Keep your Eyes and Ears open

(Received in WhatsApp. Author unknown. If you are the author, please get in touch)

ANYONE CAN TEACH US SOMETHING NEW!

Why the name AUTO for the most popular vehicle in Chennai?

(For the uninitiated, AUTO, in Indian cities refers to mechanically operated rickshaws, otherwise known as auto-rickshaw) 

One early morning some time in 2016, on reaching Central Station from Coimbatore, I engaged an Auto to go home.

The Auto driver appeared to be a well informed person. I struck up a conversation with him enquiring about competition that he faced from call taxis. He admitted that it was tough but was confident that autos would survive. While he pointed out the short life of call taxi companies like Bharathi, NTL, Friends etc. he was confident that Autos would survive.

Suddenly he asked me whether I knew the meaning of "Auto".

I said "No".

He surprised me with his explanation.

"During the British Rule, medicines were transported to hospitals from the Central medical Depots initially by hand pulled rickshaws, then by pedalled tricycle rickshaws.

At that time an enterprising Sardar from Jallandar fixed a motor to the cycle rickshaw which was used to draw water. After making innovative alterations to the vehicle, it was faster & could carry heavier loads.

So, the British Government Invested in more such motorised vehicles to transport urgent life saving medicines to hospitals.

These were called "An Urgent Transport Option".

The AUTO became very popular and slowly they were used for various other purposes including transporting passengers.

Over the period, this was modified technically and in appearance."

I realized that to gain knowledge, one has to keep one's Eyes and Ears open always because we never know from where it comes to us!

A Son teaches a lesson to all

A son took his old father to a restaurant for an evening dinner. 

His father, being very old and weak, while eating, dropped food on his shirt and pants. The mess that he made disgusted the other diners in the restaurant while his son remained calm.

After they were finished eating, the son, who was not embarrassed at all, quietly took him to the wash room, wiped off the food particles, removed the stains, combed his hair and fitted his glasses firmly, When they came out, the entire restaurant was watching them in dead silence, not able to grasp how someone could embarrass themselves publicly like that.

The son settled the bill and started to leave the eatery with his father.

At that time, an old man amongst the diners called out to the son and asked him, “Don’t you think you left something behind?”

The son replied, “No sir, I haven’t.”

The old man retorted, “Yes, you have! You have left a lesson for every son and hope for every father.”

The restaurant went silent.

It is said old age is another childhood. Parents take extreme care of their off springs, love them with all their heart and stand with them even when they start a family of their own. All one can do is to love them and take care of them in their second innings.   

We do not become poor by giving

The Universe is in an eternal state of cycles. Day & night, cycle of seasons, water cycle, seed to tree to seed….. Nature's attempt to convey to us that giving and receiving are two different forms of the same energy.

We keep the copiousness of this energy circulating in our lives in our readiness to follow this principle. When we try to cut or stop this flow of energy, we find ourselves blocked to receive the abundance that the Universe has to offer us. The act of fulfilling our desires is directly proportionate to the act of our willingness to make others happy.

When we understand that what we give comes flowing back to us in multitudes, we open the door to this flood of energy and would never make any attempt close it again. Because we begin to appreciate what Anne Frank says, “No one has ever become poor by giving.”

What are the ways in which we can give? Here's what Rhonda Byrne of Secret Scroll has to say:

From The Daily Teachings of the Secret Scroll

Giving opens up the door to receiving. You have so many opportunities to give every day.

Give kind words.
Give a smile.
Give appreciation and love.
Give compliments.
You can give courtesy to other motorists while you are driving.
You can give a smile to the car parking attendant.
You can give a warm greeting to the newspaper stand person or the person who makes your coffee.
You can give by allowing a stranger to go ahead of you into an elevator, and you can give by asking which floor they are going to and pressing the button for them.
If someone drops something you can give a helping hand and pick it up for them.
You can give warm embraces to those you love.
And you can give appreciation and encouragement to everyone.

There are so many opportunities for you to give and thereby open the door to receiving.

May the joy be with you,
Rhonda Byrne

Listening skills

Excerpts from Steve Goodier www.LifeSupportSystem.com

Joe, a 22-year-old electrician went to Manhattan a few days after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center buildings. He wanted to volunteer his time, but discovered that his skills were not needed.

But it turns out that Joe was able to help in a way he never anticipated.

For on the train ride home, he sat across from a weary firefighter who was also traveling home from the scene of the disaster. The firefighter was covered in what appeared to be "ground zero" dirt and debris. Though Joe could see bits of rock in the man's hair and noticed that his hands were bloody, what worried the young man most was the look in the firefighter's eyes. They appeared lifeless and dull.

Then the man, apparently in shock, began to talk and Joe listened.

Joe soon forgot his own disappointment about not being able to volunteer his skills that day as he listened to the gruesome story the firefighter related.

The man told about retrieving a shoe with a foot inside. Joe listened.

He talked about cleaning debris from a face, then discovering that this person's body was gone. Joe continued to listen without flinching.

He did not react in disgust. He did not judge. He did not interrupt. He just listened.

He listened as the firefighter lamented about the carnage everywhere and about shoes...there were so many shoes, he said. Everywhere...shoes.

