Ask, Seek, Knock!

I have been always fascinated with the Biblical verse in the Gospel of Matthew 7:7 where Jesus says, "Ask and it will be given, seek and you will find and knock and it will be open to you." Here I intend to throw a light that can help us to grab the potential of this verse and apply it to our everyday situations to better our lives.

Ask and it will be given: You ask somebody for something and you get it. At the outset this is what the verse seems to be indicating. But let's have an inside-out approach. To be an effective person, the first step is to ask ourselves, our higher consciousness as to what exactly that we want in life. The answer to that will be our vision and purpose in life! This is what Stephen Covey in his '7 Habits of Highly Effective People' terms as 'Begin with an end in mind.' When you ask the question as to why are you here on the planet earth, you will experience an paradigm shift and start to devote your energies and life for a nobler, better and higher purpose. Ask and it will be given unto you!

Seek and you will find: The next clause asks us to seek. What do we seek? We seek the right perspective of  now achieving our vision and purpose in life. You got to visualize yourselves as already having reached that purpose and vision in life. Visualization will lead you to actualization. It will help you to find right people and resources that can help you achieve your dreams in life. See things in the right perspective. See with hope in you mind's eyes, be wise enough to know what to overlook and what to focus on! Seek and you will find!

Knock and will be opened unto you: The last clause is action oriented. The first one was a meditative oriented step. The next was again an inside out approach, a right brain activity which deals with creating your world and than seeing its fruition. But the bridge from visualization to its fruition in real life is the bridge of taking appropriate actions in tune with your vision and goals in life. When the right opportunities show up, the right connections come along your way, you got to grab them and take action. You got to be proactive. You got to organize and execute around your priorities. You got to probably write down your schedule and see that you are spending most of your time in activities in tune with your higher purpose in life. Knock and the door will be opened for you!

There it is Jesus is giving us the formula of effectiveness in life. Let's sum it up by saying, "Delve deeper, Design deliberately  and Do dedicatedly! 

Create your own day!

If you don’t be the creator and master over your today, somebody else or circumstance will create and master you. So how do you create your day? Here are a few tips:

1.      Pray to God: Knowing that the Universal force is backing you, God is on your side, will give you assurance and courage to face whatever comes in the day. “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

2.      Visualize: What we visualize, we actualize! Imagination is the sole privilege of human beings. Use your imagination and visualize your perfect day. See your superiors happy with your work, see that you are giving your very best, see that you are smiling, happy and healthy. Once the sub conscious receives this visualized picture, it will start acting on your day and your actions will be guided to do and be the same.

3.      Exercise and eat a healthy breakfast: Your body is the temple that houses God. Keep it fit, nurture it with the best. Jog, run, or hit the tread-mill. Eat a wholesome, healthy breakfast. It will fuel your energy for the day.

4.      Step out with love: Love everything that comes across your day, people, circumstances, jobs etc. Love is the Midas touch that transforms ordinary things to extraordinary. Don’t judge, just love

5.      Give your best shot: Whatever you come across in the day, just give your best shot to it. It may be meeting clients, delivering a presentation, working on a project, listening to a lecture etc. However insignificant you think it is, give your best shot. Don’t think of yesterday with regret or anticipate trouble for future. Concentrate on the day and the work in your hands.

6.      Gratitude: Let your memories be filled with gratitude. Whenever you find time to contemplate, think how blessed you are to have a family who loves you, a job to provide for your needs, friends, opportunities. Many may be wishing to be in your place. Thank God and be grateful to everyone and everything that you come across.

7.      Better yourself: The best competition you can have is with yourself. Try to be a better person, a better family man or woman, a better employee or better boss, better student, better sportsman, artist etc. Read, undergo coaching, classes or other things that can help you to sharpen your skills. Remember what Edmund Hillary said, “It’s not about conquering mountains, it’s about conquering ourselves.”  

Attitude matters!

An angry dog decides to visit a unique house with thousand mirrors, It is very upset to find 1000 dogs staring in anger at him. Scared, he comes out and decides, 'This house in not a good place to be in, I will never comeback' Some other da

y, a smiling dog visits the same house and finds 1000 smiling dogs welcoming him in the house. He decides, "I love this place and will always return here". Friends, the disposition we carry about gives us a position of discomfort or comfort in life!

Faster, Higher, Stronger- London Olympics 2012

Citius, Altius, Fortius! The Latin words which is the perennial motto for Olympics means Faster, Higher Stronger. As the London Olympics kick off today with the grand opening ceremony and continue till 12th August, 2012, the motto are symbolic in reminding us of what life is all about!

"Great dreamers' dreams are never fulfilled, they are always transcended." This quote of Alfred Lord Whitehead, says it all. If you carefully analyse the motto, you will find that the words are comparative adjectives. It makes us think why not just adjectives or for that matter, why not the superlatives- fastest, highest and strongest? Life is all about growing continuously. It is about inching further from the place where you were yesterday. It can be compared to the river water that is continuously making its way and progressing to reach the vast stream of ocean. 

