“In a bitter world, one drop of true love is an ocean in the desert.”
Love is indeed the most powerful force. It can take us to great heights and leave us light and airy. Yet it has been the most abused and misused force. Many degraded things pass for love.
There is a popular song which states that “What the world needs now is love – sweet love”. What the world actually needs is an accurate and a correct understanding of love. True love is based on understanding, mutual trust and respect, not simply on emotions.
Love is being in balance; that is, in harmony with the self, God and our fellow men. Love is selflessness. Love is not an emotional state confined to whims and fancies, but a transcendent state of consciousness which goes beyond the bodily forms. Love has nothing to do with bodies; love dwells in the soul.
We must allow our love to flow out and around us. By allowing our love to flow, we become moistened and remain forever fresh, attractive and healthy. Without love, all of life’s treasures are locked away from our vision and experiences, for indeed “Love is the key”.
Today we celebrate international literacy day and I have some thoughts on this day. There is significant difference between education and literacy I was thinking about. As per the meaning a person is literate who knows how to read and write. On the other hand a person may or may not be educated who is literate. By education we don’t mean degrees on papers but the entire system of upbringing that makes a person future ready. Education reflects in the behaviour and day to day activities of a person. An well educated person stands out in the crowd and can be easily recognised among masses.
International Literacy Day 2020 focuses on “Literacy teaching and learning in the Covid-19 crisis”.
It may seem almost useless to talk about peace when all around us we see a continued state of ‘peacelessness’. It is this state that forces on us the necessity of finding our own source of peace to draw upon and live from.
Consider the flowers. They too live in this peaceless environment. They too have to endure the pollution and decay of the world of nature. Yet, wherever they found – by the congested road side, near the swamps, in the desert, amid the thorns and sometimes even on the dung hill – they are eternally beautiful, gay and fragrant. It is not by chance that flowers are given for every occasion, even the most sorrowful. Flowers call forth images of peace and tranquility. It is their nature.
We are also like flowers. We are the flowers of the garden of God. In this worldwide garden of everyday hustle and bustle, we too are threatened with pollution and degraded circumstances. Being flowers, we are expected to live in our natural state of peace and spread our fragrance all around us.
When we realise that the original nature of our soul is that of peace, we can combine with God who is the Ocean of Peace and so become the embodiment of peace…a living, thinking flower.
One day, when they were sitting together the old lady said: “I wish you could buy me a comb, so I could comb my hair.
It is very hard to keep my long hair neat without combing it. It is very messy and doesn’t look good at all.”
The old man sighed loudly and replied: “My dear, I am so sorry that I was not able to buy you a comb. I don’t even have money to buy a wrist band for my watch. It’s been ripped for a long time.”
The old woman smiled and kept quiet.
That night the couple stayed silent for a long time and didn’t sleep well.
The next day after work the old man took his watch to several shops to sell.
Thrift stores rejected him and said that it didn’t worth…
Bliss is the happiness beyond the senses. Beyond the laughter, the merriment. Away from the sways of the joys I have known. Not lost in the gentle pulls of the winds, nor using the eyes to see that which lightens and brightens, not using the ears to be hypnotized by the musicale manifique, and not using the mouth to taste the sweetness of the first fruit of the season.
Rather, sitting alone with myself; quietly… silently… thoughts turned within. Listening to the sound of silence. Then, thoughts turned beyond the physical, in tune with the spiritual – the peaceful, the pure. Few thoughts….. the union with my Father, the blissful one; experiencing His peace being peaceful; experiencing His love-being loveful; experiencing His bliss-being blissful.
To the world, the murderer condemned to die has no mercy. To the murderer, the world has no mercy; and so the long, strong chain of man’s inhumanity to man continues. It is the story of man judging his fellow-man and extracting what he thinks is the price to be paid for an action…non-action. There is always a price to pay.
Now a days, it is felt that to show mercy is a sign of weakness in character. Not true. Rather it is a sign of great strength, vision and wisdom. To be merciful is to show an accurate understanding of the situations in life which go way beyond the facts and evidences as they are presented visibly.