Through it all Joe quietly held the man's attention and listened, which is exactly what the rescue worker needed at that moment.

And because he listened, the man continued to speak. He talked his pain out, as much as possible. In the presence of a stranger, he tried to put his world back in order, to make sense of the day's chaos.

And Joe, for that time at least, helped him carry his unbelievably heavy burden.

That day Joe did not give blood, nor did he use his electrical skills to help with the relief effort.

But he did one of the most important things a human can do for another. He gave a stunned and disheartened man his whole attention, and thereby, in a small but vital way, assisted in the work of setting the world right.

Mary Lou Casey says, "What people really need is a good listening-to." It's not always easy. And, at times, it may not be fun. In fact, listening closely to another often turns out to be difficult work.

But day in and day out, attentive listening may be one of the most important and satisfying ways we can spend our time.

It's true. What people really need is a good listening-to.

Look for your own path

Sufi Story

When Saadi of Shiraz was a child, he used to pray with his father, his uncles and his cousins. Every night they would gather together to listen to a passage from the Koran.

On one such night, while his uncle was reading a passage out loud, he noticed that most of the people were asleep.

He said to his father: "Not one of these dozy people is listening to the words of the Prophet. They'll never reach God."

And his father replied: "My dear son, look for your own path with faith and let others take care of themselves. Who knows, perhaps they are talking to God in their dreams. Believe me, I would much prefer you to be sleeping alongside them than to hear your harsh words of judgement and condemnation."'

Power of Prayer

Divine Discourse by Sathya Sai Baba, May 16, 1964.

"A man who had four wives happened to go to Mumbai on some work. From there, he wrote to all of them that he was prepared to bring home whatever each of them wanted. 

The first wife asked for some nice tonics for her health, as well as rugs and woolen clothing to be of service whenever she fell ill.

The second wife wanted some saris of the latest style, jewelry of the Mumbai type and such other sundry decorative stuff.

The third asked him to select for her some religious books like the Jnaneshwari, abhangs, etc. available in Mumbai book-shops, as well as pictures of Pandharinath, Bhavani and Sai Baba.

The fourth wife had no list at all; she simply wrote, "If you return soon and safe, that is enough for me."

The others got big packets containing whatever they had asked for, but the last one got his love.

God gives you whatever you pray for; so think well and discriminate clearly before you pray and ask."

Are You God's Wife?

by: Author Unknown

It was a cold day in December. A little boy about 10-year-old was standing before a shoe store, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold. A lady approached the boy and said, "My little fellow, why are you looking so earnestly in that window?"

"I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes," told the sad faced boy hesitatingly.

The lady took him by the hand and went into the store, and asked the clerk to get a half dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. 

She took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with a towel. By this time the clerk had returned with the socks. 

Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she then purchased him a pair of shoes, and tying up the remaining pairs of socks, gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, "My little fellow, you feel more comfortable now?"

The astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, with tears in his eyes, asked her in turn, "Are you God's wife?"

A true friend

Story source: http://www.jokeawhenever.com/inspirational/50-horror-gripped-the-heart-of.html

Horror gripped the heart of the World War I soldier as he saw his lifelong friend fall in battle.

Caught in a trench with continuous gunfire whizzing over his head, the soldier asked his lieutenant if he might go out into the "No Man's Land" between the trenches to bring his fallen comrade back.

"You can go," said the Lieutenant, "but I don't think it will be worth it. Your friend is probably dead and you may throw your own life away."

The Lieutenant's words didn't matter, and the soldier went anyway.

Miraculously he managed to reach his friend, hoist him onto his shoulder, and bring him back to their company's trench. As the two of them tumbled in together to the bottom of the trench, the officer checked the wounded soldier, then looked kindly at his friend. "I told you it wouldn't be worth it," he said. "Your friend is dead, and you are mortally wounded."

"It was worth it, though, sir," the soldier said.

"How do you mean, 'worth it?' " responded the Lieutenant. "Your friend is dead!"

"Yes sir," the private answered. "But it was worth it because when I got to him, he was still alive, and I had the satisfaction of hearing him say, 'Jim, I knew you'd come.' "

The sound that the heart desires

On a beautiful day, a Master heard one of his students asking his friends what was the most beautiful sound on Earth.

'The sound of the flute,' said one.

'Birdsong,' said another.

'A woman's voice,' said a third…….

The discussion continued late into the night, without anyone reaching any conclusion.

Days later, the Master invited that student and his friends to supper. In the room next door, the best orchestra in the world was playing lovely music, but there was no food on the table. 

Around midnight, by which time his guests were all starving hungry, the Master finally served up a superb feast.

Listening to the clatter of cutlery on the plates of the hungry students, the master remarked, ‘it’s too noisy’.

‘After hours without eating, isn't the clatter of cutlery on plates a heavenly sound?' remarked the student.

‘My dear, you have just answered your own question about what is the most beautiful sound on Earth,' replied the Master. 'It could be the voice of the woman we love, the singing of birds, the clatter of plates, the breathing of someone dear to us beside us in bed ……. but it will always be the sound that our heart needs to hear at that precise moment.'

