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Articles

* 2002 Jan 10 : [Great Virtues of the Dhamma]

Nonviolence and us

In our headlong pursuit of the ideal life, people seem to matter the least[list in the source - what is correct?] - sometimes even our own people.  This sets the stage for much of the violence we experience in our daily lives.  Violence, we must understand, is not always physical.  We practice a great deal of passive violence: greed, selfishness, thoughtlessness, prejudice, bigotry, exploitation, suppression, oppression, hate, anger, and so on.  Building a "family tree" of violence, such as the one shown in the Figure, with passive and physical as the two offspring, is a revealing exercise.  This chart should adorn a wall at home so that all family members could participate in researching each act of passive violence committed.  This is an effective way of recognizing our weaknesses and searching for ways to turn them into strengths.

Religion

This is the first and greatest commandment.

People

who are your changemakers? - The Changemakers initiative aims to identify the leading activists, elected officials, authors, bloggers, actors and thought leaders who have the greatest capacity to spark change on issues of importance. - http://www.change.org/changemakers/

Health

* [ChetDay|http://www.chetday.com/]'s Health and Beyond is a great site

Quotations

Eugene Debs: When great changes occur in history, when

great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong. The

[Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples|http://www.barnett.sk/software/osho/askosh71.htm] -- the first thing, the very very first thing, "Find out what your greatest characteristic is, your greatest undoing, your central characteristic of unconsciousness." Each one's is different.

[Helen Keller] : I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.

Looking Back: 14 Years of Tips

Carrying extra film is a good idea. Carrying extra camera batteries is a great idea. Shopping for an obscure size or special film where you do not speak the language is hard.

A journalism teacher from The Daily News admonished our class at Columbia University many years ago, in colorful language, to let it enter our heads once in a great while that we might be wrong. That's a good thought for coping while traveling.

Anant Chaturdashi

The 14th day of the bright half of Bhadrapad is the day of the immersion of Ganpati. On this day some people observe a vow in honour of Vishnu, which if kept for 14 years is supposed to bring wealth. On this day, the festival of Ganpati comes to an end, the installed Murti's of Lord Ganpati are taken to a lake, river or a sea in great processions to be immersed in the waters. Thus Lord Ganesha is departed, only to be welcomed the next year with equal excitement.

Then suddenly an old venerable brahmin appeared before him. He removed the rope from Kaundinya's neck and led him into a cave. At first it was very dark. But then a bright light appeared and they reached a big palace. A great assembly of men and women had gathered. The old brahmin went straight towards the throne. Then Kaundinya could no longer see the brahmin, but only Vishnu instead. Kaundinya realized that Vishnu himself had come to save him, and that Vishnu was Anant, the Eternal One. He confessed his sin in failing to recognize the Eternal in the string on Sushila's hand.

Navaratri

In Bengal, Durga Puja is a great festival. All who live away from home return during the Puja days. Mothers reunite with their sons and daughters, and wives with their husbands.The woman of Bengal welcomes the Goddess with a mother's love and sends away the image on the last day, with every ceremony associated with a daughter's departure to her husband's home and with motherly tears in her eyes. This signifies the parting of Durga from Her beloved mother.

Devi fought with Bhandasura and his forces for nine days and nine nights. This Bhandasura had a wonderful birth and life. When Lord Shiva burnt Cupid with the fire of His "third eye", Sri Ganesha playfully moulded a figure out of the ashes, and the Lord breathed life into it! This was the terrible demon Bhandasura. He engaged himself in great penance and on account of it obtained a boon from Lord Shiva. With the help of that boon, he began harassing the worlds. The Divine Mother fought with him for nine nights (the demons have extraordinary strength during the night), and killed him on the evening of the tenth day, known as the Vijaya Dasami. The learning of any science is begun on this highly auspicious day. It was on this day that Arjuna worshipped Devi, before starting the battle against the Kauravas on the field of Kurukshetra.

Science, Religion and the Big Bang Theory

When you are ill you go to the physician, you don't go to the poet. The poet has no authority; he may be a great poet but that is irrelevant when you are ill. He may be a great poet, but when something goes wrong in your bathroom you don't call him, you call a plumber. The plumber may not be a poet at all, but the plumber is relevant there. You don't call Albert Einstein -- he may be a great physicist, but what does he know about plumbing?

He must have been a man of great humor. He said: "Yes, if it offends you, I declare that whatsoever I have said is wrong -- that the earth does not go around the sun, but the sun goes around the earth."

But religion is very defensive, continuously searching for anything to cling to. The big bang theory says that in a sudden explosion, in a great flash of light, the world was created. Jump on it; you can always find some way, some logical way. You can say: "Yes, this is right, this is what we have been saying all along. God in the beginning said: 'Let there be light' -- and now the theory says there was a great explosion, the world was suddenly created."

Mind -- Friend or Foe?

A person can use his mind when working on matter; then logic is a great instrument. And the same person can put aside the mind when he moves into his meditation chamber and moves into the no-mind. Because mind is not you -- it is just an instrument just like my hand, just like my legs. If I want to walk I use my legs, if I don't want to walk I don't use my legs. Exactly in the same way you can use the mind logically if you are trying to know about matter. It is perfectly right, it fits there. And when you are moving inwards, put it aside. Now legs are not needed; thinking is not needed. Now you need a deep silent state of no-thought.

One should become so capable that even the closest instrument of mind can be put aside and can be put off. It can be done, it has been done, but it has not been done on a great scale. But more and more it will be done. This is what I am trying to do here with you.

I am concerned about my friends drinking habits

Do not think about anything that concerns others. Train first against the defilement that is greatest.

Gurdjieff used to say to his disciples -- the first thing, the very very first thing, "Find out what your greatest characteristic is, your greatest undoing, your central characteristic of unconsciousness." Each one's is different.

Don't try to cultivate the opposite of it, but pour your whole awareness into it. Create a great bonfire of awareness, and it will be burned. And then the pendulum stops in the middle.

Could you say something about forgiveness?

I am reminded of one of the most significant woman mystics, Rabiya al-Adabiya, a Sufi woman who was known for her very eccentric behavior. But in all her eccentric behavior there was a great insight. Once, another Sufi mystic Hasan was staying with Rabiya. Because he was going to stay with Rabiya, he had not brought his own holy Koran, which he used to read every morning as part of his discipline. He thought he could borrow Rabiya's holy Koran, so he had not brought his own copy with him.

In the morning he asked Rabiya, and she gave him her copy. He could not believe his eyes. When he opened the Koran he saw something which no Mohammedan could believe: in many places Rabiya had corrected it. It is the greatest sin as far as Mohammedans are concerned; the Koran is the word of God according to them. How can you change it? How can you even think that you can make something better? Not only has she changed it, she has simply cut out a few words, a few lines -- removed them.

I know Rudolph Hess is certainly one of the greatest criminals. And his crime becomes even a millionfold bigger, because in the Nuremburg trial with the remaining companions of Adolf Hitler -- who killed almost eight million people in the second world war -- he said in front of the court, "I don't repent anything!" Not only that, he also said, "And if I could start from the very beginning, I would do the same thing again." It is very natural to think this man is not worthy of forgiveness; that will be the common understanding. Everybody will agree with you.

A great old master, worshiped by millions of people, refused to initiate anyone into disciplehood. His whole life, consistently, he was asked by kings, he was asked by very rich people, he was asked by great ascetics, saints, to be initiated as his disciples, and he went on refusing. He would always say, "Unless I find a man who deserves it, unless I find a man who is worthy of it... I am not going to initiate any Tom, Dick, Harry."

People could not believe it. But out of curiosity a few thought, "There is no harm at least to see what is going on." The man had refused his whole life, and on the last day of his life suddenly such a great change. Somebody's wife had died and he was feeling very lonely, so he thought, "It is good. If he is going to initiate everybody, no question of worthiness..." Somebody was released from jail just the night before; he thought, "Nobody is going to give me employment; this is a good chance to become a saint."

Buddha said, "I am ready, but why is your hand shaking? -- you are such a great warrior, even kings are afraid of you, and I am just a poor beggar. Except the begging bowl, I don't have anything. You can kill me, and I will feel immensely satisfied that at least my death fulfills somebody's desire; my life has been useful, my death has also been useful. But before you cut my head I have a small desire, and Ithink you will grant me a small desire before killing me."

Osho, The Great Pilgrimage: From Here to Here, chapter 24

What is jealousy and why does it hurt so much?

Jealousy is comparison. And we have been taught to compare, we have been conditioned to compare, always compare. Somebody else has a better house, somebody else has a more beautiful body, somebody else has more money, somebody else has a more charismatic personality. Compare, go on comparing yourself with everybody else you pass by, and great jealousy will be the outcome; it is the by-product of the conditioning for comparison.

Next door great things are happening: the grass is greener, the roses are rosier. Everybody seems to be so happy -- except yourself. You are continuously comparing. And the same is the case with the others, they are comparing too. Maybe they think the grass in your lawn is greener -- it always looks greener from the distance -- that you have a more beautiful wife.... You are tired, you cannot believe why you allowed yourself to be trapped by this woman, you don't know how to get rid of her -- and the neighbor may be jealous of you, that you have such a beautiful wife! And you may be jealous of him....

A man was very much burdened by his suffering. He used to pray every day to God, "Why me? Everybody seems to be so happy, why am only I in such suffering?" One day, out of great desperation, he prayed to God, "You can give me anybody else's suffering and I am ready to accept it. But take mine, I cannot bear it any more."

I hear that Jim and Nancy Smith had a great time in Europe this summer. It's so great when a couple finally gets a chance to really live it up. They went everywhere and did everything. Paris, Rome... you name it, they saw it and they did it.

What is wrong with being in a hurry?

Certainly if you want to come to yourself you should not lose a single moment, because there is always a possibility that death may interfere. But you must have got into trouble because the sentence certainly comes from some great mystic... "but without hurry."

There is no time for hurry, there is no time for worry; in a single moment what can you do? Only one thing: you can settle within yourself. That will be the great transformation of your being. And certainly it is the most urgent thing--which we have been trying to postpone as long as possible.

The Great Pilgrimage: From Here to Here, Number 10

Travel

Great vacations start with [Karen Brown's Travel Guides|http://www.karenbrown.com/]

Great Wall

I feel so much anger towards my mother....

It has been taken for granted that by giving birth you know how to become a mother and how to become a father. Yes, as far as giving birth to a child... it is a biological act, you don't have to be psychologically trained for it. Animals are doing perfectly well, birds are doing perfectly well, trees are doing perfectly well. But giving birth to a child biologically is one thing and to be a mother or to be a father is totally different. It needs great education because you are creating a human being.

This idea of having carbon copies seems to be a great advancement in medical science in a way, but it is dangerous -- dangerous in the sense that man becomes a machine with replaceable parts, just like any machine. When something goes wrong you replace the part. And if every part can be replaced then man will be falling farther and farther away from spiritual growth, because he will start thinking of himself as just a machine. That's what half of the world, the communist world, thinks -- that man is a machine.

Just create a small ripple of right individuality and it will reach to many people -- and certainly to those who are most closely related to you. They will see it first, and they will understand with great awe. They will not believe their eyes because all that they know of religion is the Sunday church, where nothing happens. They have been going every Sunday their whole lives, and they come back home just the same.

I said, "That's great. You have found a really great idea."

