We INDIANS....

We Indians...

We like to have coke or pepsi but milk, tea or buttermilk makes our day.

We love to have Pizzas, Italian, Mexican, Continental and all the cuisines of the world but Roti, Aloo, Dal, Rice tops the list. We wear western clothes but Saree, Kurta, Sherwani makes us look gorgeous.

We work in multinationals, dream to touch the sky but our foot is grounded on the earth.

We use latest technologies to keep touch but still letters from our loved ones bring smile on our faces.

We welcome all the religions but at heart we are human first.

We earn a lot but helping somebody is our top most priority.

We listen to rock and pop but song of the birds, wind and nature are soothing to us.

We believe in culture and values; we may not make compromise but guests are like God.

We love to travel in the world but internal travel excites us the most.

That's what we are...!!!

Happy Independence Day to all in advance.

Proud to be an Indian...!!!

Dedicated to all the GURUs...

On this special day of Guru Purnima I dedicate this to all the Gurus...

India is a land of culture and traditions but religion and spirituality are the feathers of the crown. As a part of this tradition; Today in India we celebrate Guru Purnima and dedicate this day to our Guru.

What is Guru? Gu means darkness and Ru means Light. So, Guru means who directs us from darkness to light.

According to the most popular Sanskrit Shlok, Guru is Brahma (Creates), Guru is Vishnu (Nourishes), Guru is Mahesh (Destroys)

Let us understand this with a different perspective. Guru is who creates path to self realization, who nourishes values and morals and help us to build a strong character and who destroys all our negativities with help of knowledge, wisdom and authority.

It is said that taking a birth is a part of journey to unite with the highest soul- the God almighty. We all take birth as a part of this journey. Guru is the one who shows us the path. That is why Saint Kabir has ranked Guru higher than the God almighty and he has said,” Guru Gobind dono khade kisko lagu pay, Balihari Guru apki, Govind diyo batay.” This means...Guru and God both are standing in front of me. Whom shall I bow down first? It is because of Guru I am introduced to God almighty so I will bow down to Guru first.

Yes...I am talking about Spiritual Guru who introduces us to God almighty and show us the Godly good path to lead our life to attain our highest goal of being united with God almighty and dissolve ourselves.

There is another shlok in Sanskrit about Guru. ”Agyantimirandhasya Gyananjan Shalakaya, Chakshu UnmilitamYen Tasmai Shree Guruve Namah.”

This means...The one who directs us from darkness to light is Guru and I bow down to him.

According to Indian Philosophy not only the spiritual masters are called Guru but everyone who teaches us something, gives us knowledge and shows us the right path is also our Guru. Guru is one who passes down the knowledge. Today in the modern era we call them Teacher, Guide or Mentor.

Let us strengthen the Guru and Disciple relationship by putting highest level of trust on our Guru and demonstrating commitment, respect, obedience and devotion. Let us nourish this special relationship by love and care. Let us uplift ourselves by growing and developing into a better human being and try to fulfil our Guru’s expectation.

Let us develop an attitude of gratitude and remember everyone for touching our life and showing us the right direction. Let us thank them for bringing change in our life. Let us be grateful to them for guiding us and showing us what is right and what is wrong. Let us understand the value of everyone for making a difference in our life to be better. Let us bow down to everyone for helping us to identify our real self and for always being there.......!!!

Do We Have Mirror...???

Every day morning we look into the mirror and observe ourselves from head to toe. So many questions flood in our mind. Is my hair style ok? Does the dress suit me? Does the shirt match with the pant? The colour suits me or not? How many pimples and wrinkles I have got today on my face? Is my moustache well trimmed? Do I need to shave today? How do I look more beautiful and attractive? Etc.

Many of us can spend hours and hours in front of mirror to change our outer personality. We groom the physical body to look more beautiful and attractive. Why? There are two reasons. First we want to look good and the second; most importantly we want people to accept us.

But by only grooming our outer personality, can we say with surety that people will accept us and we will be more beautiful than before? Does only outer personality make all the difference?

