PERFECTION TO ITS BEST

PERFECTION TO ITS BEST

 

Baba said, "You do your duty, don't be afraid in the least, steady your mind and have faith." – Sri Sai Satcharitra, Ch. 3

 

Warren Buffett, the American investor and the richest man on this planet, off and on recently said, "I don't hold myself to a standard of perfection, or I would have committed suicide a long time ago."

 

That gives us the point that nobody is perfect and perhaps one can only aspire to be perfect. No doubt, it is a good idea to try for perfection, but one must know the art of compromise.

 

As they say, life itself is a great compromise. To remain in sanity, the essential message that Buffett gives us to realize that one can't be always the winning horse. Accept and analyze your failures so that the next bid becomes a shade easier. Realize that you have to emerge stronger after a failure. Only then one can hope to carry on without falling a prey to frustration and depression as a result of not attaining perfection.

 

Big goals come with big risks and only the fearless and visionary can surmount the obstacles. One must realize that success is not perfection; it has its own pangs and might drag you further down. There is always a possibility of many failings in one's success. That is why T S Eliot had said, "Success is always relative, it is what we can make of the mess we have made of things."

 

Do what you can best, but never get into a 'mood swing' if things don't go as you had planned. You will always get a second chance and more. Keep in mind what William James had said, "The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook."

 

Your success is measured in your ability come out of failures and turns them into success. If you fail, at times, it need not be because of your shortcomings; there are always several external factors working for or against you.

HOW TO SPEND MONEY WISELY?

HOW TO SPEND MONEY WISELY?

"Give with faith, give with magnanimity, i.e. liberally, give with modesty, with awe and with sympathy. In order to teach the devotees the lesson of charity and to remove their attachment to money and thus to purify their minds." – Sri Sai Satcharitra Ch. 14.

Birbal's wisdom was unmatchable in the whole of the Empire of Akbar's empire. But Akbar's brother-in-law was extremely jealous of him. He asked the Emperor to dispense with Birbal's services and appoint him in his place, for he would be more efficient and capable than Birbal. Before Akbar could take a decision on this, the news reached Birbal.

 

Birbal resigned and left. Akbar's brother-in-law was made the minister in place of Birbal. Akbar decided to test the new minister. He gave 300 gold coins to him and said, "Spend these gold coins on such a way, that I get a 100 gold coins here in this life, a 100 gold coins in the other world and another 100 gold coins neither here nor there."

 

The minister was confused. He spent sleepless nights worrying over how he would  get himself out of this mess. He was going crazy. Eventually, on the advice of his wife, he sought Birbal's help. Birbal said, "Just give me the gold coins, I shall handle the rest."

 

Birbal walked the streets of the city holding the bag of gold coins in his hand. He noticed a rich merchant celebrating his son's wedding. Birbal gave a 100 gold coins to him and bowed courteously saying, "The Emperor Akbar sends you his good wishes and blessing for the wedding of your son. Please accept the gift he has sent." The merchant felt honoured that the king had sent a special messenger with a precious gift. He honoured Birbal and gave him a large number of expensive gifts and a bag of gold coins as a return gift to the king.

 

Next, Birbal went to the area of the city where the poor lived. He bought food and clothing in exchange for a 100 gold coins and distributed them in the name of the Emperor. When he came back to town, he organized a music and dance party. He spent a 100 gold coins on it.

 

The next day, Birbal entered Akbar's darbar and announced that he had done all that the king had asked his brother-in-law to do: "The money I gave to the merchant for the wedding for his son you will get back while on this earth. The money I spent on the poor, you will get in the other world. The money I spent on the music concert, you will get neither here nor there."

 

 

 

POWER OF POSITIVE PRESENTATION

POWER OF POSITIVE PRESENTATION

"If they are kept in mind and acted upon, they will always do you good." – Sri Sai Satcharitra, Ch. 18, 19.

 

In 1982, University of Wisconsin researchers who were conducting a study of the adult-learning process videotaped two bowling teams during several games. The members of each team then studied their efforts on video to improve their skills. But the two videos had been edited differently.

 

One team received a video showing only its mistakes; the other team's video, by contrast, showed only the good performances.

 

After studying the videos, both teams improved their game, but the team that studied its successes improved its score twice as much as the one that studied its mistakes. Evidently, focusing on the errors can generate feelings of fatigue, blame, and resistance.

 

Emphasizing what works well and discussing how to get more out of those strengths taps into creativity, passion, and the desire to succeed.