Sprouts

[Why Eat Sprouts ?|http://www.cityfarmer.org/sprout86.html] : "Lots of reasons! They carry plenty of vitamins, minerals, proteins, and enzymes, all necessary for the body to function optimally. In addition to providing the greatest amount of these nutrients, sprouts deliver them in a form that is easily digested and assimilated. In fact, they improve the efficiency of digestion. Sprouts are also deliciously fresh and colourful! - Sprouts are very inexpensive (even when organic), always fresh (_they grow until you chew them_) and have the potential to help solve hunger and malnutrition problems in our communities and in developing countries, because they are so rich in nutrients, affordable, and easy to transport before sprouting. Sprouts are precious in winter, when the quality of fresh fruits and vegetables is declining as their price increases."

Practice of Meditation

You will be greatly benefited by their thought currents.

In the books of Yoga, the great Rishis (sages) distinguish between Bahiranga Sadhana and Antaranga Sadhana. Bahiranga Sadhana is outer Yoga or spiritual practices designed to perfect the outer instruments of body and Prana (vital- energy). These are the ethical practices and the Yogasana and Pranayama exercises. Once the body is perfected and the Nadis or astral tubes are purified through Pranayama practices, the spiritual seeker attains fitness to start the inner Yoga or Antaranga Sadhana. This includes Pratyahara, Dharana and Dhyana-sense abstraction, concentration and meditation. The senses and the mind must be withdrawn from the sense objects and the mind must be focussed on the God within. This is inner Yoga. The outer Yoga practices are to prepare the aspirant to gain fitness to practise this inner Yoga.

Gurudeva

"Great Union," today at age 74 at his ashram home on the tropical island of

the passing of a great saint. The yajna was performed across the USA,

return to the great inner heaven worlds whence he was sent by God and the

whom Subramuniyaswami, the successor of Lanka's great guru Yogaswami, is

ashram heard the same message, and by the time of the Great Departure, a

influential Hindu writers and thinkers, wrote, "He has done great work for

Himself -- has watered the roots of Hinduism with great zeal, faith,

helped make Hinduism an even greater gift to humanity." Swami Agnivesh of

great spiritual asset for humankind. I still carry with me the warmth of his

building raining tons of flowers on the great guru below who had given

India's greatest Bharata Natyam dancer, Kumari Swarnamukhi, to dance in the

book also has greatly assisted with intermarriage of Hindus with those

of Hinduism with great zeal, faith, enthusiasm and whole-heartedness." Sri

the Aadheenam land in 1975. To permanently capture the power of this great

raised, and India's greatest living architect, V. Ganapathi Sthapati, was

great carvers like Michelangelo and Rubin did their masterpieces, with a

with Dr. Jane Nelsen, one of the great voices of enlightened discipline for

other experts, all of whom enthusiastically assisted this great spiritual

By far his greatest efforts and most focused energy went toward the 2.5

story of our soul, our great God and Gods, the pillars of Hinduism, karma,

the greatness of Hinduism and the oneness of mankind. He removed

Herbs & Spices

An extremely versatile herb in the mint family, with many types which vary by flavor, color and size. The domestic version, native to India and Iran, has a large leaf with a flavor that greatly enhances tomatoes, pesto and Italian foods of all kinds. Sweet basil has a smaller leaf and has a sweet taste as its name suggests with a more pungent aroma. Sweet basil also works well in Italian foods. Basil also has blends nicely with other herbs and spices such as parsley, rosemary, oregano, thyme, sage and saffron.

An herb in the onion family, but with a milder, more delicate flavor. It is rich in vitamins A and C and tastes great with eggs, salads, baked potatoes, soups and sauces.

Originating in Southern Mexico, it is a bright red sweet pepper with a vibrant flavor most popularly used in Hungarian foods. It is also known as pimiento or tomato pepper and tastes great with eggs, poultry, stews and vegetables.

Panchakshara

all-pervasive consciousness, and that is also transmuted, into the great

My satguru, Siva Yogaswami, placed great emphasis on japa, repeating

the name of Siva with concentration and feeling. This great Natha jnani

Is life really meaningless?

People are not there where they seem to be. This is why they go on missing the meaning of life. Just remain present to any small act you are doing. It does not matter -- you don't have to do great acts, become a world conqueror, go to the moon, or stand on top of Everest; it does not matter what you do.

Life is today! Tomorrow is death. So when you come across death, it is a great shock that life has gone by and you have not been able to find any meaning in it. And now there is no tomorrow left, and you are accustomed to search for meaning in the tomorrows. But you have been told about, taught about, prepared for, tomorrows.

The algebra of infinite justice

India, thanks in part to its geography, and in part to the vision of its former leaders, has so far been fortunate enough to be left out of this Great Game. Had it been drawn in, it's more than likely that our democracy, such as it is, would not have survived. Today, as some of us watch in horror, the Indian government is furiously gyrating its hips, begging the US to set up its base in India rather than Pakistan. Having had this ringside view of Pakistan's sordid fate, it isn't just odd, it's unthinkable, that India should want to do this. Any third world country with a fragile economy and a complex social base should know by now that to invite a superpower such as America in (whether it says it's staying or just passing through) would be like inviting a brick to drop through your windscreen.

Strive

Respect the great. Be truthful. Indulge not in gossip. You will

Azim Premji's Success Recipe

A dream of building a great Organisation. It compensated for my inexperience and I guess, also prevented me from being overwhelmed by the enormity of the task before me.

Remaining on top of what you need to know will become one of the greatest challenges for you.

The natural zest and curiosity for learning is one of the greatest drivers for keeping updated on knowledge. A child's curiosity is insatiable because every new object is a thing of wonder and mystery. The same zest is needed to keep learning new things.

One of the greatest advantages of globalisation is that it has brought in completely different standards. Being the best in the country is not enough; one has to be the best in the world. Excellence is a moving target. One has to constantly raise the bar.

Doing something excellently has its own intrinsic joy, which I think is the greatest benefit of Quality.

I have myself found that my job has become enormously more complex over the last two or three years. Along with mutual alertness, physical fitness will also assume a great importance in your life.

I personally believe that the greatest gift one can give to others is the gift of education. We who have been so fortunate to receive this gift know how valuable it is.

I suffer immensely from loneliness....

There are people who are after power, but the reason is the same: when they are in power so many people are with them, millions of people are under their domination. They are not alone. They are great political and religious leaders. But power changes. One day you have it, another day it is gone, and suddenly the whole illusion disappears. You are lonely as nobody else is, because others are accustomed to being lonely. You are not accustomed... your loneliness hurts you more.

You will be surprised that different religions have given different names to the ultimate state of realization. The three religions born outside of India don't have any name for it because they never went far in the search for oneself. They remained childish, immature, clinging to a God, clinging to prayer, clinging to a savior. You can see what I mean: they are always dependent -- somebody else is to save them. They are not mature. Judaism, Christianity, Islam -- they are not mature at all and perhaps that is the reason they have influenced the greatest majority in the world, because most of the people in the world are immature. They have a certain affinity.

Why so much conflict between the different religions?

The world is the same; it has always been the same -- upside down, crazy, insane. In fact, only one thing new has happened in the world, and that is the awareness that we are crazy, that we are upside down, that something is basically wrong with us. And this is a great blessing -- this awareness. Of course it is only a beginning, just the abc of a long process, just a seed, but immensely pregnant. The world was never so aware of its insane ways as it is today. It has always been the same. In three thousand years man has fought five thousand wars.

Can you say this humanity is sane? One cannot remember a time in human history when people were not destroying each other either in the name of religion or in the name of God or even in the name of peace, humanity, universal brotherhood. Great words hiding ugly realities! Christians have been killing Mohammedans, Mohammedans have been killing Christians, Mohammedans have been killing Hindus, Hindus have been killing Mohammedans. Political ideologies, religious ideologies, philosophical ideologies are just facades for murder -- to murder in a justified way.

And all these religions were promising the people, "If you die in a religious war, your heaven is absolutely certain. Killing in war is not sin; being killed in war is a great virtue." This is sheer stupidity! But ten thousand years of conditioning has seeped deep into the blood, into the bones, in the very marrow of humanity. Each religion, each country, each race was claiming, "We are the chosen people of God. We are the highest; everyone is lower than us." This is insanity, and everybody has suffered because of it.

But this is not only so with the Christians, Jews, Mohammedans and Hindus; it is exactly the same with all the people that have existed up to now. The racial ego, the religious ego, the spiritual ego is far more dangerous than the individual ego, because the individual ego is gross. You can see it -- everybody can see it, it is so visible on the surface. But when the ego becomes racial -- "Hinduism is great" -- you don't think you are claiming anything for yourself. Indirectly you are claiming, "I am great because I am a Hindu, and Hinduism is great." This is an indirect way, a subtle, cunning way: "I am great because I am a Japanese, because Japanese are the direct descendants of the sun God"; or, "I am a Chinese and the Chinese are the most civilized people, the most cultured."

There is something which does not allow us to grow into sane human beings. In our very conditioning are the seeds of insanity. Every child is born sane, and then, slowly slowly, we civilize him -- we call it the process of civilization. We prepare him to become part of the great culture, the great church, the great state to which we belong.

In fact, in proving to others that "I am not inferior, I am not ugly," he is trying to prove it to himself. The others function as a mirror. If the others can say, "Yes, you are great...." But they will say it only when you are powerful, when you are rich; otherwise they are not going to say anything. Who is interested in your ego? They are interested in their egos, but reluctantly, when you have power to destroy, they have to accept.

I often panic, and worry that I might go mad....

The moment you are not choosing, all worry disappears. A great acceptance arises, that this is how the mind has to be, this is the nature of the mind -- and it is not your problem, because you are not the mind. If you were the mind, there would have been no problem at all. Then who would choose and who would think of transcending? And who would try to accept and understand acceptance?

Just try once in a while: Let the mind be whatever it is. Remember, you are not it. And you are going to have a great surprise. As you are less identified, the mind starts becoming less powerful, because its power comes from your identification; it sucks your blood. But when you start standing aloof and away, the mind starts shrinking.

My grandfather would simply be saying, "Yes, right, that's great..."

I said to him one day, "About everything you go on saying, `Yes, right, it is great.' Sometimes he is talking nonsense, simply irrelevant."

In India razor blades are not used; things almost like six-inch long knives are used as razor blades. "Now what do you want me to say? -- with that man who has a knife, a sharp knife in his hand, just on my throat. To say no to him... he will kill me! And he knows it. He sometimes tells me, `You never say no. You always say yes, you always say great.' And I have told him, `You should understand that you are always under the influence of opium. It is impossible to talk with you, to discuss with you or to disagree with you. You have a knife on my throat, and you want me to say no to something?'"

The real meaning of peace

(But Greatly Appreciated!)

Wishing you a great peace - and many opportunities to share it with

Jokes

[Four Great Lessons]

What is the meaning of Life?

So the first thing: religion has to be creative. Up to now, religion has remained very passive, almost impotent. You don't expect a religious person to be creative. You just expect him to fast, sit in a cave, get up early in the morning, chant mantras... and this kind of stupid thing. And you are perfectly satisfied! What is he doing? And you praise him because he goes on long fasts. Maybe he is a masochist; maybe he enjoys torturing himself. He sits there when it is icy cold, naked, and you appreciate him. But what is the point, what is the value in it? All the animals of the world are naked in the icy cold -- they are not saints. Or when it is hot, he sits in the hot sun, and you appreciate him. You say, "Look! here is a great ascetic." But what is he doing? What is his contribution to the world? What beauty has he added to the world? Has he changed the world a little bit? Has he made it a little more sweet, more fragrant? No, you don't ask that.