It cannot be fastest, highest, and strongest. If we had the record set for all times in events like the the 100 meters dash or for the high-jump and nobody had been able to break it, the games would have better discontinued. Every athlete and sportsperson competes dreaming to better the set world record. Last time Michael Phelps bettered the record of seven golds won by Mark Spitz in swimming events. He went to to win 8 gold medals for his country. This year you can expect some other swimmer better that! Once life is standstill it is no better than cold death! It has to go on. 

The lesson from the motto as we enjoy the games at London this year is this, first, if you have not done satisfactorily yesterday, you can better it today, so forget the past. Second, you can never reach a place where you say, 'this is it, I am now the best and there lies nothing to better'. Remember if you reach the pinnacle of the mountain, the next moment you have to retrace you steps downwards back. 

So friends, don't wallow in you laurels or failures of yesterday and keep on inching forward. Keep on reaching faster, higher, and stronger! That's what Olympics is all about and that's what life is all about too!

Joy be all yours.

Sohan. 

The Lost Keys!

A man was frantically searching for his lost keys on a road. Other passerby offered to help him. Both of them kept on looking for the keys for quite a long time but to no avail. At last, the passerby asked him, “Where exactly did you lose your keys?” “I lost them in my house actually”, replied the man to the surprise of the passerby. “But as there is good amount of street light here, I am searching for them here!

Well we all know this humorous story. But if we go behind the story, we will be able to know that it carries grains of truth that describes our lives. We usually look for happiness, success, God outside. We feel the key to success, happiness and knowing God is out there! We are lured by the attractions of the world, rituals, culture, gadgets, heroes and spiritual leaders. But the truth is that we need to look deeper in ourselves. Happiness, success and God is within us. We are made in the image of God. When we look closer, we will find that we have all the potential in ourselves despite the conditions without for being happier, enlightened and successful! So have you found the lost keys, yet? 

Holding on till success dawns!

‘Jacob’ means deceiver. Jacob has deceived his brother, Esau. He had fled to his maternal Uncle, Laban. He married his two daughters, made wealth for himself again deceiving his Uncle. Now he plans to return. As he returns, he is about to meet his brother, Esau whom he had earlier deceived by taking his birthright. He is afraid that Esau might do him harm. So he does what he feels is right at that moment, he sends lot of gifts ahead loaded on camel backs with his servants to his brother. He also sends his close family away to a safe place, so no harm should come to them if he is attacked. Now he alone near the ford of Jabbok alone, when he encounters a Man, whom he wrestles or strives (Hebrew- word) with whole night. At the break of the dawn the Man cannot overcome Jacob, so he dislocates his hip bone. Jacob is adamant that the Man should bless him and the Man does so and he disappears.

Now these Biblical turn of events in Genesis 32, have puzzled many, especially the wrestling with God. In this write-up, I am going to explain to unearth the hidden meaning behind this passage and how we can apply the same to our lives to be successful! In other words, I am going to encourage you to strive against and succeed or wrestle with God, till he blesses you!

1.      Your self-image has a power over you: How would you feel if everyday people around you call you a deceiver? You wouldn’t welcome it, would you? Jacob means ‘deceiver’ Jacob has been called a deceiver his whole life. Now words have power to create images in our minds. If I say the word, ‘ice-cream’ what comes your mind? Even, when I say don’t think of a monkey with a red face. You just imagined a monkey with red face, didn’t you? So when Jacob is called a deceiver his whole life, he goes on to behave in the same manner. He deceives his brother by stealing his birthright. He deceives his uncle but before that his uncle Laban had deceived him. So Jacob deceives or is being deceived and he is living in a world of deception! But aren’t we too deceived our whole lives by the culture, tradition, religious beliefs, people’s opinions etc. Somebody says to you, your family was never good at math, so it is impossible for you to make a career in the same field. Somebody says, you are just an average or below average guy or girl and you won’t make it big in life. So we hold on to such opinions and have the image of failures and start acting in the same manner. An eagle’s egg was accidently mixed up with the eggs of a hen. The eaglet was hatched and came out to be surrounded by chicks around it. Now it believed that it is a chick and would grow up to be a hen too. So it replicated the actions of the chickens around it. It hopped, pecked grains and ran around. It was oblivion to the fact that it was born to fly. One day, an eagle saw this eaglet and told it the truth, ‘you are not meant to hop around but fly, give up the deception’. The eagle carried it on its back and let it go and the eaglet first time soared freely in the sky and was free! So the problem that Jacob faces is the same that you and I face. We are all Jacobs in the sense that we go on deceiving not necessarily others, but ourselves our whole lives.