Then... why if we are sad, we don’t look happy? Why if we are stressed we don’t look relax? This means that our outer and inner personality has close connection. But only in grooming our outer personality and spending the hell lot of money and time to be attractive, we forget our inner selves. Have we ever thought of grooming our inner selves? Have we ever spent hours and hours in looking deep within? How contradictory it is...!!! We are more conscious about our outer personality and forget our inner one...!!!

The outer beauty will never give us eternal happiness but the inner beauty will. We spend hours and hours to groom our outer personality and we never think that our inner beauty also needs our attention. Our inner beauty is very important as it reflects on our entire personality but we are mesmerised with the outer beauty so much that we don’t look within...!!! What is the use of putting all the artificial things to our outer personality and trying to look beautiful? Is this the beauty all about???

The real beauty is beauty within...

We need to look deep within and make our inner selves more beautiful. For this, we must have a mirror which helps us to show our inner self. The mirror can be anybody- Father, mother, sister, brother, better half or our mentor, guru or may be our best friend. Do we ever feel shy in front of mirror; asking how we look when we see it? Do we ever try to hide our pimples and wrinkles in front of mirror? No...!!! We closely look at them and try to rectify them. Similarly we should not hide anything from the person who is mirror to us. We should never feel shy; instead we should be honest and truthful. Sometimes our thoughts may sound stupid, ridiculous or childish to them but at the end of the day we will be happy and satisfied for being honest with them and not hiding anything. Even if we commit any mistake; we should accept it in front of them. They will show us the right path. They are always there to help us, guide us and protect us. This will surely help us to groom our inner selves. We will be better human being. We will grow and learn every day. But one thing is sure and we must always remember; we should be totally open and frank with them. We should trust them completely which will build strong relationship. It will blossom every day every moment.

Let’s ask ourselves...Do we have anyone who helps us to identify and rectify our mistakes? Do we have anyone who recognizes our weaknesses and guides us how to improve them? Do we have anyone who is there to show us the right path and direction? Do we have anyone who introduces us to our real self and helps us to make it more beautiful? Do we have anyone who cares for us and accepts us as we are but still wants us to grow and develop? Do we have anyone who leads us to journey within? Do we have anyone in our life who is mirror to us...?

Let’s identify them and groom our inner selves to be more beautiful and attractive. This will help us to grow not only physically or mentally but spiritually as well.

Let’s have a mirror in life and start our journey within and be more beautiful.............!!!

A Flight Of Independence............

Few days back we warmly welcome a new guest in the house...A baby parrot. This parrot- I call "Mitthu", fall from its nest from a roof. When he came, he was hardly few days old. He was under tremendous fear as he parted from his family. He was very much surprised too. For some time neither we nor he could understand how he was saved though falling from almost 100 ft height. But as it is said..."God is the supreme power."

After really trying hard, we were accepted as his friends. Only thought in our mind was to give our best and do whatever to save his life. Slowly we gave him some food & he didn't eat then we realized that he is so small & he can't eat on his own. His mother must be feeding him through its beak. So, what we should do to feed him? Then we tried to feed him with our hands. We continue doing this. The very next day to our surprise his parents found him and came. After seeing him alive they were so happy that they started chirping and singing. Now they know where their little baby is...but the baby has not learned how to fly....!!!

They started to move around the baby....They come to him...They feed him and they are waiting eagerly for the day their baby will learn to fly....

We are happy to see "Mitthu" with his family. Mitthu is now friend with us. He is growing day by day. Today he learned to eat on his own. And we know he will soon learn how to fly. We don't know whether he will stay with us or will fly away with his parents. But we are happy that "Mitthu"'s life is saved. He was saved after falling from the height but we had to protect him from cat & dog. We are doing our best.....His sweet chirping makes the atmosphere lively. He doesn't bite us as he knows we are his friends....

He knows recognizes my whistle and my way of calling him “Mitthu”. Everyone is asking me whether we want to keep him in a cage or let him fly when he learns.... I always reply “Let him fly...” I understand the meaning of independence or freedom. I don't want to keep him behind the bars though I love birds....!!!

It’s been more than a month now, Mitthu is with us. Giving him food, water and taking care of him is part of our daily routine. His parents visit him every day and they are around him. We want Mitthu to be independent and we are eagerly waiting to see him flying. He is trying but cannot go on height. He will need some more time.