You can see a thousand and one lovers making love and you will not know what love is -- you will not know that orgasmic abandonment by watching. You will have to become a participant. Meaning comes through participation. Participate in life! Participate as deeply, as totally, as possible. Risk all for participation. If you want to know what dance is, don't go and see a dancer -- learn dancing, be a dancer. If you want to know anything, participate! That is the true and the right way, the authentic way, to know a thing. And there will be great meaning in your life. And not only one-dimensional -- multi-dimensional meanings. You will be showered by meanings.

His disciples must have been puzzled: "Has he gone mad? Socrates playing on the flute?" But to me it is very significant. The music could not have been very great, because he had never played. Absolutely amateurish, childish it must have been -- but still something was satisfied, something was bridged. He was no more one-sided. For the first time in his life, maybe, he was spontaneous. For the first time he had done something for which he could not supply any reason. Otherwise, he was a rational man.

Just the other night I was reading a story about the great Hassidic mystic, Baal Shem:

Don't allow your life to become just a dead ritual. Let there be moments, unexplainable. Let there be a few things which are mysterious, for which you cannot supply any reason. Let there be a few doings for which people will think you are a little crazy. A man who is a hundred percent sane is dead. A little bit of craziness by the side is always a great joy. Go on doing a few crazy things too. And then meaning will be posible.

Why do you contradict yourself?

Existence is a mystery. Mathematics is incapable of understanding it; mind is utterly impotent in understanding it, because mind knows only one way. The Aristotelian way is the mind's way. And anybody who knows life knows that Aristotle has been a calamity, the greatest that has ever existed in the world. And he is the father of modern philosophy, the father of modern science! But there are revolts against him. Mystics have always been revolting, now physicists are revolting.

That's why science has created great meaninglessness in the world. It was bound to happen; it is a by-product of scientific methodology. Science tries to explain everything cleanly, with no vagueness; it wants to reduce everything to clear-cut categories. And it has succeeded, but in its success man and his spirit has failed.

The success of science is rooted in Aristotle, but man's failure -- the failure of his joy, the failure of his love, the failure of his capacity to sing, dance and celebrate -- is also rooted in Aristotle. But there are clear-cut signs of revolt, particularly within these last thirty, forty years -- many great scientists have revolted against Aristotle. The first one to revolt was Albert Einstein.

A man went into a hospital to purchase a brain; because his own was not functioning well he wanted to replace it. The surgeon took him around; there were many brains available. He showed him the brain of a scientist, the price only a hundred rupees; the brain of a great, famous, well-known mathematician, and the price only two hundred rupees; and the brain of a great general, and the price only three hundred rupees -- so on and so forth. And then he came to the brain of a great political leader, and the price- was ten thousand rupees!

The customer was a little puzzled. He said, "What do you mean? Do you mean that the politician has a greater brain than a great, Nobel prize-winning scientist?"

The surgeon said, "Please don't misunderstand us. It is not that the politician has a greater brain than the scientist or the general or the mathematician or the poet, but this is a brain which has never been used. It is brand new, hence the price!"

Mahavira said that; his philosophy is known as saptabhangi -- sevenfold. He must have appeared a very strange man. You asked one question and he would always answer your one question with seven answers, because his philosophy was sevenfold. He said, "I have come to see the seven aspects of the inner world." You asked him, "Does God exist?" and he would say, "First: perhaps he exists. Second: perhaps he does not. Third: perhaps he exists and yet does not exist. And fourth: perhaps he neither exists nor does not exist." And so on and so forth. He would give you seven answers. You would leave him more confused than you had come. That's why he could not influence many people. His religion remained one of the smallest although it had the potential of becoming one of the greatest religions of the world.

And it was thought always, according to Aristotle and Euclid, that a point can never be a line. It was found by the physicists that the point can be both together: it can be a particle and a wave, it can be a point and a line. Euclidean geometry used to say -- you must have read it at school -- that two parallel lines never meet. Now there is something like non-Euclidean geometry which says they meet. What to make out of it? Euclidean geometry says you can draw a straight line: a straight line is the shortest distance between two points -- a well-known definition, every schoolboy knows about it. But non-Euclidean geometry has come with great force and is changing the whole course of scientific thinking.

Understanding the Lessons of September 11

children "to America" for studies or work is one that fills us with great

their great openness, great honesty, eagerness and steadfastness on the path

peaceful future, action done after great thought and deliberation. I pray

Meditation

[Swami Sivananda] in [Goal of Life is God-Realisation|http://www.sivanandadlshq.org/messages/goal.htm] : ...There is no Knowledge without Meditation. The aspirant churns his own soul. Truth becomes manifest...Why do you read many books? It is of no use. The great book is within your heart. Open the pages of this inexhaustible book, the source of all knowledge...

Why is love so painful?

Modern man is living in a dark cell; it is narcissistic. Narcissism is the greatest obsession of the modern mind.

Love is the greatest Zen koan.

It is painful, but don't avoid it. If you avoid it you have avoided the greatest opportunity to grow. Go into it, suffer love, because through the suffering comes great ecstasy. Yes, there is agony, but out of the agony, ecstasy is born. Yes, you will have to die as an ego, but if you can die as an ego, you will be born as God, as a Buddha. And love will give you the first tongue-tip-taste of Tao, of Sufism, of Zen. Love will give you the first proof that God is, that life is not meaningless.

Is there a law of karma?

Then what kind of law is it? It is a hope. A man wandering in immense darkness, groping his way, clings to anything that gives a little hope, a little light -- because what you observe in life itself is something totally different from the law of karma. A man who is a well-known criminal may succeed and become the president, the prime minister; or vice versa: he was not a criminal before, but when he becomes the president or prime minister of a country he becomes a criminal... So in life this strange situation happens: bad people reach good positions, become respectable or honored, not only in their time but throughout history. It is full of their names. In history, Gautam Buddha, Mahavira, Kanad, Gautam, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu -- people like these you will not find even in the footnotes. And Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Nadirshah, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler -- they make up the major portion of history. In fact, we have to write the whole of history again because all these people have to be completely erased. Even the memory of them should not be carried on, because even their memory may have evil effects on people.

Procrastination

Our behavioral patterns are the second cause. Getting started on an unpleasant or difficult task may seem impossible. Procrastination is likened to the physics concept of inertia - a mass at rest tends to stay at rest. Greater forces are required to start change than to sustain change. Another way of viewing it is that avoiding tasks reinforces procrastination which makes it harder to get things going. A person may be stuck, too, not by the lack of desire, but by not knowing what to do. Here are some things to break the habit. Remember, don't just read them, do them!

5. Set Priorities. Write down all the things that need to be done in order of their importance. The greater the importance or urgency, the higher their priority. Put "messing around" (distractions) in its proper place - last! Start at the top of the list and work your way down.

9. Use Prompts. Write reminders to yourself and put them in conspicuous places like on the TV, refrigerator, bathroom mirror, front door, and car dashboard. The more we remember, the greater the likelihood we'll follow through with our plans.

Arundhati Roy

* [The Greater Common Good|http://www.narmada.org/gcg/gcg.html]

Philip Greenspun

His advise (best so far in my opinion): Work on something that excites you enough to want to work 24x7. Become an expert on data model + page flow. Build some great systems by yourself and put them on your resume ("I built X" rather than "I built a piece of X as part of a huge team"). Take periodic long trips to exotic countries and learn from people (sometimes your own country is after all the most exotic). --- For more... visit [Ask Philip Forum|http://philip.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a?topic_id=22]

Weblog2001November

[Patrick David Harrigan] seems to be the lead maintainer of [Murugan Bhakti] - Great Work

[Bruce Eckel] has made available many [books|http://www.mindview.net/Books/TICPP] online ! - Great !

Attained his Mahasamadhi, Great Union,

Obstacles to Happiness

famous or having a great reputation has absolutely nothing to do with

or praise can affect you either. When someone says, "You're a great guy,"

"I." "I" is neither great nor small. "I" is neither successful nor a

childish -- a great big ass. So when you say, "You're an ass," I've known

Relative and Absolute Happiness

Absolute happiness, on the other hand, is something we must find within. It means establishing a state of life in which we are never defeated by trials and where just being alive is a source of great joy. This persists no matter what we might be lacking, or what might happen around us. A deep sense of joy is something which can only exist in the innermost reaches of our life, and which cannot be destroyed by any external forces. It©ˆs eternal and inexhaustible.

The kind of sasfaction is to be found in consistent and repeated effort, so that we can say: ©¯Today, again, I did my very best. Today, again, I have no regrets. Today, again, I won.©˜ The accumulated result of such efforts is a life of great victory.

Who am i?

Without yielding to the doubt "Is it possible, or not?", one should persistently hold on to the meditation on the Self. Even if one be a great sinner, one should not worry and weep "O! I am a sinner, how can I be saved?"; one should completely renounce the thought "I am a sinner"; and concentrate keenly on meditation on the Self; then, one would surely succeed. There are not two minds - one good and the other evil; the mind is only one. It is the residual impressions that are of two kinds - auspicious and inauspicious. When the mind is under the influence of auspicious impressions it is called good; and when it is under the influence of inauspicious impressions it is regarded as evil.

18. Of the devotees, who is the greatest?

Deepavali

Waking up during the Brahmamuhurta (at 4a.m.) is a great blessing from the standpoint of health, ethical discipline, efficiency in work and spiritual advancement. It is on Deepavali that everyone wakes up early in the morning. The sages who instituted this custom must have cherished the hope that their descendents would realise its benefits and make it a regular habit in their lives.

In a happy mood of great rejoicing village folk move about freely, mixing with one another without any reserve, all enmity being forgotten. People embrace one another with love. Deepavali is a great unifying force. Those with keen inner spiritual ears will clearly hear the voice of the sages, "O Children of God! unite, and love all". The vibrations produced by the greetings of love which fill the atmosphere are powerful enough to bring about a change of heart in every man and woman in the world. Alas! That heart has considerably hardened, and only a continuous celebration of Deepavali in our homes can rekindle in us the urgent need of turning away from the ruinous path of hatred.

Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad- Gita is considered by eastern and western scholars alike to be among the greatest spiritual books the world has ever known. In a very clear and wonderful way the Supreme Lord Krishna describes the science of self-realization and the exact process by which a human being can establish their eternal relationship with God. In terms of pure, spiritual knowledge the Bhagavad- Gita is incomparable. Its intrinsic beauty is that its knowledge applies to all human beings and does not postulate any sectarian idealogy or secular view. It is appproachable from the sanctified realms of all religions and is glorified as the epitome of all spiritual teachings. This is because proficiency in the Bhagavad- Gita reveals the eternal principles which are fundamental and essential for spiritual life from all perspectives and allows one to perfectly understand the esoteric truths hidden within all religious scriptures. Many great thinkers from our times such as Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi and Albert Schweizer as well as Madhvacarya, Sankara and Ramanuja from bygone ages have all contemplated and deliberarted upon its timeless message. The primary purpose of the Bhagavad- Gita is to illuminate for all of humanity the realization of the true nature of divinity; for the highest spiritual conception and the greatest material perfection is to attain love of God!