2.      Holding on the right image will free you: Now Jacob after all the turn of events is alone near the ford of Jabbok, here he encounters God with whom he strives against and overcomes and he is blessed, his name is now changed to ‘Israel’! I want you note down some significant points here. First, Jacob is alone near the ford of Jabbok. He has let go everything, his family, his belonging, the gifts he was to present to his brother, Esau. In his solitude, he finds an encounter with God. I want you to notice this strange incident carefully; Jacob is near the ford of Jabbok. The Hebrew meaning of Jabbok is ‘to empty itself’. The point I am making is, when you have an uncluttered mind, free from all baggage that you carry around, you will encounter God! We see this happen even in the case of Elijah, he is running away from the queen Jezebel, he is afraid, he flees! After a turn of events, Elijah reaches mount Horeb. Here he encounters an earthquake, storm and fire and the Bible says, God was not in the earthquake, storm or fire! When everything is quiet, he hears the voice of God.  Isaiah 30: 5 says, ‘In quietness and confidence shall be your strength!” Friends, to find God within yourself, you have to quieten your mind. Bring it to not, for your mind will always be hooked to the past or think ‘what will be?’ Meditate, quietly where no one disturbs you and you will find God. Jacob finds God when he has emptied himself, he is in solitude.

Second, note what Jacob does. He wrestles with God. Jacob the deceiver has found God and now he wrestles or strives against God whole night. What does this mean? When Jacob encounters God, he encounters his true self and finds the right image! No longer is he Jacob, the deceiver, but now he finds that he is free from this false image. He is an over- comer. In the end, Jacob asks the Man to bless him and what happens; his name is changed to Israel! The Hebrew meaning of Israel is Yi- He, Stra- strive against and El- God. When you strive against all odds to hold on to the image of God within you which is of freedom, joy, abundance and completeness you are blessed. The Bible tells that wrestling with God goes on till the dawn breaks. Friends, hold on to the true image that God gives you till the dawn of blessing breaks forth in your life. Don’t let it go, that is what Jacob does. He holds on, he wrestles and doesn’t let the Man go. Wrestling is done with holding each other tightly. We have to hold on tightly to the real image of ourselves. Till now people may have called you a fool but God says you are wise, you may have an image of defeat but God says you can overcome, you feel you are poor but God says you are abundant. Jacob holds on to God – the true image of himself so long that God has to distract him by dislocating his hip bone! Now his focused mind is again disturbed but he holds on till he is blessed and his name is changed to Israel. “Success is a matter of holding on after others have let go.” Hold on till you are prosperous, hold on till you are healed, hold on till your relations are restored, hold on till you are promoted, hold on till you are free! That is what Jacob does that night and becomes Israel, his name stands today as a witness of blessing of God that has continued generations from generations.

Friends, the Bible many times hides precious pearls of wisdom which need to be unearthed, so that we see the message, act on it and be blessed. Today it tells us from the story of Jacob that image has power over us so we need to know what kind of image we hold of ourselves. We also need to empty ourselves of all the labels that our surroundings have given us and hold on to the image God has in store for us, we need to hold on to it till we are blessed. May we experience blessings of God taking over our lives, may we hold on to the right image.

Joy be all yours.

Sohan. 

“Imagination is the preview of things to come”

I am having a hot cup of tea and enjoying every sip as I savor the taste. A few minutes ago, I had a thought in my mind, a vivid image of drinking a cup of tea to ward off my sluggishness so that I am rejuvenated to resume my work again. The image I held into my mind now is a reality as I go to the kitchen and ask the cook to serve me a cup and after a few minutes I am holding the cup in my hand. Let’s go reverse through this simple process to take a stock of how imagination works in our lives. I am holding a cup of tasty tea cup and savoring it. Before this I had told the cook to serve me a cup of tea. Before I told him, I had a image in my mind of drinking a cup of tea to ward off my sluggishness at work. Before the image, came the thought!

What I want to point to you is that everything actualizes when we take an appropriate action on the image and thought we hold in our minds. It’s true with simple things like drinking a cup of tea or with bigger things like building a big business empire or designing a space ship. God has bestowed humankind with this unique ability to imagine the outcome, take action by faith and see the blueprint of imagination actualize into veracity. Below are some tips, I am delineating that would help you to see your dreams turn into reality:

1.      Decide what you want. Describe your ideal life.

2.      Write down goals for every are of your life: Family, Professional, Health, Education, Spiritual etc.

3.      Paste some pictures on a vision board that would remind you of your goals all the time.

4.      Everyday spend some time visualizing your goals as achieved by silencing your mind.

5.      Feel the emotions of joy, exhilaration, satisfaction, love as you visualize.

6.      As you go through this exercise, work on any bright idea that pops up to take you towards your goal.

7.      Live and breathe gratitude for the past, present and things to come.

It’s my belief that if you follow these simple steps delineated above, you will experience the miracle of seeing your dreams turn into reality. In other words, from now your world will turn out to be magical! 

I found God today...

I found God today…

I found God this morning, I found him in the kiss of the sunshine

In my daughter’s sweet smile and my wife’s cuddly hug

I found him in my parent’s words of wisdom

 In that age when you’re so close to divine

I found God this morning, no; he wasn’t in temple with bells clanging

He wasn’t in the church where candles burnt and hands in prayers folding

But somewhere deep within, I felt the gentle nudge

That assured his presence simply overwhelming so charming.

I found God this morning in wind that blew over my face while riding

I found him in the hitchhikers on the road their thumbs waving

I found him in the farmer so busy with his land tilling

I found God today in the school buses and all those little faces shinning

I found God today within me taking challenges

I found him in the days work with me rejoicing

I found God today in the words that in my ears kept ringing

“All the search for truth starts without and ends within.”

