Path to Happiness

While surfing blogs, I cam across this beautiful poem on Higher Being. It is a poem that almost all of us have read or memorised in school. Reading it again made it sound familiar, yet different. I think this poem can give newer insights into life whenever it is read.

Read below to unravel your personal meaning of self:

How happy is he born and taught
That serveth not another's will;
Whose armour is his honest thought
And simple truth his utmost skill;

Whose passions not his masters are;

Way of heaven
Originally uploaded by Norma Desmond

Whose soul is still prepared for death,
Not tied unto the world with care
Of public fame, or private breath;

Who envies none that chance doth raise,
Or vice; who never understood
How deepest wounds are given by praise,
Nor rules of state, but rules of good;

Who hath his life from rumours freed,
Whose conscience is his strong retreat;
Whose state can neither flatterers feed,
Nor ruin make accusers great;

Who God doth late and early pray
More of His grace than gifts to lend;
And entertains the harmless day
With a well-chosen book or friend;

This man is freed from servile bands
Of hope to rise, or fear to fall;
Lord of himself, though not of lands;
And having nothing, yet hath all.

- Sir Henry Wotton

Beautiful thoughts, in a simple form. Amen to that.

Teaching and Teachers

Today's Asian Age has an interesting article by J S Rajput on the state of teaching and teachers in the country. He makes two interesting references:

• Rabindranath Tagore had observed: "When we see a living enthusiasm lacking in those who act as guides to their pupils, who are ready to raise to them ruling rods from a distance … they should be reminded that they have chosen a wrong vocation and should, for the sake of humanity, change it without delay for that of a jail warder."

• Dr S. Radhakrishnan, a legendary teacher, philosopher and statesman wrote in the University Education Commission over five decades ago: "We must habituate students to right emotions, induce to them the formation of good moral, mental and physical habits. Only what one accepts willingly becomes a part of oneself. All else is a mask."

Osho, in one of his discourses, talked about teachers as well. He had this to say:

• A teacher is one who is respected naturally, so a teacher cannot demand respect. If the teacher demands respect, he simply shows that he is not a teacher; he has chosen the wrong profession, that is not his vocation.
  

• Teachers are as much born as poets, it is a great art. Everybody cannot be a teacher, but because of universal education millions of teachers are required. Just think of a society that thinks that poetry is to be taught by poets and everybody is to be taught poetry. Then millions of poets will be required. Of course, then there will be poets' training colleges. Those poets will be bogus, and then they will ask: Applaud us! -- because we are poets. Why are you not respecting us? This has happened with teachers.

• In the past there were very few teachers. People used to travel thousands of miles to find a teacher, to be with him. There was tremendous respect, but the respect depended on the quality of the teacher. It was not an expectation from the disciple or from the student or the pupil. It simply happened.
  

More power to teachers that truly teach!

The difference between obedience and surrender

Osho responds to this question in his inimitable manner:

There is a great difference. Not only a difference: obeying and surrender are diametrically opposite. If you are surrendered then there is no question of obeying. Then my voice is your voice; you don't obey it. Then I am no more separate from you. If you are not surrendered, then you obey it, because my voice is separate from yours.

Obeying is ugly. Either surrender or be on your own. Obeying is a compromise: you don't want to surrender, one thing; and you are not confident to remain on your own, another thing. So you compromise. You say: I will remain on my own, but obey. I will listen to you, whatsoever you say, and will find ways and means to obey it.

Surrender is a totally different thing. There is no duality in surrender. When a disciple surrenders to a master, they have become one; that moment the duality has disappeared. Now the master is no more thought of as separate, so who is going to obey and who is going to obey whom? If surrender has happened, then you don't enforce discipline, it comes spontaneously. When I say something to you, and you are surrendered, you hear my voice as your own. In fact, you will see immediately that this is what you wanted to do, but you were not clear about it. You will be able to understand that I have told you something about which you were groping in the dark. You had a certain feel for it, but things were vague -- I have made them clear for you. I have spoken for you. I have brought your own heart's desire to you. In surrender that is going to happen.Then my voice is your voice; you don't obey it. Then I am no more separate from you. If you are not surrendered, then you obey it, because my voice is separate from yours.

Courtesy: Oshoworld

When insults had class...