 

The Will of God for Our Own Good

The Will of God for Our Own Good

 

Baba said, "I am the Controller - the wirepuller of the show of this Universe." – Sri Sai Satcharitra, Ch. 3

 

Once God commanded his messenger (an angel), "Proceed to Coimbatore immediately. The life of a middle-aged woman is coming to an end. Bring that soul (jiva) here." The messenger as bid by the Lord left for Coimbatore. On reaching the place, the angel was stunned at the sight that awaited!

There, in an old dilapidated small cottage the angel saw a poor young woman lying unconscious in a pool of blood. She had given birth to three baby girls only an hour earlier. One child was feeding from its mother while the other two were lying on either side of their mother.

The scene touched the heart of the angel. Tears welled up in the angel's eyes and it was angry at God for having asked it to take away the life of the young woman. It thought, "Oh! How could God be so cruel? Unaware of the situation in its entirety, He goes about giving commands. If I obey His command now, what will happen to these baby girls? If the woman's life is spared for another 10 years, these girls will grow up and might be able to support their lives by some means. How could God do this without thinking of these? Oh! I can't take away the life of this woman so mercilessly! I am not concerned about the anger of God that I might incur by disobeying His commands. I am not going to do this." Deciding thus, the angel went empty handed to God.

It begged God to spare the life of the lady and add 10 more years to her life. The Lord smiled at the angel and said, "It is I who have appointed you as the angel. Your job is to take away the life of the human beings once their lifetime ends. And that's it! I have blessed you with the required skills on my own accord. From your words I gather that you believe yourself to be endowed with more intelligence and compassion than Me, the Supreme Being. You dare to teach me how to manage the world that I have created by my will! You have to suffer the punishment for disobeying my orders. I punish you to lead a life of an ordinary human being in the same city of Coimbatore. You will remain there until you laugh at yourself twice for your foolish behavior!"

And Lo! The next moment the angel took a human form and was standing in the Coimbatore Gandhipuram without appropriate clothes to cover its body. It was the month of January and was cold outside. The angel stood there shivering with cold. A cobbler who was passing by took pity on the angel, bought clothes and gave them to the shivering angel. The angel thanked him and said, "I do not have any place to stay either. I will be very grateful if you give me shelter." The cobbler said, Don't worry! Now that we are friends, you can stay with me at my place.

But I warn you, my wife is very short tempered and one cannot prejudge her action when she gets angry. She will not stop from even throwing vessels. If that is ok, you can come". The angel nodded and followed the cobbler home.

When the wife of cobbler got to know that he had bought clothes for the angel with the money meant for buying clothes for the kids her anger knew no bounds! She started cursing the cobbler and started throwing vessels at them. The angel was also badly hurt. The angel laughed at its foolishness for the first time, for ignoring the warning of its friend!

From that day, the angel helped the cobbler in making sandals. The angel designed various shoes imitating the ones it had seen in heaven. The shop soon became very famous for its fabulous and rare shoe designs. Thus, 12 years rolled by.

One day the angel was standing in front of a cloth store. At that time it saw a rich old lady getting down from an expensive car. Three beautiful young women followed her. The angel noticed that the three of them had a trident shaped mole in their right cheek. The angel immediately recognized them to be the children of the lady, whose life God had ordered to take away 12 years ago.

The angel went to the old lady and enquired if these girls were really her children. The old lady replied "Not really! About 12 years back, I was going in my car near Gandhipuram. I suddenly happened to hear the cry of kids. I went to the hut from where the cry of the children was heard and found these three baby girls lying with their dead mother. I had lost my husband and had no children. I adopted these three kids legally. I have educated them well and they are the sole heirs to my entire property."

The angel was dumb-founded. It thought, "Oh! How very foolish of me to have analyzed the orders of the all-knowing God with my small little brain! If that Lady had not died then, would these kids be leading such a happy and rich life now?" And for the second time it laughed at itself for its foolishness!

With the iota of brain and intelligence that God has blessed us with, we dare to question the very actions of omniscient Lord!

Only God should bless us with the realization that all that happens is by the will of God and it is indeed for our own good!

A Big Feast to a Saint

A Big Feast to a Saint

 

"He who gives food to the poor and hungry, is the best donor or charitable person." – Shri Sai Satcharitra Ch 38

 

A holy man of God was once invited by a wealthy merchant to come and have lunch at his new house. When the saint arrived at the gates of his palatial residence, he was driven away by the guards who thought he was a beggar.

 

A few minutes later, the holy man returned, wrapped up in an  expensive silk and gold shawl. This attire gained him instant admittance into the merchant's house.