Sohan. 

Advaita- Non-Dualism

A small boy accompanied by his father is on a hiking trip. As they approach a cliff, the boy suddenly trips a stone and falls down and is hurt. He shouts, ‘Ahh!’ Out of nowhere the same words are heard, ‘Ahh!’ The boy is perplexed, he shouts, ‘Who is it?’ Back come the same words, ‘Who is it?’ The boy is angry, he shouts, ‘You fool!’ The voice responds in the same words, ‘You fool!’ The father who is witnessing this tells his son, that it is his own echo that he is hearing. He asks his son, to say, ‘I love you!’ The boy does so and back comes, ‘I love you!’ The boy is surprised at this marvelous phenomenon of echo. The father explains, ‘That’s life in real, what you give out will always return to you in same measure, when you give out hate, anger, jealousy, you will be returned with same. When you give out love, joy, enthusiasm you will experience the world to be a beautiful place.’

The above story reminds me of Jesus’ words in the New Testament, “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.” That verse is known as the golden verse. It almost sums up the message of all religious texts and teachings. When I start treating others as I treat myself, the world will be a better place. Imagine everyone living with that philosophy! Won’t we experience Utopian dream on this earth! This brings to the question why do human beings fail to follow this? Why do I hate others, have jealousy for someone or abuse and mistreat somebody? Is it not because of the illusion of Dualism? In simple words, our minds trick us into telling that the other person is different from me. It will go on to add physical evidences of color, caste, creed, culture, habits and so on and so forth. At physical level this may seem to be true. But truth many times eludes us when our perspective is limited to the physical. Let’s take the example of the horizon where you see the sky kissing the earth. Is it really so? When you go further the horizon runs farther. If you are travelling in the desert, you may notice a place of cool water few feet away from you, but as you go near you know it’s a mirage! So what I am advocating here is that we should not limit our perspective in life to the physical but graduate to the meta-physical, the spiritual to see the truth of life.

At the spiritual level we know that we come from the same source we all dearly refer to as God. God created this universe and everything in it, so the universe is not separate entity from God, nor are human beings who are the created ones! When you know that we all come from the same source and identify each other as brothers and sisters, we understand that harming anyone is, harming ourselves and loving others is, loving ourselves. Like the story above, it echoes back to us. What I do unto others comes back to me. I am reminded of another quote by Rabbi Hillel, he said, “Do not unto others what is hateful to thyself this is the whole of Torah the rest is commentary.”

In the world of today, we are so busy in segregating things, people, communities, nations. Our minds make us believe that the differences we see at the physical level should be the basis on which we separate one from the other. So we distinguish between  the rich and poor, the fair and the dark skinned, the intelligent from the average, the male child from the female, one race from the other, one nation from another and the list is endless. We separate God as a different being than we are. We put him in the holy of holies and fear to approach his presence. We have religious leaders who make a fortune in making us feel miserable about how separate we are from God and other fellow beings because they do not follow our religion or sects. What’s the result? We have hate, jealousy, wars, crimes, acts of terrorism all done all in the name of religion! At the time of this writing India is shocked by a father killing his own infant daughter because she was a born a girl and not a boy! Aren’t we fooling ourselves?

Some may object to my proposition by saying that this is blasphemy. We do need dualism when we separate the good from the bad, the evil form the righteous, the sinners from the holy and God from the human. My question is, are we by separating the above entities really hitting at the root of the problem or just hacking at the leaves? Why do people exist whom we are compelled to label as bad, evil, unrighteous and so on and so forth? Is it not because the crimes that these people committed were because of the illusion of duality? I mistreat others and commit crimes of hate because I am bent on believing that in some way he or she is separate from me and by harming him or her, I will be promoted in my ulterior motives. Is this not an illusion? Many of us regrettably realize of late that by harming others we have harmed ourselves.

So finally friends, it is time that we understand the importance of adhering to Advaita or Non-dualism. I am not advocating a religious philosophy. But being a student of philosophy and religion, I am using this philosophy to understand the truth. For ‘you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.’ Let us be in the driver’s seat and not run by the whims and fancies of our mind. Let us go beyond dualism and our habits and culture of segregation to understand the basic inherent unity in all. Dear God, ‘Lead us from darkness to light, from untruth to truth, from death to eternal life and from dualism to non-dualism! 

Celebrate Today- Celebrate your Resurrection!

Christ was called by two titles, Son of Man and Son of God. It tells us that he had the perfect combination of the human and the divine. When he was crucified on the cross, it refers to his humanity (the divine can never cease to be). His physical body died but then on the 3rd day the Bible says he was resurrected! Now watch, his physical body was transformed, it could transcend the limits of the physical, tangible world, it was not the same. What does this signify?
We all need to die to our tangible, physical realities (which are limited to 5 senses) and be resurrected to the awareness that we are divine, when we realize this we know we have a resurrection, a transformation from the limited to the unlimited, from the human to divine, from death to life eternal. That encourages us to celebrate Easter or the Resurrection in its true sense, Christ was our prototype in that sense. When you face some adverse condition today, remember don't limit your identity to only what is physical and tangible reality, proclaim your I am, you are divine being, realize this and once you realize this you can overcome any obstacle that you face now, that's resurrection in true sense! 