Doug Baron

[Frontier Credits|http://frontier.userland.com/credits] : ...I [Dave Winer] was sorry to see Doug go, his good nature and thorough engineering skills will certainly be missed inside UserLand and on the mail lists. We'll miss him, and we send him our thanks every day as we use Frontier, thanks for more than just one great release, Doug, thanks for six!...

Steven Vore

"Does he have a family? You betcha. A wonderful wife and two great boys."

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam

* [Vision Creates Great Leaders]

Books That Changed My Life

[Kins Collins] : [Books That Changed My Life|http://www.bayarea.net/~kins/AboutMe/Books.html] - The page starts with the following quote... Yet who reads to bring about an end however desirable? Are there not some pursuits that we practise because they are good in themselves, and some pleasures that are final? And is not this among them? I have sometimes dreamt, at least, that when the Day of Judgment dawns and the great conquerors and lawyers and statesmen come to receive their rewards -- their crowns, their laurels, their names carved indelibly upon imperishable marble -- the Almighty will turn to Peter and will say, not without a certain envy when He sees us coming with our books under our arms, "Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them here. They have loved reading." -- The Second Common Reader by Virginia Wolff

The Invisible Future: The Seamless Integration of Technology into Everyday Life

>IT. In short, everyone has greater expectations of IT professionals than of

Steve Hooker

2002 feb 04 : Thought of the moment : "very soon, Steve might start work at UL" and remember thoughts have great power !

Only a Ripe Fruit Falls

Osho: One of the greatest problems...it will appear very paradoxical, but this is true: before you can lose your ego, you must attain it. Only a ripe fruit falls to the ground.

The same happens with all types of fallacies. Ego is the greatest dream. It has its beauty, its agony. It has its ecstasy, its agony. It has its heavens and hells, both are there. Dreams sometimes are beautiful and sometimes nightmares, but both are dreams.

Monty Widenius

"Michael "Monty" Widenius of MySQL is one of the few open-source developers who has been working alone. According to Monty, his company gets more offers of money from venture capitalists than submissions of code fixes for the MySQL server. On the client end, the contributions have been great, but the MySQL server-end software has been written from the ground up basically by Widenius himself, who has no official title at the company."

Marriage

* Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small, and enkindles the great. — Comte DeBussy-Rabutin

Weblog2001December

[Peter Koestenbaum] in [After Shock|http://www.fastcompany.com/online/54/aftershock.html] : ...We must resolve to work with greatness and never forget to do so again. Every workday is a concert, a Nobel-prize ceremony, or an Olympic victory...

[Isaiah Berlin] (in [The Hedgehog and the Fox]): There exists a great chasm between those, on one side, who relate everything to a single central vision...and, on the other side, those who pursue many ends, often unrelated and even contradictory...The first kind of intellectual and artistic personality belongs to the hedgehogs, the second to the foxes.

I was looking for a [Digital Camera] and the winner is [Digital IXUS]. We bought it at [New York Camera] yesterday in person. [Christian Kwyas] is a great sales man. It was (will be) a memorable shopping experience. However Christian should be thankful to [Jeff Keller]'s very useful reviews at [Digital Camera Resource Page]

[Ken Roberts] maintains the [Great Books Index]

[Andrea Frick] has great pictures from her local [Christmas Market|http://andrea.editthispage.com/weihnachtsmarkt2001]

Skandha Sashti

Lord Subramanya is a ray born of the Consciousness of Lord Siva. Valli and Deivayanai are His two wives. They represent the power of action and the power of knowledge respectively. He is the easily accessible Godhead in this dark age of ignorance and godlessness. In this He is no different from Hanuman. He gives material and spiritual prosperity and success in every undertaking of His devotees, even if they show a little devotion to Him. He is worshipped with great devotion in South India. Lord Subramanya’s other names are Guha, Muruga, Kumaresa, Kartikeya, Shanmukha, and Velayudhan.

Skanda Sashti falls in November. It is the day on which Lord Subramanya defeated the demon Taraka. Great festivals are held on this day with great pomp and grandeur. Devotees also do Bhajan and Kirtan on a grand scale. Thousands are fed sumptuously. Many incurable diseases are cured if one visits Palani and worships the Lord there. In South India, the Lord Subramanya’s Lilas are dramatized on the stage.

Great Books Index

[Books] > Great Books Index

Digital IXUS

* [Philip Greenspun] recommends it in [Choosing a Digital Camera] and in the review states "...is a great vacation camera..."

Pongal

SALUTATIONS and adorations to the Supreme Lord, the primordial power that divided the year into the four seasons. Salutations to Surya, the Sun-God, who on this great day embarks on his northward journey.

As Shankranti is also the beginning of the month, Brahmins offer oblations to departed ancestors. Thus, all the great sacrifices enjoined upon man find their due place in this grand celebration. The worship of the Cosmic Form of the Lord is so well introduced into this, that every man and woman in India is delightfully led to partake of it without even being aware of it.

The great Bhishma, the grandfather of the Pandavas, was fatally wounded during the war of the Mahabharata, waited on his deathbed of nails for the onset of this season before finally departing from the earth-plane. Let us on this great day pay our homage to him and strive to become men of firm resolve ourselves!

If you do this, then the Makara Shankranti has a special significance for you. The sun, symbolising wisdom, divine knowledge and spiritual light, which receded from you when you revelled in the darkness of ignorance, delusion and sensuality, now joyously turns on its northward course and moves towards you to shed its light and warmth in greater abundance, and to infuse into you more life and energy.

On the Shankranti day, sweets, puddings and sweet rice are prepared in every home, especially in South India. The pot in which the rice is cooked is beautifully adorned with tumeric leaves and roots, the symbols of auspiciousness. The cooking is done by the women of the household with great faith and devotion, feeling from the bottom of their hearts that it is an offering unto the Lord. When the milk in which the rice is being cooked boils over, the ladies and the children assemble round the pot and shout “Pongalo Pongal!” with great joy and devotion. Special prayers are offered in temples and houses. Then the people of the household gather together and partake of the offerings in an atmosphere of love and festivity.

On the next day, the herds of cows are adorned beautifully, fed and worshipped. In some villages the youth demonstrate their valour by taking “the bull by the horn” (and often win their brides thereby!). It is a great day for the cattle.

When you celebrate the Shankranti or Pongal in this manner, your sense of value changes. You begin to understand that your real wealth is the goodwill and friendship of your relatives, friends, neighbours and servants; that your wealth is the land on which your food grows, the cattle which help you in agriculture, and the cow which gives you milk. You begin to have greater love and respect for them and for all living beings—the crows, the fish and all other creatures.

Chris Mitchell

I wish well to the soldiers of the US and our ally Great Britain, to those combatants of their opposition who conduct themselves honorably though I absolutely wish their defeat, and also to the ordinary citizens of all the nations of this world, particularly at this time the rightfully proud Afghans. Finally, I praise everyone who is, in some way, working to make their community -- and by extension the world -- a more peaceful place.

The Masquerade Of Charity

great. But maybe we're not all that great after all. You protest when I

say that. That's great!

the opposite of someone who says, "What's so great about what I did? I did

as the great Sufi would say, "A saint is one until he or she knows it."

him? "Greater love than this no one has." But the Americans don't think

"I'll be remembered as a great hero," or "I'd never be able to live if I

great thing. They feel nothing, they go right in. But not all of them, so

self-awareness. None. He could be a big pain. He thinks he's a great

saint. I don't mean to slander Francis Xavier, who probably was a great

take pride in that. Don't think you're a great person. You're a very

Shree Mahasivarathri

Hymns in praise of Lord Shiva, such as the Shiva Mahimna Stotra of Pushpadanta or Ravana’s Shiva Tandava Stotra are sung with great fervour and devotion. People repeat the Panchakshara Mantra, Om Namah Shivaya. He who utters the Names of Shiva during Shivaratri, with perfect devotion and concentration, is freed from all sins. He reaches the abode of Shiva and lives there happily. He is liberated from the wheel of births and deaths. Many pilgrims flock to the places where there are Shiva temples.

Karthigai

Once Lord Shiva assumed the form of a hill at Tiruvannamalai in South India. Here He quelled the pride of Brahma and Vishnu who were quarelling as to their relative greatness. One day, when Lord Shiva was in meditation, Parvati left Him and went to the hill of Arunachala. There She performed penance. She was the guest of the sage Gautama. It was during Her penance here that Mahishasura was killed by Durga hidden by Parvati. Parvati saw Shiva as Arunachalesvara. She was taken back by the Lord to His side, and made His Ardhangini once more, that is, She occupied half of the body of the Lord.

Holi

IN DAYS of yore, there were communities of cannibals in India. They caused much havoc. They threatened the lives of many innocent people. One of them was Holika or Putana. She took immense delight in devouring children. Sri Krishna destroyed her and thus saved the little children. Even today, the effigy or figure of Holika is burnt in the fire. In South India, the clay figure of Cupid is burnt. This is the origin of the great festival of Holi.

This same scene is enacted every year to remind people that those who love God shall be saved, and they that torture the devotee of God shall be reduced to ashes. When Holika was burnt, people abused her and sang the glories of the Lord and of His great devotee, Prahlad. In imitation of that, people even today use abusive language, but unfortunately forget to sing the praises of the Lord and His devotee!

There should be worship of God, religious gatherings and Kirtan of the Lord’s Names on such occasions, not merely the sprinkling of coloured water and lighting of bonfires. These functions are to be considered most sacred and spent in devotional prayers, visiting holy places, bathing in sacred waters, and Satsang with great souls. Abundant charity should be done to the poor. Then only can Holi be said to have been properly celebrated. The devotees of the Lord should remember the delightful pastimes of the Lord on such happy occasions.

All great Hindu festivals have religious, social and hygienic elements in them. Holi is no exception. Every season has a festival of its own. Holi is the great spring festival of India. Being an agricultural country, India’s two big festivals come during the harvest time when the barns and granaries of our farmers are full and they have reason to enjoy the fruits of their hard labour. The harvest season is a festive season all over the world.

The social element during Holi is the uniting or “embracing” of the great and the small, of the rich and the poor. It is also the uniting of equals. The festival teaches us to “let the dead bury the dead”. We should forget the outgoing year’s ill-feelings and begin the new year with feelings of love, sympathy, co-operation and equality with all. We should try to feel this oneness or unity with the Self also.

Gokulashtami

THIS IS THE birthday of Lord Krishna, the eighth Divine Incarnation. It falls on the 8th day of the dark half of the month of Bhadrapada (August-September). This is one of the greatest of all Hindu festivals. Lord Krishna was born at midnight. A twenty-four hour fast is observed on this day, which is broken at midnight.

Study the Bhagavatam and the Pancharatras, which are equal to the Upanishads. You will know all about the glory of Lord Krishna, His Lilas and superhuman deeds. The eighth Avatara, Krishna, who has become the Beloved of India and the world at large, had a threefold objective: to destroy the wicked demons, to play the leading role in the great war fought on the battlefield of Kurukshetra (where he delivered His wonderful message of the Gita) and to become the centre of a marvellous development of the Bhakti schools of India.

Lord Krishna was great in knowledge, great in emotion, great in action, all at once. The scriptures have not recorded any life more full, more intense, more sublime and grander than the life of Sri Krishna.