A recent series started in the Asian Age, Kolkata is titled 'When insults had class', a series of witty quotes by people. I was very impressed with the collection and thought of sharing a few gems with you:

• "He has all the virt ues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." - Winston Churchill
  

• "A modest little person, with much to be modest about." - Winston Churchill

• "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow

• "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." - Groucho Marx

• "He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." - Oscar Wilde

• "I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play, bring a friend... if you have one." - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

• "Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one." - Winston Churchill, in response

• "I feel so miserable without you, it's almost like having you here." - Stephen Bishop

• "He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up." - Paul Keating

• "There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure." - Jack E. Leonard

• "He loves nature in spite of what it did to him." - Forrest Tucker

• "He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

While reading a little more on the nature of insults (!) I learnt that in medicine insult is a synonym for injury or trauma. No wonder!

Dance Of Love, Not Terror

Istanbul: Framed by the evening light filtering through the crystal-shaped stained glass panes close to the ceiling, eight musicians take position — the Mutrip ensemble — in the makeshift Sema chamber, some standing, others sitting, with their flutes and drums. The chanters clear their throats and an audience of about 50 foreign tourists patiently waits in anticipation, seated in a semicircle on plastic chairs. The chanting begins to the accompaniment of music

Silently, five Mevlevi dervishes or semazen enter single file, wearing costumes that symbolise the death of ego. The hirka or black cloak represents its tomb and the sikke, the slender, tapering earth-coloured headdress, is its tombstone. Beneath the cloak is the tenure, a fullskirted long white gown depicting the shroud held in place with a black cummerbund.

Walking in circles and bowing to each other in acknowledgement of the centre of Divine Truth within the heart of each, the dervishes take their place on sheepskin mats on the floor to the chanting of the Naat-I-Sherif, composed by Itri in praise of the prophet Muhammad. The drumbeat represents the Divine command, “Be”. The flute represents the soul given to universe.

Slowly, the dervishes rise from the floor, and casting off the black robes, they fold their arms across their chest with hands hugging their shoulders, and walk slowly. Then, they begin to turn. The position of the arms signifies the Unity of God. As the semazen rotate, they also revolve around the centre of the room, like the earth rotates on its axis as it revolves around the sun.

As the whirling gains momentum, slowly, the arms are unfurled from across their chests and gravitate upward as though in total surrender, head inclined at an angle to the right, eyes half-closed, intoxicated with love. The graceful movement of the arms — one palm turned upward, receiving from God, and the other face downward, giving to all — is captivating. One is torn between focusing on the ecstatic, trance-like facial expression and the evocative symbolism of the arms that seem to say, “We keep nothing to ourselves”.

The whirling is now so swift you can no longer distinguish figure from movement, space from time, reality from unreality, or present from past. Then they slow down. This was the first cycle of the Sema, when the dervishes are viewing all the worlds, the way to reach the grandeur and majesty of God. The lovers are freed from doubt and testify their faith in the Unity of God. They now slow down, much like a top that loses momentum. But instead of coming to a standstill or collapsing on the floor, the gopi-like semazen, lovers of the Divine, resume whirling in a second cycle. The whole existence is dissolved within this Divine Unity.

During the third cycle the lovers cleanse themselves and reach the level of maturity. In the fourth cycle they arrive at the junction of non-existence within Divine Existence. With only the sound of the flute — so reminiscent of Krishna in Brindavan surrounded by adoring gopis — the spiritual exposition ends with a reading from the Qur’an.

Coming out of the railway waiting roomcum-mystical paradise, enchanted by the dervishes, one could ‘hear’ Mevlevi Jalaluddin Rumi’s words resound across Platform No. 1 as a train (the Orient Express?) comes charging in: “If you entered the Sema you will leave both worlds:/ the world of the Sema is outside both worlds”.
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The above article is by Narayani Ganesh, on her trip to Istanbul. Sub-titled 'Exploring the other side of Islam', it appeared in the Times of India on Saturday 7.7.2007

Wrath - the fourth deadly sin

A useful reminder, again from Paulo Coelho...

WRATH

According to the dictionary:

feminine noun, from the Latin Ira. Choler, anger, indignation, rage, desire for revenge.