Celebrate Today- Facing Adversity

Turbulent times bring the best in great people. What is inside is given a way to come out when we face adversity. Good Friday commemorates the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. When the world around him was  at their worst, Christ was at his best even when he hung on nails on the cross! Look at his words, "Father forgive them...", "Today you shall be with me in paradise", "Father into thy hands..."

Why couldn't adversity shake Jesus? The truth is Christ's perspective was subjective rather than objective. In simple words, he was more focused on working inside rather than looking what he faced outside. That's the hallmark of all great people of the world. The inner re-engineering is more important than complaining and whining and hitting out at the situations outside. Work on the inside first and you will find that you will emerge better and stronger person which will in turn have repercussions outside. Let me end with the very wise words of Stephen Covey, "Anytime you think the problem is outside; the thought is the problem." 

Celebrate Today- Bounce back!

I remember some author say it so well, "There are no failures; only lessons!". I used to watch this T.V. serial on Drug Addiction. A youth gets into college and bad company, does drugs, his life is totally destroyed, so is his family. He has problems all around and to top it now his health which is totally dependent on drugs. He wants to escape from his problems and take a train to the last station in India. He reaches there after days of journey, alights and finds another youth like him. He asks, "Is this the last station of India?" The wise youth replies, "It is as you see, from the other end which you came it is the last, from this end it is the first." Those words still hit me hard when I feel it is the end of the road. I take courage in the words which tell me to change my perspective and make a new beginning. Friends, are you encountering some failures, don't give up, change your outlook, start again. Failures aren't final and finally if you bounce back you aren't a failure. Celebrate Today, bounce back! 

Celebrate Today- Throw you heart over the bar...

A high jumper who used to hold the world record in the past for clearing a bar of 7 feet, 4 inches was asked, how he could jump over a bar that was way to high over his height. He replied, "I throw my heart over the bar and my body follows" Friends, successful people do just that which we need to learn from. 'Throw you heart in whatever you do. It may be studies, job, business, relations etc. and you will soon find that your body though unwilling will follow and adapt. You will master something that seemed impossible. That's why we have world records in sports, inventions to make our lives more facilitating, people scaling mountains. So what are you doing today? Celebrate Today by throwing your heart over the bar and ...
You got it!

Joy be all yours.

Celebrate Today- Fill your cup with love!

Many times we fight against the negative forces. We try to push hard against hatred, jealousy, anger and other ills of life. The more we do so, the more we empower them for now our focus is more on the negative things and their power over our lives. When a glass is filled with muddy water and you desire clear and clean water, what do you do? You take clean water and keep pouring till the muddy water overflows out of the glass and the glass is again filled with the clean water! You don't fight against the muddy or go on struggling to locate the mud and how it go there. The law says the glass cannot be empty if you fill it with muddy water or clean water, it has to be occupied with something. If you fill it half the other half would be filled with gases. So our duty is to keep on pouring the things we desire! Pour in love and hatred will run out, pour in confidence and fear will take flight, pour in joy and sorrow will be shown the door. So don't struggle keep pouring your cup of life with love, joy, peace and goodness and you don't have to worry of the negative forces for they will have no room to occupy your life. So celebrate today, fill your cup, you know with what.

Celebrate Today- Breath is Life!

"When the breath wanders the mind is also unsteady. But when the breath is calm, the mind too will be still, and the yogi achieves long life.Therefore one should learn to control the breath. Svatmarama. This is a wonderful quote! We know that Bible talks of God breathing his breath and man and woman coming alive. When a person dies, his breath stops.  Breath is life itself. We many times ignore this. Let us learn to take long deep breathes, we know this when our stomachs move. Everyday when we take time to take deep breathes, we will have an oxygenated cells and better body and a healthy mind. When the breath is  shallow, your mind will be poisoned. Detoxify your whole being, take a deep breath today and continue the practice, remember 'Breath is life of God in you'. 

Celebrate Today! Investing

As I travel to my college campus, I encounter many farms on the way. I many times see some farmers sowing seeds in their farm. If they don't, they won't get the harvest or the harvest they get won't be the desired one! That makes me think we are all sowing seeds at our home, workplace, relations etc. The quality of investing or sowing will decide the outcome or the harvest. What types of seeds are we sowing in the following areas, Family, Health, Professional Life, Spiritual Life, Finance, Security, Relations with Friends, Relatives, Colleagues, Superiors, Juniors.

Friends, What you sow is what you reap. If we sow good seeds, seeds of proactive behavior, love, kindness, joy, empathy, care, empathetic listening, understanding then we will reap the harvest of Satisfaction, happiness, Security, good health, good relations, progress in job, love and appreciation. Let's know everyday we have to sow the desired seeds or we will get an harvest that would be undesirable!