Incarnations of God appear for special reasons under special circumstances. Whenever there is much unrighteousness, whenever confusion and disorder set in on account of unrighteousness and baffle the well-ordered progress of mankind, whenever the balance of human society is upset by selfish, ruthless and cruel beings, whenever irreligion and unrighteousness prevail, whenever the foundations of social organisations are undermined, the great Incarnation of God appears in order to re-establish righteousness and to restore peace.

The greatest manifestations are called Incarnations proper. Rishis, Munis, prophets, sons of God and messengers of God are minor manifestations.

On the holy Krishna Janmashtami, the ladies in South India decorate their houses beautifully, ready to welcome the Lord. They prepare various sweetmeats and offer them to the Lord. Butter was Krishna’s favourite, and this is also offered. From the doorway to the inner meditation room of the house the floor is marked with a child’s footprints, using some flour mixed with water. This creates the feeling in them that the Lord’s own Feet have made the mark. They treat the day as one of very great rejoicing. There is recitation of the Bhagavatam, singing and praying everywhere.

Varalakshmi Viratham

Without Lakshmi even Sannyasins cannot do propaganda or preaching work or run their institutions. They are in fact more in need of Lakshmi than the householders because they have to do great dynamic work for human weal. Sri Shankara worshipped Devi, Lakshmi and Saraswathi for success in his work. All great prophets and divine messengers who have done great spiritual work in the past were devotees of Mother Lakshmi, Devi and Saraswathi.

ShreeRamanavami

In South India the Sri Ramnavmi Utsavam is celebrated for nine days with great fervour and devotion. Those talented in the art of story-telling narrate the thrilling episodes of the Ramayana. The Kirtanists chant the holy Name of Rama and celebrate the wedding of Rama with Sita on this great day. It is an extremely colourful ceremony, highly inspiring and instructive, too.

Lord Rama was the prince of the Ikshvaku race. He was virtuous and of manly strength. He was the Lord of the mind and the senses. Brave and valiant, He was yet gentle and modest. He was a sage in counsel, kind and sweet in speech, and most courteous and handsome in appearance. He was the master of all the divine weapons, and a great warrior. Ever devoted to the good and prosperity of His kingdom and His subjects, He was a defender of the weak and the protector of the righteous. Endowed with numerous wondrous powers of the mind, He was well versed in all sciences—in military science as well as the science of the Self.

Deep and unfathomed like the ocean, firm and steadfast like the Himalayan mountains, valiant like Lord Vishnu, He was the joy of Kaushalya. Though fierce like fire on the battlefield, He was calm like the cool breeze of the Mandara Hills, patient like Mother Earth, bounteous like the god of wealth and righteous like the lord of justice himself. In the pains and the griefs of His people, His heart swiftly sympathised with the sufferers. In the festive scenes which held them in joy, He like a father, shared their joys. By His honour and heroism, as well as by His gentleness and love for His subjects, He greatly endeared Himself to the hearts of His people. Such a great person was the Lord Rama!

To a devotee, Sri Rama is not simply a good and a great person, but God Himself. Rama was the son of King Dasaratha of Ayodhya, but He is also the divine omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient God. The destruction of the ten-headed Ravana signifies the annihilation of the mind or the ten senses. Worship of Lord Rama is worship of the all-pervading Godhead Himself. Read the prayers offered by Mandothari and Brahma in the Yuddha Kanda of the Ramayana. They refer to Rama as the one Creator of the universe, the God of all, the Ruler of the universe.

I shall tell you the means of attaining the final release from the great cycle of births and deaths. Devotion to Lord Rama is a great purifier of the heart. From devotion arises knowledge. From knowledge comes the realisation of the pure Self. Knowing this perfectly, one goes to the Supreme Abode and merges in the Supreme Self.

Even a great sinner who is full of evil qualities and who is fond of other people’s wealth, is freed from all kinds of faults that pertain to worldly life if only he remembers the Lord always. He attains purity and goes to the supreme abode of the Lord.

The Name of Lord Rama is the greatest purifier of the heart. It wipes away all one’s sins. Not only this, but it wipes away the sinful tendencies as well. The Name is sweeter than the sweetest of objects. It is the haven of peace. It is the very life of pure souls. It is the purifier of all purifying agencies. It quenches the consuming fire of worldly desires. It awakens the knowledge of God. It bathes the aspirant in the, ocean of divine bliss. Glory to Sri Rama and His Name!

Hanuman Jayanti

He is the living embodiment of Ram-Nam. He was an ideal selfless worker, a true Karma Yogi who worked desirelessly and dynamically. He was a great devotee and an exceptional Brahmachari or celibate. He served Sri Rama with pure love and devotion, without expecting any fruit in return. He lived to serve Sri Rama. He was humble, brave and wise. He possessed all the divine virtues. He did what others could not do—crossing the ocean simply by uttering Ram-Nam, burning the city of Lanka, and bringing the sanjeevini herb and restoring Lakshmana to life again. He brought Sri Rama and Lakshmana from the nether world after killing Ahiravana.

Lord Rama Himself said to Sri Hanuman, “I am greatly indebted to you, O mighty hero! You did marvellous, superhuman deeds. You do not want anything in return. Sugriva has his kingdom restored to him. Angada has been made the crown prince. Vibhishana has become king of Lanka. But you have not asked for anything at any time. You threw away the precious garland of pearls given to you by Sita. How can I repay My debt of gratitude to you? I will always remain deeply indebted to you. I give you the boon of everlasting life. All will honour and worship you like Myself. Your murti will be placed at the door of My temple and you will be worshipped and honoured first. Whenever My stories are recited or glories sung, your glory will be sung before Mine. You will be able to do anything, even that which I will not be able to!”

Four Great Lessons

[Jokes] > Four Great Lessons

"Small deeds done with great love will change the

WOW

"Used to express wonder, amazement, or great pleasure."

Jeff de Luca

Jeff firmly believes that good people using good processes produce great results. He invested considerable time and effort into recruiting and training a team of highly talented developers for the project. Jeff also challenges the status quo and convention when he believes it to be of benefit to the project. To put it in a nutshell, Jeff inspires and motivates others to achieve

Pancha Ganapati

commercialism but to further the great Hindu culture. Clearly, killer

tranquility from the great God Himself. His blessings fill the home and

following it through the context of one of the great religions of the

Cooperation

The greatest danger in this world is unthinking people -- people who feel passionately but do not think, people who have no education, people who have nothing to lose. Universally, lack of education is the result of poverty, just as poverty is the result of the absence of education. This loop, which turns into a downward spiral, must be reversed. A virtuous circle must be established to replace the nefarious results of the vicious circle that prevails today. This is the ultimate meaning of cooperation.

Padma Varadan

Being the offspring of a towering figure is indeed a mixed blessing; the standards of excellence are predefined, goals of achievement are laid out and the atmosphere is charged with the right vibrations to ensure motivation. Chances are that one's own inadequacies to make the grade can also be demoralising. Yet, in my case, opportunities have been countless to observe, emulate and learn from the great master, a stern disciplinarian and a fond parent. Down the memory lane are firmly etched impressions gathering over four decades and more of close association.

Weblog2002January

[Great Virtues of the Dhamma] : "...Amongst the many virtues of the Dhamma, there are six salient characteristics mentioned in the most authoritative texts. Svakkhato Bhagavata Dhammo, Sanditthiko, Akaliko, Ehipassiko, Opanayiko and Paccattam Veditabbo Vinnuhi..."

Principles

* [Socrates] : If you know that you don't know, that is a great beginning. Then it is possible for you to know.

Happiness

[Stephen Knapp] : [The Key to Real Happiness|http://www.stephen-knapp.com/key_to_real_happiness.htm] : ...Available Soon or read it now online. This book is actually a guide to one of the prime purposes of life. Naturally everyone wants to be happy. Why else do we keep living and working? Now you can find greater levels of happiness and fulfillment. Using this knowledge from the East, you can get clear advice on the path for reaching an independent and uninterrupted feeling of well-being. This information is sure to open your eyes to higher possibilities. It can awaken you to the natural joy that always exists within your higher Self...

Frankenwork

[Sally Helgesen] in [The Female Advantage and Thriving in 24/7] ([John Renesch] states "ignore the title, it is a great book!")

Knowledge

The great Dattatreya Maharshi says in the very first verse of the Avadhuta Gita: isvaranugrahad-eva pumsam advaita-vasana; mahadbhaya-paritranat vipranam upajayate: The knowledge that frees you from the fear of life, the threat of death, does not arise by a slipshod effort on the part of any person. A miraculous occurrence in the very operation of the cosmos takes place, the pros and cons of which process we cannot know,-just as we cannot know how we are born into this world.

Pearls

"I might seem like a crazy storm chaser, but what I did was really a matter of necessity, at least to me. It was what I wanted to do with my life, really. - - - As it was, LiveJournal was expanding to the point where I couldn't really manage it without having LJ eat into my "day job" to an unacceptable degree. It's not as if I jumped in blindly - I had already helped LJ open source itself and expand to over 250K users before I left my job. I also put aside enough money to survive for quite awhile, though I have greatly cut back on expenses. That is an important aspect, really... you have to start businesses based on a lot of work, and it is your investment of work that pays off. You need to be willing to put in the work and keep your expenses painfully low until revenue starts coming in. Entirely too many businesses forget this, and that is why there are lots of dead dotcoms out there. - - - Ultimately, it isn't about money anyways, and money is an overused reason for going into business. If you are in it just for the money, you probably won't have the enthusiasm and drive to really succeed. Most people don't need a ton of money to survive, and those who do get a taste for money often find themselves the most in debt. Better to be able to simplify your life and concentrate on your interests and goals rather than become a slave to money, doing things you would rather not in pursuit of the elusive buck. If you are concentrating on providing a really good service and on developing good relationships with your customers, then you won't go too far wrong. - - - It's kind of like Google. They never have had to advertise their service, but they are a hugely popular search engine which doesn't have to advertise their service - their users do it for them. Those are the kind of services that everyone should be interested in starting - addictively good services. LiveJournal still has a way to go, but we're not too bad for the price..."

"Work on something that excites you enough to want to work 24x7. Become an expert on data model + page flow. Build some great systems by yourself and put them on your resume ("I built X" rather than "I built a piece of X as part of a huge team"). Take periodic long trips to exotic countries and learn from people (sometimes your own country is after all the most exotic)."

used to [say to his disciples|http://www.barnett.sk/software/osho/askosh71.htm] -- the first thing, the very very first thing, "Find out what your greatest characteristic is, your greatest undoing, your central characteristic of unconsciousness." Each one's is different.

Wendell Berry

Beechum and Will Wells, his Black hired hand, were originally like brothers, working on and caring for the land together. However, they grew weary in their relationship with the roles they fell into. Wells "was a man laboring for no more than his existence," while Beechum had "an increasing resentment of his dependence and a jealous remembering of the days when he had worked alone...when in his solitary work he had been so free" (81). Beechum had a greater need for the land than his hired hand.