To be merciful indicates an elevated consciousness, so high, that in spite of the disparities and bad actions, we can have the strength to say “I understand and I forgive”.
“The princess among us are those who forget themselves and serve mankind”
In India we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan as Teachers’ day every year. It’s a coincidence this year we celebrate ‘Vinayaka Chaturthi’ too today across India. Lord Vinayaka/Ganapati is the god of Buddhi (wisdom), Riddhi(prosperity) and Siddhi(attainment) according to Indian mythology.
On this Teacher’s day, a very nice thought came to my mind. Who is our first teacher? I think it’s our mother.
It feels very satisfying when a mother says I will learn again with my kid as I forgot few basics. What does it mean? I think it’s a very positive approach towards life. I came to learn this during an interaction earlier. It can reignite the passion in you and motivate your kid as well. This is an win-win situation for all in society when both can act as teacher and student for one another.
Sharing few quotations by eminent personalities to remember on this auspicious day.
“Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, caliber, and future of an individual. If the people remember me as a good teacher that will be the biggest honor for me.” – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression & knowledge.” – Albert Einstein
“Education is the manifestation of perfection already in man.” – Swami Vivekananda
“I have always felt that the true text-book for the pupil is his teacher.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Teachers are the most responsible and important members of society because their professional efforts affect the fate of the earth.” – Helen Caldicott
“Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.” – Bill Gates
“The true teachers are those who help us think for ourselves.” – Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela
“Good teachers know how to bring out the best in students.” – Charles Kuralt
“One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.” – Malala Yousafzai
“The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds to satisfy it afterward.” – Anatole France
“Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.” – Aristotle
“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.” – Mark Van Doren
“I’m not a teacher: only a fellow traveler of whom you asked the way. I pointed ahead- ahead of myself as well as you.” – George Bernard Shaw
“There are two kinds of teachers: the kind that fills you with so much quail shot that you can’t move, and the kind that just gives you a little prod behind and you jump to the skies.” – Robert Frost
“If you were successful somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.” – Barack Obama
“The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth.” – Dan Rather
“Good teaching must be slow enough so that it is not confusing, and fast enough so that it is not boring.”- Sydney J. Harris
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” – Henry Brooks Adams
“The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.” – Khalil Gibran
“Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.” – William Wordsworth
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” – William Arthur Ward.
“A good teacher must be able to put himself in the place of those who find learning hard.” – Eliphas Levi.
“One good teacher in a lifetime may sometimes change a delinquent into a solid citizen.” – Philip Wylie.
We were once all peaceful and pure, but what does being pure mean, and how did we act? Impurities are chains that bind, devil’s that make us vicious, and snakes that make us so senseless, it is as if we are asleep, ignorant, unconscious. Purity sets us free. It gives us the keys to knowledge, peace, happy, power and God.
Purity is so precious, so rare, so powerful, we have to die for it. We have to destroy the old self, the old vices that are so much a part of us. Lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego – to name five.
Purity’s light is such that we are not confined by boundaries of colour, sex, race, religious beliefs, etc but we can see far beyond and experience each and every human being as our brother. It’s might is such that fires of passion, anger and vices are extinguished and in its place pure cool love glows. It is right that we can come really close to God.
Education is essential in order to make a living in this physical world, but in order to make living a success, in order to experience every moment of life as new, every day as a day of upliftment and blessing, and to have lasting peace, firstly, knowledge of self is of utmost importance.
“Know thyself” we are told; and to this end many an orphan has made his long and arduous search to find or even to come across just the slightest trace of his physical parents. Furthermore, men have travelled far and wide amidst strange faces and in far distant places in an extremely costly search for their roots.
Today, however, the children of the world have become orphans. They have forgotten their father and have forgotten themselves. Knowledge of the self is an immortal, spiritual being, is Truth.
To delve into spiritual matters and experience the self and the Spiritual Father, God, the Highest on High, is indeed the highest education. God is the Ocean of Knowledge and knowing God, we can come to know everything.
B +Ve!! 
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