Celebrate Today! The Art of Thanksgiving

It is amazing what two words if said from bottom of our hearts can do. 'Thank you' the words are simple and even a cliche to many because we underestimate their power and use it as formality. Today I would like to encourage you to say them as you meant it from your heart, 'Thank you'. As I get up in the morning I have millions of reasons to thank the Almighty. Thank you God for the good night rest, thank you for the new day, thank you for my breath, thank you for the water to bathe, thank you for my wife, my daughter and their love. Thank you for my parents and my siblings and their support. Thank you for my job, thank you for the transport that takes me to and fro. Thank you for my boss, superiors, colleagues, juniors and all at work place. Thank you for the challenges I face today for they make me strong. Thank you for the unfavorable circumstances surrounding me for you trust me to overcome them. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Thank you for your goodness and mercy carries me through. Thank you, Thank you...! 

Celebrate Today! What do I do?

The weekend is here! I long to be with my family and especially my two year daughter, Jemimah! I have a 3 days break as Monday happens to be one of the major Indian festivals. I look forward to spend time with my family and relax!
But then my seniors at the college where I work want me to come during the weekend as our College Annual function is due. We have extra work to be done to prepare ourselves for it. What do I do?
Well, I find a midway! I tell the authorities that I would be there after completing some of my home duties early in the morning. While doing my duties like getting the cooking gas, doing the bank work, I take my daughter with me, so I can spend some time with her as she enjoys my company and longs to be with me. I finish these duties, promise my wife to go out with them in the evening (my wife is very supportive) and then I dash off to the college where I will try to complete the extra work sitting with my seniors.
The point I am making is this, in every given circumstances we have choice, and on our choices depends our destiny. When I give my extra to the workplace, the seniors would realize my importance and it will establish my good will and way for progress at the workplace but while doing this I also take care not to hamper my family life. I make sure to spend whatever time I can with them.

Friends as Jack Canfield says Event + Response = Outcome. So next time don't react but respond intelligently to situations or events you face. Take Responsibility and responsibility is nothing but our ability to choose our response!  Happy Weekend! 

Celebrate Today! Walking over the waves

Our mind when calm is very much like the peaceful waters. When the water is peaceful, you can safely sail over it to get to your destination. But when the mind is turbulent like the troubled waves, then it takes you and throw you where it wills. Though I respect turbulent times as they saying goes, "Calm waters never made skillful sailors." But mastering the waves is a skill and so is mastering your mind. When you learn to quieten your mind, you are on a higher frequency, closer to the intelligence and leading of your Sub-conscious mind. A calm mind makes you master over yourself while a troubled mind will master you and lead you waywardly.
How do we calm our minds? Take regular Quiet Time in the morning, read something inspirational, practice deep breathing and meditation, listen to soft music, wander early in the midst of nature and just admire the beauty around you. Great people like Jesus did miracles like walking on water, that was the picture of his mind so calm and connected to God that he was a Master over himself. So the question arises, Do we choose to master ourselves today or be the slaves of our mind's whims and fancies? Here's a great saying from the Bible,

"One who conquers himself is better than one who conquers cities." Quieten your mind, master it, be a conqueror!

The Ten Commandments Interpreted

Introduction: The Ten Commandments are immutable laws that when followed would lead one to the path of joy, fulfillment and success. The Church has interpreted the commandments focusing more on God and human relation to God. That’s very true and we need to adhere to the teaching. But here I present the other Metaphysical interpretation of the laws.

1.      You shall have no other gods before Yahweh.

Don’t make others god, God dwells in you, in I am, respecting yourself is respecting God your Creator.

2.      You shall not make any idols.

Don’t idolize others, remember it’s good to be motivated by successful people but inspiration comes from within and you can be successful too. Don’t give your strength and power to others. God prefers you to be original, he doesn’t want you to be a clone.

3.      Don’t take the name of Yahweh in vain.

Don’t use negative connotations with ‘I am’ e.g. I am worthless, I am failure etc…. Doing this is disrespecting your Creator who made you in his image and worth.

4.      Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

Give one day to yourself, Six days you work for your organization, your family’s well being. But one day you got to keep for yourself. Love, cuddle and rejuvenate yourself.

5.      Honor your father and mother.

Know that your parents brought you forth they are in a sense responsible for your creation, respect them, dishonoring them is dishonoring the law of sowing and reaping and the harvest. Know you are in the right family, at the right time and place. Don’t blame or regret your past, respect and be grateful for it.

6.      Do not murder.

Creation is of God, and we are co-creators meant to create not destroy God’s, our own or other’s creation.

7.      Do not commit adultery.

What you have is admirable and beautiful. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Learn to appreciate the beauty in the person God has given as yours.

8.      Do not steal.

Steal is losing originality in creation that God has bestowed in each one of us. You don’t need to steal, you can create better things by learning, envisioning and positive actions.

9.      Do not lie.

Don’t use negative words that depreciate. When you say, ‘I am not worthy’ , ‘I can’t’ ‘The situation or person is hopeless’, you are lying. Look again with God’s eyes and change your language to positive one.

10.  Do not covet.

‘You get not what you want or covet but what you are’ You don’t have to look at what others have and covet. When you focus on ‘want’, you get ‘want’. Know God in you has fulfilled all your needs, already. Let your focus be on ‘I am’.