 

"Your servants would not let me enter the house when I came in my ochre robes," the saint remarked to the merchant. "That is only natural Swamiji," said the merchant smilingly. "The elite of the town are present here today, and it is entirely proper that they should see you at your best!. Now they know that you are a force ro reckon with, a grand, impressive figure in that resplendent shawl!"

 

The saint smiled, and did not utter a word in reply.

 

When they were seated at the table, a grand feast was laid before them. The wealthy guests began to eat hastily. They did not want to miss out on any of the delicious dishes offered to them.

 

As for the saint, he quietly took away the shawl that covered him. Underneath, he still wore his ochre robes. He laid the shawl on the table, and began to put food on it. Hot, steaming vegetables, creamy kheer, fragrant rice, soft rotis, luscious mithai and deserts – everything was heaped on to the shawl.

 

"Swamiji!" thundered his host, red-faced with anger. "What are you doing?"

 

"My friend, I realize that I am not the guest you invited to dine with you," the saint replied. "When I came in my own person, I was refused admittance. It is this shawl which made you welcome me and seat me at this table with your honoured guests. And so, it is this shawl which is your guest, and it is this shawl which should be the real recipient of your lavish hospitality. As for the real me in my poor ochre robes – I not deserve to eat anything at your grand feast!"

 

What a small creature can do - Why Can't We?

Baba said, "First give bread to the hungry, and then eat yourself." - Sri Sai Satcharitra, Ch. 9.

This is a true story that happened in Japan.

Once, in order to renovate his house, the house owner broke open the wall. Japanese houses normally have a hollow space in between the wooden walls. While tearing down the walls, he found that there was a live lizard stuck on the wall because a nail from outside had hammered into one of its feet.

He saw this, felt pity, and at the same time he was very curious as to how it had survived, as upon checking the nail he realized that it was nailed 5 years ago when the house was first built!!!

What had happened? The lizard had survived in such position for 5 years that too in a dark wall partition without moving, it is impossible and mind-boggling.

How could it survive for 5 years without moving a single step--since its foot was nailed! So he stopped his work and observed the lizard, what it had been doing, and how it had been eating.

After waiting for some time, he was awestruck to see another lizard from don't know where it came, with food in its mouth. Ah! He was stunned and touched deeply.

This caring lizard had been feeding the nailed lizard for the past 5 years!!!

What is amazing is that it has been doing that untiringly for 5 long years, without giving up hope on its partner.

When a lizard can do it, why cant we?

Reflection

Imagine what a small creature can do, that we humans blessed with such a brilliant mind may not do all the time.

The life saving lizard has taught us never to abandon our loved ones in whatever situation – be it our elderly grandparents crippled with age or our parents who have given us their life and soul to bring us up. We should also try and help the handicapped, needy and other less privileged lives we come across in our day to day life.

The lizard has taught us never to say we are busy when we are needed by others especially our near and dear ones, as we may have the entire world at our feet but we might be the only world to them!

A moment of negligence might break the very heart which loves us through all odds.

Before we say something to our loved ones let us remember that it takes only a moment to break other's heart but an entire lifetime to make!

TRY TO BE HERE AND NOW

TRY TO BE HERE AND NOW

 

A travelling group of foreigners, much interested in spiritual matters, visited during their stay in Japan the Zen Master Fudushi. Much impressed by his strong vibration, his equanimity and wisdom, one of the visitors asked him about his secret in attaining his spiritual state.

 

Fudushi answered, "When I sit, I sit: When I stand, I stand: When I go, I go; when I eat, I eat and when I speak, I speak."

 

The visitors were very much surprised by his answer. "That may be all right," they said, but besides that what else are you doing?"

 

They expected to get some unusual answer, something truly secret. For their simple minds could not believe that truth could be so simple and obvious. However, Fudoshi replied again: "I do nothing else. When I sit, I sit, when I stand, I stand, when I go, I go, when I eat, I eat and when I speak, I speak."

 

Then visitors became impatient because Fudushi's answer did not satisfy them. They thought that the Zen Master did not take them seriously, "We are all doing the same thing, but we have not attained Liberation," they retorted.

 

Then Fudushi answered, "No, no, you are all doing everything differently from what I said. When you sit, you think already about getting up, when you get up, you are almost running, when you are running, you are pushing a hot dog between your jaws and while you are swallowing it, you are talking about what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow. You are not where you are. That and only that is your problem."

 

With that Fudushi made it clear what meditation means in the day-to-day life; in everything one does, whether it is sitting, standing, walking, eating, speaking, - in everything the same presence. Here and now.