Beechum's love for the land can be seen through faithfulness, his death, and his community. He is faithful to the earth, "Promising the return of what has been taken from it" (157). On the other hand, Jack also felt that the land was faithful to him by giving him "exactly what he put into it" (Borries 26). As death is at his door, he sits in a chair in his room, but his last visions are as though he is sitting at the roots of a tree on his farm (Berry 190-192). It is almost like his last request is to be with the wilderness. Moreover, Mat Feltner thought Beechum should have been buried secretly, only known to the ones who loved him best, at the edge of one of his fields so that: "when the last of them who knew its place (Beechum's grave-site) had died, Old Jack's return would be complete. He would be lost to memory there in the field, silently possessed by the earth on which he once established the work of his hands" (Berry 207). Therefore, he grew to love the soil and its natural surroundings greater than all else since his other relationships failed to give him satisfaction.

Nidhi Taparia

[Osho Commune] : It's a great place to eat and the hub of all activity in Pune.

Greg Franklin

I firmly believe great software doesn't arise from egoless or collaborative programming. It needs strong technical underpinnings (kernel-level), strong interfaces (user-level), but most of all it needs a director: A person or group of persons who have a vision for the code, give it a purpose. Technical superiority of the constituent parts isn't enough. In short, good software must have an ego built into it, a personality. The "great man" theory, in a sense.

Playing with Words

([Great Virtues of the Dhamma]) [Buddha] : "Do not accept what I say through mere respect towards me. Just as purity of gold is ascertained by melting or rubbing on a touchstone, likewise the Dhamma should be accepted only after very close scrutiny."

Great Virtues of the Dhamma

[Articles] > Great Virtues of the Dhamma

The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Rules the World

In the East there is a better balance of the masculine and feminine forces. In the West the masculine is too strong, too dominant. The feminine energies need to be allowed greater expression. But that does not mean women should start doing what men do. No. That only confuses the forces more. A better balance must be found. In the East the woman is protected. She is like a precious gem. You don't leave it unattended. You protect it. You guard it well because you don't wish to lose it. Hindu women are guarded well. They are not allowed to become worldly. They are not exposed to the looks and thoughts of a base public, nor must they surrender their modesty to contend with business affairs. She can be perfectly feminine, expressing her natural qualities of gentleness, intuitiveness, love and modesty. The home and family are the entire focus of a Hindu woman's life.

I speak often of the change humanity is going through in moving out of the agricultural era and into the technological age. This change has affected the dharma of the woman and the dharma of the man in an interesting way. During the tens of thousands of years of the agricultural age, families lived and labored mostly on farms or in craft guilds. The entire family worked on the farm. The men all worked in the fields; the women and children worked in the home. Children were a great asset. More children meant more help, a bigger farm. There were many chores that a young boy or girl could do. When harvest time came, everyone joined in. It was a one team, and everyone contributed. When the crop was sold, that was the income for a combined effort from all members--men, women and even children. In a very real sense, everyone was earning the money, everyone was economically important.

A mother's place is within the home and not out in the world working. When she is in the home all day, she brings love and security to the children, sensitivity and stability to the husband. By raising her children, she changes the course of history. How does she do that? She raises strong children, good and intelligent children. They will grow up to be the great men and women in the community, the leaders of the nation. They will be the farmers, artists, businessmen, the teachers, the doctors, the lawyers, the architects, the presidents and, most importantly, the spiritual leaders. They will be the mothers, the homemakers and child-raisers, scientists and inventors, pioneers and poets, artists and sculptors and creators in all dimensions of life. It is such men and women who change the course of human history. This is the great power held by the mother and by no one else: to properly mold the mind and character of her children. And she trains her daughters to do the same by example and gentle guidance.

Of course, she also holds the opposite power, expressed through neglect, to allow her children to grow up on their own, on the streets where they will learn a base life. Such children will as surely change society and human history, but negatively. They will be the common men and women, or fall into mental and emotional abysses, there to express man's instinctive nature and become the exemplars of violence and lust, of dependence and crime. The very direction of humankind is right there in the early years, to be turned toward a great potential through love and attentiveness or allowed to decay through neglect. The mother is the child's first guru, and she alone can shape the mind in those impressionable years. So, you can all see the truth in the old saying: "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world."

We learn so many important things from the mother. This learning is not just from the things she explains to us, but from the way she lives her life. If she is patient, we learn patience. If she is angry and unhappy, then we learn to be angry and unhappy. How wonderful it is for a mother to be in the home and give her children the great gifts of life by her example. She can teach them so many things, bring them into profound understandings about the world around them and offer them basic values and points of view that will sustain them throughout their life. Her gift of love is directly to the child, but indirectly it is a gift to all of humanity, isn't it? A child does not learn much from the father until he is older, perhaps eight or nine, or ten years of age.

The Christian-Judaic-Islamic idea of a one life, that "you have to get everything out of this life because when you're gone, you're gone, so grab all the gusto that you can out of life" has given the modern Western woman the idea that she is not getting what she should, by being a woman, and therefore the world looks doubly attractive because she is just passing through and will never come back and doesn't want to miss anything. So, living a man's life is very, very attractive. She doesn't want to stay home all the time and not see anything, not meet anybody, go through the boredom of raising a family, taking care of the children. She wants to be out with life, functioning in a man's world because she is told that she is missing something. Therefore, you can understand her desire to get out and work, start seeing and experiencing life and mixing with people, meeting new people. The Hindu woman does not look at life like that. The Hindu woman knows that she was born in a woman's body--this soul has taken an incarnation for a time in a woman's body--to perform a dharma, to perform a duty for the evolution of the soul. The duty is to be a mother to her children, wife to her husband, to strengthen the home and the family, which are the linchpin of society. She knows that the rewards are greater for her in the home. She knows that all she is missing is a man's strenuous work and responsibility, that her stri dharma is equally as great as a man's purusha dharma, even though they are quite different by nature. Because she knows these things, she fulfills her dharma joyously.

Now, a woman may wonder, "If I don't work, how are we going to pay the bills?" The real reason that most women work is economic. The economy of the world is becoming more and more difficult, and the first answer to money problems, especially in the West, where the family unit is not too strong these days, is to have the woman go to work. This is an unhappy solution. The sacrifices are greater than the rewards. It is a false economy. Many times I have told young wives to stay home with their children. They worry. Their husbands worry. But with the wife at home, working to strengthen her husband, he soon becomes confident, creative, energetic. He is reinspired and always finds a way to make things work.

Anger

you; otherwise she wouldn't have been angry. Well, I made the great

Jealousy

Your attitude to the universe should be the same as your attitude to your self. Man is a member of a great fraternity. Woman is the counterpart of man. Without self-control the new world order can have no lasting strength of character. He who is pure and self-controlled is always peaceful. His life is always successful.

Ego

...One of the greatest problems...it will appear very paradoxical, but this is true: before you can lose your ego, you must attain it. Only a ripe fruit falls to the ground...

Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Every calling is great when greatly pursued."

Three visions for India

My good fortune was to have worked with three great minds. Dr. Vikram

have worked with all three of them closely and consider this the great

to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great

a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too....I am

Robert Vadra

[A most relaxed evening at 10, Janpath|http://www.rediff.com/news/feb/19wed.htm] : "It was a most relaxed evening at 10, Janpath on February 18, when Priyanka, daughter, grand-daughter and great grand-daughter of three former prime ministers of India, got married to jewellery exporter Robert Vadra."

Oh, Poor India!

Poor India ! If we allow this to unfold, then the unrest and killings which have been happening for the last 15 years in Kashmir, will spread to many parts of India, wherever there are important Muslim communities and the dream of Hindu-Muslim brotherhood will forever vanish. Arise again ï India, in this hour of need. Let thy sons and daughters prove again to the world that they are the worthy sons of one of the most ancient and greatest civilisation, which has still so much to give to the world.

Triple Filter Test

esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, "Do you

This is why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.

Life in Perspective

trip?" "It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people live?" the father

Brahmamuhurta

From [Deepavali] : ...Waking up during the Brahmamuhurta (at 4a.m.) is a great blessing from the standpoint of health, ethical discipline, efficiency in work

Svara Sadhana

Svara Sadhana, practice of breath, is the revealer of Satya, Brahman and bestower of the Supreme Knowledge and Bliss. Perform calm acts during the flow of Ida and harsh acts during the flow of Pingala. Do acts resulting in the attainment of psychic powers, Yoga, meditation, etc., during the flow of the Sushumna. If the breath rises by Ida (moon) at sunrise and flows throughout the day, and Pingala (sun) rises at sunset and flows throughout the night it confers considerable good results. Let the breath flow through Ida the whole day and through Pingala the whole night. He who practises thus is verily a great Yogi.

Adoption

Thousands of couples due to varied number of reasons and at a great number of circumstances: good and bad... act every second in a way that results in a baby in 10 months !

Unconditional Acceptance

compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little

Defeat

temporary, and its punishment is but an urge for me to greater effort to

The Pencil Maker

"One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in Someone's hand.

Karma Yogi

A karma yogi should bear insult, disrespect, dishonour, censure, infamy, disgrace, harsh words, heat and cold and the pains of disease. He should have great power of endurance. He should have absolute faith in himself, in God, in the scriptures and In the words of his guru. Such a man is a good karma yogi and reaches the goal quickly.

Thomas Huxley

If some great Power would agree to make me always think what is true and do what is right, on condition of being turned into a sort of clock and wound up every morning before I got out of bed, I should instantly close with the offer.

Vision Creates Great Leaders

[Articles] > Vision Creates Great Leaders

a great experience. An experience of best of education I can

That was a great saying to the young. You would see the

great scientists visited a number of places. Thumba in Kerala

independence and the emergence of great minds. As the

many great institutions like Indian Institute of Science,

Concluding Remarks : Inspiring the great mission

thereby the nation great.

The Rhine Falls

The Rhine Falls, the largest Falls in Europe, offer a spectacular showpiece to visitors. With an average flow of 25’000 cubic ft / sec (700 m3 / sec) the water cascades down the cataracts, which are 450 ft ( 150 m) wide and 75 ft (23 m) high. Taking a boat trip into the basin below the cataracts you can feel the great power of the rushing water.

Humphrey Davy

Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindness, and small obligations win and preserve the heart.

haiku

Bill Higginson : "The primary purpose of reading and writing haiku is sharing moments of our lives that have moved us, pieces of experience and perception that we offer or receive as gifts. At the deepest level, this is the one great purpose of all art, and especially of literature."

Ken Wilber

From [HeartSpace: What's New? Spiritual Essays, Poems, travels, etc.|http://www.heartspace.org/misc/new.html] : "Ken Wilber: I think any time you have a state that offers liberation from life's suffering, it's relevant. I don't think anybody would want to forgo a capacity for great liberation, including somebody in the modern world. The difficulty, of course, is how then do you bring that into the everyday world in a way that has some sort of relevance. I think that's where the general notion of the bodhisattva tends to make a great deal of sense,. Which is namely, you, after thoroughly realizing the formless state of nirvana, bring that realization to bear on every form that arises. The impulse that accompanies that is something known as compassion. So the driving force becomes, "I have been fortunate enough to find some kind of liberation, freedom, fullness in my own being. How can I communicate that to others in a way that benefits them?"

Epicurus

happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship.

Sadhana

Sadhana is a lifelong process. Every day, every hour, every minute, is an onward march. Obstacles are innumerable in this great voyage. But, so long as you hold God as thy guide, there is nothing to worry about. You are sure to reach the other shore.