Conclusion: Cecil B.D. Mille the Director of ‘The Ten Commandments’ movie said, ‘These laws are immutable in a sense that a person cannot break them and will only succeed breaking himself or herself in the process of trying so.” That’s true, they are universal and found in the Bible and even in other religious scriptures of the world. Remember if we truly live by the commandments, the commandments will truly help us to live. 

Celebrate Today! What's in a name?

What's in a name? You know these words by the famous Dramatist of all times, Shakespeare. I would prefer to differ and say that the way we name things or people means everything. We should be careful how we name things, people or circumstances for that matter. Many times the tendency is to name with a high intensity toward the negative. So when you try something and fail you may call yourself 'hopeless', or facing a seeming crises you may shout, 'I am done for!' You may call your child who does some mistake as 'donkey'. Friends, words have power to make or break!
Today try to nominate things you encounter with better option, instead of 'difficulty' call it 'challenge' or even 'opportunity', instead of 'wrong' call it 'different from the given standard', instead of 'I am okay' say 'I am doing great.' Instead of saying to somebody 'you are wrong',  say 'you are different from the given standard.' Your words will have power to govern over your life, somebody else's life or even govern the situation you are facing. It will make you feel better, make you  believe in your ability and most important impart joy and life to others and help you turn around the situation in your favor.

Celebrate Today- Choose your life!

Today we have a choice and that is going to decide the outcome of our day. We have a choice to be happy or sad, to be have thougths that are healthy, joyous, blessed and encouraging or the choice is to have thoughts that are ill, depressing, cursed and discouraging. As you wake up from your bed, as you sit for your breakfast, as you speak with your spouse, friends, colleagues and superiors you will always have this choice at your disposal. If the external stimuli from the circumstances and people around you is negative, you have a choice to accept it and spoil your day or you can choose to respond differently by your commitment to happiness, love, blessings and health.

Remember this is a universe of vibrations. You have the higher frequecny of blessedness and the lower of cursedness. You connect to the frequencies by your thoughts. What thoughts are you choosing today? What is your frequency? How is your day today? Remember you have the power to change and influence your day! Choose life today. Celebrate!

Thank God it's Monday!

Hello Friends,

The weekend is over and Monday is here! Many of us will crib about it. A research says that people are most happy on Fridays as the weekend approaches and that leaves with the inference that many people are most discouraged on Monday! Why are we discouraged, is it because we have to go back to work or school, because we have to do what our bosses and teachers tell us or is it because we have decided to be unhappy on Mondays? You will be surprised to know that the last option holds more true than the former two. We have decided to be unhappy and that's why we are unhappy on Mondays and the same holds true on Fridays, we decide to be happy and so we become happy! What happens if your boss gives you a good news that you are promoted when you go to the office on Monday? Won't your demeanor change? or on a Friday, you were told that the dinner party arranged at your friend's home is cancelled, won't that spoil your weekend?

External stimuli will have little power over us if we change our responses to it. Despite being Monday when I decide to be thankful to God for showing me another day and thank him for my job or school and decide to give my best shot at work and go with that attitude, happiness will overtake me. So the challenge is, change your response and your outcome will change! It's Monday, thank God, it is! Smile, step out with a heart of gratitude and serenade along the journey you take on today! 

Celebrate Today!

Life is all about celebrations! We celebrate when a new life enters this planet earth. We celebrate the completion of every year in our lives. We celebrate at a friend's marriage, we celebrate our political party's victory, moreover, we celebrate Christmas, Diwali, Id, New Year and other festivities. But do we always need a reason outside to celebrate? That would mean our celebrations are limited to external forces.
What I am trying to tell you is to celebrate today! In whatever place, situation and time you are in it is a moment to celebrate! Well Am I telling you something that's illogical? No, look at you! Celebrate yourself as a child of God! Celebrate that you are alive, celebrate that you have school to go to! Celebrate that you have a job! Celebrate that you have a family! Celebrate that your breath has not stopped! Celebrate that you still can change the situation around you, if you wish to do so!

So what's stopping you! Sing, Dance, Shout! don't worry about others. Celebrations should be inspired from within and carried outside. It's not the other way round. Be proactive!  Celebrate your life and you will have more reasons to celebrate.
Sohan. 

The Garden of Eden

In the Bible, in the 2nd and 3rd chapter of Genesis, we have the story of the first man Adam, and his wife Eve, in the Garden of Eden. God created this Garden with plenty of lush, greenery and trees bearing all kinds of fruits and placed the couple to enjoy the fruits of the garden. He had given them all the freedom except, to eat from the ‘Tree of knowledge’. The story goes on to tell how man and the woman fell from obeying the command when tempted by the Serpent who symbolises the devil and sinned against God. Consequently they were driven out of the garden and also were prevented to come again in the garden or to have access to another tree, ‘The tree of Life’ which was now guarded by a guardian angel.