Now, Mitthu has learned to fly and now he can fly up to 20- 30 ft. He is learning to believe in his strengths and now he feels confident. Deep within my heart I know that Mitthu is with us for only few days. As soon as he developes confidence on himself, he will take his flight for a new journey.

And that day also came....There was a big gathering of Mitthu and his family. So many had come to welcome him again and take him back with them. We all knew that he will go back. They all were very happy and demonstrating their happiness through chirping and singing. And Mitthu took a flight....A flight of independence...A flight of freedom.....A flight to a new journey....!!!

Now Mitthu is happy with his family and again we are back with the same routine. Now we don’t have to worry whether Mitthu will stay with us or not....we don’t have to worry for his food. We don’t have to worry whether a dog or a cat will attack him or not. Because He is now capable and can find food and eat on its own. He can protect himself from a dog or a cat as he can fly high. He is aware about his strengths and knows how to utilize them to survive and be independent. We all are very happy for Mitthu as he learned to fly and is back with his family.

This small incident taught me many things.

1) We don't put trust on strangers but when we realize that they will not harm us we become friends. When we become friends we build a bridge in between and slowly we start putting trust on them hoping that they will not break our trust.

2) Parents always care for their children and they want their children to be always safe. It really doesn't matter whether they are humans, birds or animals.

3) Everybody needs freedom.

4) Everybody has challenges in their life. We have two options- face it or escape...

5) God helps those who help themselves.

6) People are there to guide and support...but alone only we have to face all the situations.

7) Everybody has to follow theory of survival....

8) Every one of us wants freedom. We love to fly. We don’t like restrictions. We want freedom. Freedom of expression, freedom of thoughts, freedom of choice, freedom to speak, freedom to hate, freedom to love and care & freedom in everything. Then why do we don’t give it to others???

Being Human is simply just not enough....????

Sometimes I think that why we give tags to people? The tags show their post or their profession or their education. It always amazes me when I see the tags in the bracket of some wedding cards. The question immediately comes to my mind that are they getting married to each other's tags or the person....??? Why some people always like to introduce themselves with these tags? Do they need these tags for their identity?

It seems that people are competing with each other and there is a big race on who will get maximum tags....!!!!

I have seen many people who like to give tags to others. Why don't they realize that the person doesn't actually need it? They are beyond those tags....These tags will not make any difference to their lives. They will continue the work they are doing and enjoying. They are not craving for these tags. They are not in this rat race. They are above all...It really doesn't matter to them....Then why some people forced them to add these tags with their names????

To me, these tags are nothing but the labels. I am this....I am that.... And people start living with these labels. These labels are so much adhere to their personality that eventually they start living within these brackets. They restrict themselves to certain things. They create an imaginary boundary. They cover themselves within the shells of their tags and LABELS. They don't realize that their personality now revolves only around these labels and they are loosing their real identity.

In long term effect, these labels actually don't allow people to do certain things. And it is because of their "LEVEL". I am this...I am that... is their "LABEL" and because of these labels what they think of themselves is their "LEVEL". We should understand this very clearly. Label and level actually stops our progress. They are the biggest hurdle in the journey of our growth and development. These Labels and Levels are nothing but EGO. This spoils our relations and they play vital role in shaping our personality. 24*7 we live with this. Even while sleep we don't want to let it go. All our actions are the result of this most dangerous three letter word- EGO....

I don't understand with this where are we heading to???

Do we actually need these tags? Don't we restrict people by giving or adding these tags? If we always need tags then where is our true identity? Don't we start living into the brackets? Don't we restrict ourselves to certain things? Then why do we need this.....??????

Being Human is simply just not enough......?????

I think in this competition and race of adding tags to our life, we always become somebody but we forget that we are HUMAN first. Let's just remember that we are HUMAN and we don't need any tags in our identity.

Let's just come out of those brackets...Let's just not restrict ourselves...Let's realize that life has much more to offer us if we come out of LABELS & LEVELS....Life brings happiness in small small things....Life has its own way to bring joy in little and tiny moments... Let's break those so called shells and boundaries of LABELS & LEVELS and enjoy the life to the fullest.........