Sudarshan Kriya

[Sri Sri Ravi Shankar] : "We need to do a cleansing process within ourselves. In sleep we get rid of fatigue, but the deeper stresses remain in our body. Sudarshan Kriya cleanses the system from the inside. The breath has a great secret to offer."

Wonder

When the wonder has gone out of a man he is dead. When all comes to all, the most precious element in life is wonder. Love is a great emotion and power is power. But both love and power are based on wonder. Plant consciousness, all are related by one permanent element, which we may call the religious element in all life, even in a flea: the sense of wonder. That is our sixth sense. And it is the natural religious sense.

What is your goal in this life?

so great. Always be ready, spiritually ready.

pain

[Swami Sivananda] in [Yoga of Self-Surrender|http://www.dlsmd.org/sdr/08-sdr%20aug/0812.htm]: Pain is the great eye-opener. It is your silent teacher. It will make you remember God. [Kunti] prayed "0 Lord Krishna, give me pain

Giving

the great law. That is the great unfoldment.

has not unfolded into giving, he thinks about himself a great deal,

Guru

[Gurudeva] : The satguru is like the sun. He is just there, radiating this very pure energy like the sun evaporates water.... It is hte seeker who opens himself to the great accumulated power of [darshan] which the guru inherited from his guru and his guru's guru, as well as the natural darshan he unfolded from within himself through his evolution and practices of [sadhana] and [tapas].

Rudram

[Glory of Rudram|http://www.geocities.com/kiran_king1/rudram.html] : ...Rudram is treated as the celebrated portion of Yajurveda with the sacred Sivapanchakshari mantram (Namasivaya) enshrined within it. It has got two portions called Namakkam and Chamakkam each containing eleven chapters or Anuvakams. Most of the chapters in the first portion end with the letter namaha or namo namaha while the ending letter of the second portion is “cha me”...It is firmly believed that every deity is pleased with Rudra japam, also that by chanting it whatever be the genuine prayers of one the same will be granted. Rudra japa is spoken of as a great purifier and the most effective expiation (pariharam) for even the worst sins. In summary Rudra japam is the best sadhana for attaining both material and spiritual benefits from Almighty...

Amalaki

It is composed of the herb Amalaki, one of Ayurveda's greatest rejuvenators. It assists the new growth of tissue, blood, teeth, bones, nails and hair. Amalaki is a strong natural ant-oxydant and also helps the immune system by increasing antibodies, prostagladin, and interferon.

NR Narayana Murthy

Have a great day ahead!!

Meaning

Said a traveler to one of the disciples, "I have traveled a great distance

The University of Hard Knocks

V. GOING UP--How we become great--We must get inside greatness--

There is no top--We make ourselves great by service--the

first step at hand--All can be greatest--Where to find great

keeps on going south and growing greater--We generally start well,

greatest stream. With no bucket you can get nothing at Niagara.

That often explains why one person says a lecture is great, while

Here is a great mass of words and sentences and pictures to express

THE greatest school is the University of Hard Knocks. Its books are

When I was thirteen I knew a great deal more than I do now. There

Children, I fear you will not be greatly interested in what is to follow.

of goodness into the mystery of the great unknown world beyond and

Down the great white way of the world go the million prodigals,

humanity need the same preparation for greater usefulness.

most of these knocks--who have faced the great crises of life and

of this same red mud. It had been moved over the Great Lakes and

I watched this red mud matriculate into a great hopper with

school began. They roasted it. It is a great thing to be roasted.

A great conflagration, a cyclone, a railroad wreck, an epidemic or

Out of the trenches of the Great War come nations chastened by

greatness. We go up in life. We become educated. Let me bring you

In other words, all the people of the world are in the great barrel

barrel of life. It is sending small people down and great people

If we are small we shall have a small destiny. If we are great we

shall have a great destiny. We cannot dodge our destiny.

We shake down if we become small; we shake up if we become great.

If we wish to go up, we must grow greater, and we shall shake up.

If you want a greater place, you simply grow greater and they

promotion. You grow greater, enlarge your dimensions, develop new

and you shake up to a greater place.

raised. As you grow greater you won't need to ask to be promoted.

lucky people grow great and the unlucky people shrivel and rattle.

growing into a greater, wiser merchant to hold his place among his

The greater and wiser the man, the more anxious he is to be told.

We young people come up into life wanting great places. I would not

want a great place. I would not give much for anybody who does not

look forward to greater and better things tomorrow.

We often think the way to get a great place is just to go after it

We think if we could only get into a great place we would be great.

But unless we have grown as great as the place we would be a great

joke, for we would rattle. And when we have grown as great as the

We do not become great by getting into a great place, any more than

great boots, but he rattles. He must grow greater feet before he

gets greater boots. But he must get the feet before he gets the

All life is preparation for greater things.

The world is not greatly impressed by testimonials. The man who has

I am the greatest ever, and should he return, no hall would be able

unreadiness? As we grow greater we have greater things. We have

How We Become Great

WE go up as we grow great. That is, we go up as we grow up. But so

many are trying to grow great on the outside without growing great

There is only one greatness--inside greatness. All outside

greatness is merely an incidental reflection of the inside.

Greatness is not measured in any material terms. It is not measured

Greatness is measured in spiritual terms. It is education. It is

We go up from little vision to greater vision.

We may become very great, very educated, rise very high, and yet

blacksmith shop right up with us! We make it a great kitchen or

great blacksmith shop. It becomes our throne-room!

Come, let us grow greater. There is a throne for each of us.

The world says that to get greatness means to get great things. So

the world is in the business of getting--getting great fortunes,

great lands, great titles, great applause, great fame, and

The Secret of Greatness

Christ Jesus was a great Teacher. His mission was to educate

top." Those two sons of Zebedee wanted to have the greatest places

They got very busy pursuing greatness, but I do not read that they

were half so busy preparing for greatness. They even had their

of greatness that can ever stand: "Whosoever will be great among

That is we cannot be "born great," nor "have greatness thrust upon"

us. We must "achieve greatness" by developing it on the

We cannot buy a great arm. Our arm must become a great servant, and

thus it becomes great.

We cannot buy a great mind. Our mind must become a great servant,

and thus it becomes great.

We cannot buy a great character. It is earned in great moral

getting greatness on the inside. Getting greatness on the outside

Everybody's privilege and duty is to become great. And the joy of

become great. It is a great stairway that leads from where our feet

As we grow greater our troubles grow smaller, for we see them thru

greater eyes. We rise above them.

As we grow greater our opportunities grow greater. That is, we

greater eyes to see them.

greater our vision, the more we see what is yet to be accomplished.

have been only a boy playing on the seashore * * * while the great

ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." That great ocean is

The great Teacher pointed to the widow who cast her two mites into

treasury. That is not why we give. We give to become great. The

Becoming great is overcoming our selfishness and fear. He that

great and glorified.

Our greatness therefore does not depend upon how much we give or

Finding the Great People

do not know all the great people who may come and stand upon this

who sweeps it--is just as great as anybody in the world who may

to make a roster of the great people of a community. You will find

The great people of the community serve and sacrifice for a better

effort in the town--the greatest man there, because the most

The great people are so busy serving that they have little time to

I found a great man lecturing at the chautauquas. He preaches in

life in loving service finds it returning to him great and

glorious. This man's preaching did not make him great. His college

did not make him great. His books did not make him great. These are

great--makes his preaching, his college and his books great.

yourself that afterwhile you are going to give great things and do

great things. Give it now! Give your dollar now, rather than your

great, dirty mill and a lot of little dirty houses around the mill.

export, he sent the boy to one of the greatest universities in the

The fault was with the little old man, who was so wise and great

great--of going up--of getting educated.

Poor little peanut! He rattled. He had never grown great enough to

fill so great a place. In two years and seven months the mill was

greatness, physically, mentally and morally. I believe I know some

they have served and overcome and developed great lives with the

acquired these elements of greatness in their lives.

just one series of greater commencements.

These fathers and mothers who toil and save, who get great farms,

greatness to their children--they can make great places for them in

to grow great enough for the places. The child gets the blame for

court and detention expenses was one of the greatest business

generals of the Keystone state. He could plat great coal empires

to rattle. Father and mother can be great and you can be a peanut.

that is the work that brings the joy and the greatness.

I am pleading for you to get a great arm, a great mind, a great

The happiness is in going up--in developing a greater arm, a

greater mind, a greater character.

been a great surprise to my friends and a great disappointment to

The man who will not make the effort to think is the great menace

bright lights,--hopers, suckers and straphangers! Down the great

office, go to the great pulpit, to the college chair--go to any

place of great responsibility in a city and ask the one who fills

struggle and service that makes for strength and greatness. And as

America is to be great, not in the greatness of a few crowded

cities, but in the greatness of innumerable home towns.

Ada, Ohio, one of Ohio's greatest educators, used to say with

He pitted class against class. He organized great literary and

not believe there is a school in America with a greater alumni roll

of men and women of uniformly greater achievement.

with a few great centralized state normal schools and state

men--great men. I am anxious that the modern school have the modern

that each student come in vital touch with great men. We get life

as our lives touch greater lives.

spirit of its teachers are its greatest endowment. And sometimes

the violin must go into the great tuning school of life. Here the

little feeling, "Yes, that is so." We hear the great truths of life

I was also greatly interested in companies where I put in one

I have always regarded Tom as one of my great school teachers. I

To me that is one of the great arguments for eternal life--how slowly

We are laughing the happy laugh at how we have learned these great

No sermon ever had greater truth, but I had not lived it. The old

Isn't it great to have friends and a fine home and money?" she

Many of the most brilliant theorists have been the greatest

I used to have respect amounting to reverence for great readers and

Indeed, in my childhood I thought he was the greatest man in the

He was a remarkable man--a great reader and with a memory that

The greatest book is the textbook of the University of Hard Knocks,

soul tighter and tighter, nearer and nearer to God's great concert

great baskets of provender and we had a feast. We covered the

mouth, it was a great opening, but nothing came out. It came out of

heart warmed at the sight of another great success--a sweet-faced

a loving father, plenty of money, opportunity and a great career

trial at the hands of this world. That is why the great Judge has

of what it seems to me our lives should be. I hear a great many

1. He keeps on going on south and growing greater.

Go On South and Grow Greater

is going on south and growing greater. You never meet him but what

The Mississippi gets to St. Paul and Minneapolis. He is a great

retire upon his laurels. He goes on south and grows greater. He

does not stop. He goes on south and grows greater.

Everywhere you meet him he is going on south and growing greater.

GROW GREATER! I hope I can make you remember that and say it over

GROW GREATER. For this is life, and there is no other. This is

Strickland Gillilan, America's great poet-humorist, say, "Egotism

We are only children in God's great kindergarten, playing with our

great fundamental of our life. I hope the oldest in years sees that

other day, and she wrote me that the great inventor showed her one

Moses, the great Hebrew law-giver, was eighty years old before he

the great prophet says, "Boys, what is it? Cut it short, I'm busy."

us, Go on south to the greater things, and get so enthused and

They have built a great concrete obstacle clear across the path of

Over the great power dam at Keokuk sweeps the Mississippi. And then

the light and power from the struggle. The great city of St. Louis,

unfortunate. I could do these great things, but alas! I have so

made it a part of himself. And he is greater and farther south!

was riding stopped in Louisiana. We had come to a river so great

and thus making it a part of ourselves, and thus growing greater.

into the great Gulf of the Beyond, to go on south unfolding thru eternity.

great bump that struck me one morning in Los Angeles. It seemed as

It spreads out below in one great mosaic of turquoise and amber

A great light seemed to break over my stormswept soul. I am under

that seem so great down in the valley, seem so small as I look down

know it was one of the greatest blessings of my life. It closed one

"It is a great big boost for everybody who will read it. People

one of the great stories of the day."