 Many Biblical students, scholars and the Christian people around the world take the story to be literal. They believe in the Eden Garden as a real physical place somewhere on the face of the earth. Sin of human is a popular theme with the Christian church which culminates in happy ending with the coming of Son of God, Jesus on the earth who lived on this earth, taught the love of God to humanity and sacrificed his life on the cross for all. Human relation with the Divine is restored through this act of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and they regain the lost paradise, the Garden of Eden in Christ. While all this is true, but the story of Garden of Eden has deeper meaning which appears different on the surface but below stores wealth of wisdom, enlightenment and bliss. Let’s explore it in a new angle.

 What is the Garden of Eden? : The Garden of Eden is the Sub-conscious mind of human being! We all are aware of the conscious mind that is awake and works on the basis of our senses and logic. We also know that we have the subconscious mind, which runs on the basis of what is fed to it through our conscious mind. The subconscious mind rather plays a major role in carving out our beliefs, personality and character. Even when you are sleeping, the subconscious mind is working to keep your heart beats intact, it controls your blood flow and it is this mind that brings about the wonderful healing in your body when you are injured or sick. It is here that you get those hunches and that eureka feeling many times when you quieten your conscious mind, it is taken to be the place where the Divine connects to human and human to Divine. Garden of Eden was made by God says the Bible and your subconscious is made by God. There were many fruit bearing trees in this garden and that exactly figuratively tells the function of the subconscious mind. Our life bears fruits bad or good on the basis of what is fed to the subconscious mind and emotionalized. Friends if you believe something with your conscious mind to be true and emotionalise the belief with your feelings it goes in your subconscious mind and produces the exact situation or event. When someone sits under a fan believing that it is going to make him sick and he is going to catch cold, the subconscious mind is fed with the message and produces the exact symptoms in him. The person now is really sick! Many wonderful healings around the world are witnessed due to this same principle. If a person believes that he is going to be healed of an ailment and emotionalises the feeling, his subconscious mind will accept the command and bring about the healing! The Garden of Eden was giving fruits of all kinds, so is your subconscious mind bearing fruits of healing-sickness, joy-unhappiness, richness-poverty with what you are feeding it. The seeds that you plant through your conscious mind are important and that is why Jesus said, ‘You can’t gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles’ In pre-fall stage Humans were directly connected to this wonderful channel of Divinity, the subconscious mind and so everything in the garden of Eden was easy, blissful and plenty.

 What is the Tree of Knowledge? : God wanted human to have easy access to his plenty through the principles of working on subconscious mind, but he had created man in his own image and he knew he had to caution him against going by conscious mind. The conscious mind is pictured in the Tree of Knowledge in the story of the Garden of Eden. This was the tree that God forbade human eat fruits from. God has made everything easy for access through the working of the subconscious, the subconscious works on the principle of Faith. The conscious on the other hand works on the principle of logic and doubt. I don’t deny the good use of conscious mind that this world has witnessed. Friends, doubt prevents us from many miracle moments in our life. We usually go the hard way like Adam and Eve had now to toil and sweat to earn their bread after they gave the conscious mind the dominance. Human beings are under this curse that the Bible talks about, we believe and hear only our conscious mind and that’s why our life produces the same results of lack, disbelief, fear and unhappiness. I don’t say the conscious mind is evil, but it is limited from the wisdom of God. Human beings made the sub conscious mind the slave to conscious mind when as per God’s plan it should have been exactly the opposite. The serpent who is usually symbolizing the devil is nothing but the element of doubt and fear in our conscious minds. When human beings were driven out of the Garden of Eden and a guardian angel was placed near the ‘Tree of Life’ it is a symbol of human now having no easy access to the wonders of subconscious mind and the consequent life in abundance that it results into.

 Where does Jesus fit in all this? : Jesus came as the prototype of what is expected of human, which is why the Bible also refers to him as the ‘Second Adam’. What was expected of Adam, Jesus fulfilled through is life. He worked on the principles of this subconscious mind and was open to the Divine, his Father’s wisdom all the time. The many miracles and healings he performed were surprising to the common conscious mind but to him they were a cake-walk as he was connected to his Father, through the working of Subconscious mind. Now the favourite question, why did he have to die? The first reason is obvious that Jesus was condemned by the Jews and Roman authorities for blasphemy i.e. calling and making himself the Son of God. The second and most important reason is that Jesus was called as Son of God and Son of Man for a reason, when you are driven by the principle of your Subconscious mind working, you become like Jesus, divinely connected to your heavenly father and other times you are like Adam when you are running on the limited conscious mind, you are Son of Man. So the point is the Son of Man had to die to resurrect as Son of God. Your conscious mind has to be sacrificed to resurrect and witness the wonders and working of Sub conscious mind in your life! That is real salvation, when you stop being Adam, the Son of Man and become resurrected as Jesus, the Son of God, divinely connected.

 Conclusion: Friends, let us awaken to this truth that is found not just in the Bible but in all the religious scriptures. Till we are alive, we will live with our conscious mind more active but now we know the truth and if we allow good thoughts, thoughts of love, healing, bliss to enter our minds, the subconscious mind will produce the same and then we will experience paradise on earth, the very Garden of Eden opening its door again to realise ‘Paradise Regained’. Sohan.