For the Catholic Church:

Wrath is not only against others, but can turn back against someone who lets hate sow seeds in his heart. In this case usually he is led to suicide. We need to understand that punishment and its imposition belong to God.

In “Verba Seniorum” (The Word of the Ancients):

Two wise men who lived in the same chapel in the Sahara desert, chatted one day: “Let’s fight so that we don’t become disassociated from the human being, or we will end up not understanding properly the passions that torture him”, said one of them.

“I don’t know how to begin a fight”.

“Well, we will do the following: I am putting this brick here in the middle, and you say to me: it’s mine. I will answer: no, this brick is mine. Then we will begin arguing and we will end up fighting”.

And so they did. One said that the brick was his. The other argued, saying it was not.

“Don’t let’s waste time over this, keep this brick,” said the first. “Your idea for a fight was not very good. When we perceive that we have an immortal soul, it is impossible to fight over things”.

Credits: Text Credits: Picture

Advice to teachers...

The following is a wonderfully written piece attributed, albeit wrongfully, to Abraham Lincoln. It contains some sound advice from a father to his son's headmaster, requesting him to teach not only books, but also life. An inspirational read....

He will have to learn , I know,

That all men are not just,

All men are not true,

But teach him also ,

That for every scoundrel there is a hero,

For every selfish politician,

There is a dedicated leader……

Teach him ,that for every enemy there is a friend,

It will take time I know but teach him if you can,

That a dollar earned is of far more value than five found

Teach him to learn to lose and also to enjoy winning.

Steer him away from envy, if you can

And teach him the secret of quiet laughter

Let him learn early ,that the bullies are the easiest to lick…

Teach him if you can, the wonder of books…

But also give him quiet time, to ponder over the eternal mystery of birds in the sky,

Bees in the sun and flowers on the green hillside.

In school, teach him, it is far more honourable to fail than to cheat….

Teach him to have faith in his own ideas,

Even if everyone tells him they are wrong…..

Teach him to be gentle with gentle people

And tough with the tough…

Try to give my son the strength, not to follow the crowd when everyone is getting onto the bandwagon,

Teach him to listen to all men,

But teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth,

And take only the good that comes through.

Teach him if you can, how to laugh when he is sad….

Teach him there is no shame in tears,

Teach him to scoff at cynics,

And to beware of too much sweetness….

Teach him to sell his brawn and brain to the highest bidders,

But never to put a price tag on his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob..

And to stand and fight if he thinks he is right.

Treat him gently , but do not cuddle him,

Because only the test of fire makes fine steel.

Let him have the courage to be impatient ,

Let him have the patience to be brave.

Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself,

Because then he will always have sublime faith in mankind.

This is a big order , but see what you can do,

He is such a fine little fellow , my son.

PS: Nobody seems to know the real author of the piece. Although commonly attributed to Abe Lincoln, it is not included in any of his works. Read further here.

Prayer from a church in Russia

Paulo Coelho writes about a prayer he found while on his commemorative journey in Russia. The text was found in a Church in Novosibirsk and was in Russian. The translator who made it understandable to Coelho mentioned that the inscription was part of the Ojibwa tradition. Although I have never heard of this tradition, I found the prayer very powerful. Here it is:

"I come to thee as one of your children. I am fallible and small; I need Your wisdom and strength.

Let me walk in Your beauty, and make my eyes always see the red and purple of dusk. Make my hands respect the things that You have created, and enable my ears to understand Your voice.

Make me wise so that I can absorb what You have taught my people and learn the lessons that you have hidden in each leaf and each rock.

I beg you for strength and wisdom, not to be better than my brothers but so that I can defeat the worst enemy I have: myself. In that way, my spirit will be able to return to you without sin."

giant hands
Originally uploaded by snizz.

Amen.

Symptoms of inner peace

Be on the lookout for symptoms of inner peace. The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to inner peace and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions. This could pose a serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition of conflict in the world.

Some signs to look for:

• A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences.
• An unmistakeable ability to enjoy each moment.
• A loss of interest in judging other people.
• A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.
• A loss of interest in conflict.
• A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom.)
• Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
• Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
• Frequent attacks of smiling.
• An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.
• An increased susceptibility to the love offered by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.