We Indians can do it....

India celebrated wonderful and most memorable victory of Cricket World Cup. Indeed it is a matter of pride and honor to win the World Cup and that too after 28 long years. Cricket is the game closed to the heart of every Indian and so the cricketers are treated as Celebrities. They are part of everyday life of almost all Indians. I am sure all the Indians must have prayed a lot to win the World Cup. The cricket fever was really high in the country. How can I forget the final match? There was a curfew like situation everywhere. Everybody watching it was on the edge of their seats, keeping fingers crossed and praying. And when that magical moment of winning the World Cup came the real celebration started all over. The sky was covered with the fire crackers. People were on the streets. They were shouting, cheering, dancing and were moving from here & there. The celebration was much bigger than any festivals of India. Their joy & happiness were overwhelming. They didn't know what to do & how to celebrate. What came to their minds they did. And why not??? It was a victory of the game which is closest to their hearts. being an Indian an a cricket fan, I was very happy to see India winning the World Cup. These were the most memorable moments.

Every Indian deep in their heart wanted to win this World Cup just for one person- the God of cricket who holds many records on his name but was never part of the winning team of the World Cup. Yes...Sachin Tendulkar was one of the main reasons why every Indian wanted India to win the World Cup. He is an Icon. He is passionate, down to earth, focused, persistent, a very good teammate and a good human being. Have we ever thought of his qualities? have we ever tried to learn so many things from him and applied it to our life? If not...we should.

I would give the credit of winning the World Cup to the coach- Gery Kirsten. What an incredible change he has brought in Indian team!! He is the best coach till date Indian Team has ever got. We should salute him for his coaching skills and the transformation which he has brought to the Indian Team. We will surely miss him. I hope Indian Team gets the new coach of his standards....!!!

Well, this is what about the victory of Cricket World Cup for which I am also very happy and proud.

But when I saw people coming on one platform and celebrating the victorious moments, a thought came to my mind.

If in celebrating the World Cup victory all the Indians gather on one platform and indulge themselves in the spirit of Cricket why they don't give same importance to many issues we are facing as a country and find the solution for them?

Why the love for India is only demonstrated in celebration of winning Cricket World Cup?Why do we consider this patriotism? Is this the real Patriotism???

Have we understood the real meaning of Patriotism or have we changed the definition?

Let's try and understand...Let's also celebrate the victory of other sports...Let's come to one platform to offer tribute to our martyrs...Let's spread awareness of social issues like AIDS, Stop Killing Girl Child, Illiteracy, Global warming and many other...Let's forget the boundaries of religion and only remember one religion- being human.......

If we Indians can celebrate with everyone on one platform we can surely bring change........

And I know we Indians can do it.....Let's start thinking in that direction.

Woman

Undoubtedly the most wonderful creation of God almighty is "WOMAN."

God created her using all the five elements. God has blessed her with the characteristics of all the five elements. Earth symbolizes tolerance. Water symbolizes her coolness and calmness, Wind symbolizes direction and spreading fragrance. Sky symbolizes her extensiveness and largeness of her heart where as Fire symbolizes brightness, fire and power within her.

Woman is the synonym of dedication, strength, care and love. She is solid as rock and delicate as flower. She is tough as iron and soft as wool. She is wise and she is intelligent. She has grace, she has a poise, she has a vision and she has a legacy. She is smart, creative but she is very affectionate. Compassion, care, love, trust is her true identity.

She is a mother, she is a sister. She is a friend, she is a lover. She is a daughter and she is a wife. She is a teacher and she is a motherland. She is a knowledge. She is a power. She is a wealth and she is a strength.

One can not think life without her because she is phenomenally phenomenal WOMAN..

Proud to be a WOMAN...

Today suddenly a thought came to my mind; what if we are given an opportunity to design our own separate world???

Then definitely we would like to design it with most wonderful colors of happiness only. We would choose only those people with whom we get along very well. There shouldn't be bed of thorns but rose petals everywhere. Everything which we like should be part of it.

And... no place for sorrows, problems, setbacks or failures. Why anyone would want all these in their own wonderful world...???

