramadhyam Khalu Dharma Sadhanam",
the body is gifted in order to undertake righteous
actions, not to eat, drink and make merry.

We must render service to others till our last breath.

The essence of 18 Puranas can be summed up in one phrase: "Paropakarah Punyaya Papaya Parapeedanam.
" HELP EVER; HURT NEVER.

Set an ideal, which is helpful and delightful to one and all!!

I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country. --Nathan Hale

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." - John.F.Kennedy.

Aano bhadra krtavo yantu vishwatah.(- RIG VEDA)
"Let noble thoughts come to me from all directions"