Justice

From [God's Justice] : ...When you see wicked people living in lust and happiness while godly ones live in poverty and pain, let your trust in God be great and humble. Who are you, that you should have the impudence to know the ways of the All-wise One, or search the paths of the Incomprehensible? It is enough that you know what is required for your own righteousness. So be silent before God's righteousness, which is far beyond your grasp...

Living Totally

Alexander the Great meets Diogenes

When Alexander the Great was coming to India, he met one strange man, Diogenes. It was a winter morning, a cool breeze was blowing, and Diogenes was lying on the riverbank, taking a sunbath, naked. He was a beautiful man--when there is a beautiful soul, a beauty arises which is not of this world.

Vedas

[Vedic way to healthy living|http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2002/09/02/stories/2002090200120300.htm] : ...But isn't it necessary that one understand the meaning of the Vedas that is being recited, was the unanimous question from the gathering. To this, Sri Tatwamasi Dixit said, "Well, the very meaning of the Vedas is knowledge, and they transcend religion and beliefs. It is not necessary that one understand the language in which it is recited. One can benefit from it through three levels — vibratory level that is the structured patterns or just the sound are said to have a great impact on the body; next, by understanding the meaning of the verses; and the third, by perceiving the emotions or feelings in the verses. Basically, if one develops a faith that these words have some power and meaning, then that belief itself will have a positive effect on them."...

Innovation

If you want to fill your company with great ideas, fill it with great people. And that, according to Stanford professor Robert Sutton, means welcoming weird people. Here are 5 1/2 ways to do it.

If you want to fill your company with great ideas, fill it with great people. And that, according to Stanford professor Robert Sutton, means welcoming weird people. Here are 5 1/2 ways to do it.

Aru Padai Veedu Tour

It is every Murugan devotee's dream. At least once in a lifetime, one should visit Lord Murugan's Aru Padai Veedugal, His Six Great Camps scattered across the length and breadth of Tamil Nadu. In Tamil Nadu, even beggar-devotees routinely make the circuit to these six (Tirupparankundram, Tiruchendur, Palani, Swami Malai, Tiruttani and Palamuthirsolai) temples and to many other famous temples sacred to Murugan and other great deities.

Theosophy

"Theosophy" comes from the Greek "Theos" and "sophia" meaning literally "Divine Knowledge". It is a body of knowledge - accumulated since time immemorial - that answers the great questions of life - Who am I, Where am I going, What am I doing here, What is the nature of the soul, What is the origin of the universe and What can be said about the nature of divinity.

Perseverance

Johnson (?) : All the performances of the human heart at which we look with praise or wonder are instances of the resistless force of PERSEVERANCE. It is by this that the quarry becomes a pyramid, and that distant countries are united by canals.... Operations incessantly continued, in time surmount the greatest difficulties, and mountains are levelled and oceans bounded by the slender force of human beings

Elusive Happiness

Mind is greater than the senses. Pure intellect is greater than the

mind. Atman is greater than the intellect. There is nothing greater

The Law of Being

pillars on which dharma rests. These are the great, eternal laws that

Society

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. — Greek proverb

Saint

forbearing. He has a generous heart and possesses great fortitude and

Secret of Living

the greatest charges on the vital economy. If you put food into the

Mumukshutva

great unrest. He will forget everything of this world. His sole concern

Eknath Easwaran

http://www.nilgiri.org/nilgiri.cfm?pageid=5001 : ...Sri Eknath Easwaran is respected around the world as one of the twentieth century’s great spiritual teachers...

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

[People] > Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov - A 'Master of the Great White Brotherhood'.

Stupa

http://www.stupa.org.au : The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion is being built at the Atisha Buddhist Centre, in Bendigo City, Australia.

Teachings of Yoga

...Arjuna typifies the spiritual seeker who, until he has received illuminating instruction from a qualified teacher, walks through life in ignorance, causing himself and others much needless suffering...All of us have a Krishna and an Arjuna component in our nature. We are both Self (or Spirit) and self (or ego-bound personality)...The mind is the alchemical mercury that must be transmuted into pure gold. It is also the cauldron in which this process of transformation occurs...The quotations in this volume were chosen for their inspirational power...Listening(shravana) to the disclosures of sages and saints is one of the time-honored practices of seeks after the Truth. Any time we pay attention to anything, we participate in it on the subtle levels. Therefore it matters greatly where we place our attention. The sages long ago recommended that the next best thing to immersing oneself in the Truth directly through profound meditation and ecstasy is to hear it from the mouth of one who knows and then to ponder it with one's native reasoning ability...

Melbourne

[The Great Ocean Road|http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au/]

The Diamond Cutter

http://www.enlightenedbusiness.com/newsstand.html - [Geshe Michael Roach], one of today's great teachers of Tibetan Buddhism, has richly woven The Diamond Cutter in three layers. The first is a translation of The Diamond Cutter Sutra itself, an ancient text comprised of conversations between the Buddha and his close disciple Subhuti. In the second layer, Geshe Michael Roach quotes from some of the best commentaries of the Tibetan tradition. In the main text, the third layer, he uses both Sutra and commentary as a jumping-off point for presenting his own teaching.

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

[Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Introduction by Chester Messenger|http://reluctant-messenger.com/yoga-sutras.htm] : ...The greatest classical text from the yoga school of Indian philosophy is the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali, written in the second century BC. These "threads" on yoga or union, are extremely terse, stating concisely and often precisely, essential points or techniques. Originally these teachings were oral and were explained and interpreted by commentaries from a teacher guiding the student...

Robert Blackwill

the great storyteller, and because I am soon leaving

there and back in great comfort. A wonderful train.

Takshaka

[Guruji Sri Muralidhara Swamigal's Bhagavatam discourse|http://www.madhuramurali.org/swamigal/essay/ji_lecbhagavatam.html] : .....King Parikshit throws a dead snake on a Rishi by name Shamika, in an attempt to test his 'Samadhi' stage and thus earns the curse of the Rishikumar (son of the Rishi). The Rishikumar curses the King would die of Snake Takshaka's bite. The Rishi who knows King Parikshit to be virtuous sends his son to divulge the curse to the King. The great King does not punish the bold Rishi kumar who comes to reveal the curse, instead asks him how many days are left for him to live.....

20050118

[Airbus A380 unveiled – a milestone in the history of aviation|http://www.bundesregierung.de/en/-,10001.775969/artikel/Airbus-A380-unveiled-a-milesto.htm] : .....Airbus is a successful example of European industrial cooperation involving Germany, France, Great Britain, and Spain.

The front and rear sections of the fuselage are made in Germany. The middle section comes from France. Great Britain provides the wings and Spain the tail section. More than a hundred companies from around the world supply parts. The plane is assembled in Toulouse. Interior installations and the final paint job are done in Hamburg.

Puthucode

Puthucode is a picturesque village situated in idyllic surroundings in the central part of Kerala. It is located almost on the westernmost boundary of Alatur taluk in Palghat district, and is a border village lying between Palghat and Trichur districts. One of the oldest temples dedicäled to Goddess Bhagawathi, known as Puthucode Bhagawathi is situated in this village. The temple is located at the centre of a habitation of great Vedic Scholars, all around which live people of Hindu society serving the temple. In essence, the temple formed the centre of activity for the whole villagers catering to their spiritual, cultural and social needs. Due to several factors, the temple came under the management of Naduvil Madam Devaswoms and little is known of the period earlier to this. It is believed that in the days past, a Sanyasi by name Manjapotta Swamji camped in Puthucode, and the villagers gifted the temple and properties to him, thus establishing that the temple belonged to the villagers.

The temple occupies extensive ground. It is difficult to find a temple in Kerala with such large and wide four-squared construction called “Chuttambalam”. It has been built on the principles of Agamasastra. The daily rituals are held according to traditional Kerala customs. Cherumukku Manaikkal Nambudiris hold the right as its head priest. But the daily poojas are done by immigrant Brahmin. The present day poojas are done by Sri Ka3i who is heir to a tradition left behind by his father and grand-father, who like him were also performing the poojas. The temple opens for worship everyday at 5.30 a.m. and closes at 10 a.m. Again it reopens for evening worship at 4.30 p.m. Closing at 9 p.m. The deity is a Prasannatha Moorthy Swaroopini casting spell on worshippers by her radiant smile and charm. It needs thousand eyes to behold the beauty and splendour of the goddess in full decoration in the evenings. Srinivasa lyer’s deft hands who is an adept in sandal paste decoration called “Chandana charthu” contribute a great deal in this transformation (Now his son Kasi).

The temple is open to all belonging to Hindu society. In the mornings the pundits from village recite Devi Mahatmyam and Sundarakandam for the welfare of all. In the evenings recitation of vedas by the learned takes place and particular mention must be made of Varam recitals in the month of November/December which bring to the fore the great erudition, skill, and knowledge of the participants. The younger generation also assembles in evenings for community recital of Shyamaladandakam and Sahasranamam. The Variyam, Nambisan and Marar families carry out the other chores in the temple.

One of the most important festivals of the temple is Navarathri festival which falls in September/October each year. This festival is celebrated by the joint efforts of the villagers and the Devaswom with great gusto. An air of festivity descends on the village for ten days during this time. It is a custom of this temple that, those who come to worship during these ten days are fed free. The deity is therefore called ‘Annapoorneswari.”

20050114

We will do great service to nature in allowing it to maintain the

convinced that loka seva, service to humanity, is the greatest purpose

Suddhananda Vidyalaya

Akshar Educational Trust is a charitable Trust founded by [Swami Suddhananda], a great visionary of our times, to start schools, in various parts of India.

Rutger Kortenhorst

They learn to speak well, starting from Sanskrit, the mother language of all languages. Those who speak well run the world. Barack Obama makes a difference because he can speak well. Mahatma Gandhi could move huge crowds with well-balanced words. Mother Theresa could express herself with simple words which uplift us even now. The language of the great Master Teachers of mankind from times past is all we have got after centuries and millennia, but they make all the difference. We can enter the remarkable mind of Plato through his words. If your daughter or son can express themselves well through conscious language they will be the leaders of the next generation.

Vivekananda, a great spiritual leader from India revered by all in the World Religious Conference of 1880 said:

Narendra says he owes his method to Sri Aurobindo and his companion ‘the Mother’ who inspired him to come up with the course we now follow in Dublin. This is one of the many things ‘the Mother’ said to inspire him:“Teach logically. Your method should be most natural, efficient and stimulating to the mind. It should carry one forward at a great pace. You need not cling there to any past or present manner of teaching.”

The future. Let us look at the 500 – year cycle of a Renaissance. The last European Renaissance developed three subjects: Art, Music and Science to shape the world we live in today. It had its beginning in Florence. The great Humanist Marsilio Ficino made Plato available to the masses by translating it from Greek to Latin. We live in exciting times and may well be at the beginning of a new Renaissance. It also will be based on three new subjects: Some say that these will be Economics, Law and Language.