Yes...absolutely. No one would want all these in their own world. But we forget that if there wouldn't be bed of thorns the rose would have no subtlety. If there wouldn't be setbacks we would never learn to stand up and move ahead. If there wouldn't be failure we would never carve our road to success. If there wouldn't be problems we would not challenge ourselves to solve them. If there wouldn't be sorrows we would not realize the value of smiles.

We have parents, relatives, friends and most wonderful people around us who support us, take care of us and love us. But we forget that there are people who are just alone in the world and they have no one to share their pains and tears. We are very lucky to get good upbringing, good education, good food, clothes of our choice, nice house where we live and also all the facilities of life but do we ever think that in some corner of this world there are people who can not even dream about all these?

Do we ever realize the real value of what we have...???

We never look at what we have but we always keep on complaining of what we don't have...! In doing so we can not enjoy all our priceless possessions and so we are far behind from being happy and content. How disgusting it is that our happiness depends on all the materialistic things.

Happiness is inner bliss which never depends on these materialistic things but it depends completely what we feel at heart...

Let's not search our happiness in the materialistic things instead understand and value of what we have. Let's always be in the state of happiness and inner bliss and then the whole world will be ours and there won't be need to design our own separate world....!!!

(This is in context of my friend Hetal's note " Death n living")

Death is the ultimate truth of life. It is an end of physical life which starts our journey into the new beginning- our spiritual life. Where it is said that we are above all the feelings and in a state above then everything. So, the fear exists only in the physical world and not in the spiritual world.

It is also believed that we come in to physical world just to go higher in the spiritual world. The shortest way to progress in spiritual world is to take birth in this physical world. So, we all come here with some purpose. It is believed that in the initial stage of our life, i.e. soon after our birth and 1-2 years we remember why we are here but after that we attach to so many things and as a reason of that we forget our purpose.

We know that death is the beginning of a new journey where we will meet God almighty. So, when all the sadhus and sanyasis take samadhi; that day is celebrated. The 16th day is celebrated as Shodashotsav.

We do not do this because we think differently and can not accept the truth that it is a journey to meet God instead we are unhappy and in tremendous pain.

I believe that this pain is only because our near and dear ones with whom we have spent most wonderful moments of our life are no longer with us. So, their absence bring lots of pain and tears to our life. This is the most difficult stage.

We should also remember that they are not with us in the physical world but they are there somewhere in the spiritual world and constantly watching & guiding us and also taking care of us. Their blessings, love and most wonderful memories will always remain with us.
So, important is not to have a fear of death as because of this we are not living every moment but we are dying.That means we should start accepting each and every moment and make most out of it. We don't have control on what is happening but we can surely govern our thoughts by putting life into everything we do. Then we will definitely enjoy every moment and we will start living.

Death is the ultimate truth of life. It is an end of physical life which starts our journey into the new beginning- our spiritual life. Where it is said that we are above all the feelings and in a state above then everything. So, the fear exists only in the physical world and not in the spiritual world.

It is also believed that we come in to physical world just to go higher in the spiritual world. The shortest way to progress in spiritual world is to take birth in this physical world. So, we all come here with some purpose. It is believed that in the initial stage of our life, i.e. soon after our birth and 1-2 years we remember why we are here but after that we attach to so many things and as a reason of that we forget our purpose.

We know that death is the beginning of a new journey where we will meet God almighty. So, when all the sadhus and sanyasis take samadhi; that day is celebrated. The 16th day is celebrated as Shodashotsav.

We do not do this because we think differently and can not accept the truth that it is a journey to meet God instead we are unhappy and in tremendous pain.

I believe that this pain is only because our near and dear ones with whom we have spent most wonderful moments of our life are no longer with us. So, their absence bring lots of pain and tears to our life. This is the most difficult stage.

We should also remember that they are not with us in the physical world but they are there somewhere in the spiritual world and constantly watching & guiding us and also taking care of us. Their blessings, love and most wonderful memories will always remain with us.
So, important is not to have a fear of death as because of this we are not living every moment but we are dying.That means we should start accepting each and every moment and make most out of it. We don't have control on what is happening but we can surely govern our thoughts by putting life into everything we do. Then we will definitely enjoy every moment and we will start living.