Who is the richest person?

Author Unknown

A rich landowner often rode around his vast estate so he could congratulate himself on his great wealth.

One day while riding around his estate on his favorite horse, he saw an old tenant farmer sitting under a tree and praying with folded hands. His humble food was lying before him. The rich man asked him why he is praying instead of eating.

The farmer said, 'I was just thanking God for my food.'

The rich man protested, 'If that is all I had to eat, I wouldn't feel like giving thanks.'

The farmer replied, 'God has given me everything I need, and I am thankful for it.'

He then added, 'It is strange you should come by today because I had a dream last night. In my dream a voice told me, 'The richest man in the valley will die tonight.' I don't know what it means, but I thought I ought to tell you.'

The rich man snorted, 'Dreams are nonsense,' and galloped away, but he could not forget the old man's words: 'The richest man in the valley will die tonight.'

He was obviously the richest man in the valley, so he invited his doctor to his house that evening. He told the doctor what the farmer had said. After a thorough examination, the doctor told the wealthy landowner, 'You are as strong and healthy as a horse. There is no way you are going to die tonight.'

Nevertheless, for assurance, the doctor stayed with him, and they played cards through the night. The doctor left the next morning and the man apologized for becoming so upset over the old man's dream. At about nine o'clock, a messenger arrived at his door.

'What is it?' the rich man demanded.

The messenger explained, 'It's about that old farmer. He died last night in his sleep.'

The richest man is not he who HAS THE MOST but he who NEEDS THE LEAST. The richest people are not necessarily happy. He may be a successful person. But its more important for anyone to heed to the lessons of the failure. The experiences taught by success and failure make one more richer than the material wealth. "Being the richest man in the cemetery does not matter to me. Going to bed at night saying that we've done something wonderful.....thats what matters to me," says Steve Jobs.

Not everything in Nature can be explained

The male monkey and the female monkey were sitting on the branch of a tree watching the sunset. At one point, she said: 'What makes the sky change colour when the sun reaches the horizon?'

'If we tried to explain everything, we wouldn't be able to live,' replied the male monkey. 'Just sit quietly and let this romantic sunset fill our hearts with gladness.'

The female monkey grew angry. 'You're so primitive and superstitious. You're not interested in logic any more, you just want to enjoy life.'

At that moment, a centipede happened to be walking past.

'Centipede!' called the male monkey. 'How do you manage to move all those legs of yours in such perfect harmony?'

'I've never really thought about it,' came the reply.

'Well, think about it! My wife would like an explanation!'

The centipede looked at its legs and began: 'Well…first I move this muscle, no, no I don't, first, I have to sway my body in this direction…'

The centipede spent half an hour trying to explain how it moved its legs, and the harder it tried, the more confused it became. Wanting to continue on its way, it found it could no longer walk.

'See what you've done?' it cried out in despair. 'In my eagerness to explain how I work, I've forgotten how to move.'

'Now do you see what happens when someone tries to explain everything?' said the male monkey, turning to enjoy the sunset in silence.

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart." Helen Keller

Life is game, play it

A young man said to the abbot of a monastery: ‘I would really like to become a monk, but I have learned nothing of importance in my life. My father only taught me how to play chess, and that does not lead to enlightenment. And besides, I was told that all games are sinful.'

'They can be sinful, but they can also be a diversion, and perhaps this monastery needs a little of both,' came the reply.

The abbot called for a chessboard and summoned a monk to play with the young man.

However, before the game began, he added: ‘We may need diversion, but we cannot have everyone playing chess all the time. We will have only the best players here. If our monk loses, he will leave the monastery, thus creating an opening for you.'

The abbot was deadly serious. The young man played an aggressive game, but then he noticed the saintly look in the monk's eyes, and from then on, he began to play deliberately badly.

He decided that he would rather lose because he felt that the monk could prove far more useful to the world than him.

Suddenly, the abbot overturned the chessboard onto the floor.
'You learned far more than you were taught,' he said.
'You have the powers of concentration necessary to win and you are capable of fighting for what you want, but you also have compassion and the ability to sacrifice yourself for a noble cause. You have shown yourself capable of balancing discipline and mercy; welcome to our monastery!'

Negative desires

A disciple said to his teacher: 'I have spent a large part of my day thinking things I should not think, desiring things I should not desire, and making plans I should not make.'

The teacher invited his disciple to go for a walk with him in a forest near his house.

On the way, he pointed to a plant and asked if the disciple knew what it was.

'It's deadly nightshade,' said the disciple. 'The leaves can kill you if you eat them.'

'But they cannot kill you if you merely look at them. In exactly the same way, negative desires are entirely harmless unless you give in to them.'

Worry is a fatal disease

By Author unknown

Death was walking toward a city one morning, and a man asked, "What are you going to do and where are you going?"

"I'm going to take 100 people by evening," Death replied.

"That"s horrible!" the man said.

"That's the way it is," Death said, "That's what I do."

The man hurried to warn everyone he could, about Death's plan.

As evening fell, the man realized 1000 people had died.

He met Death again. "You told me you were going to take only 100 people," the man said. "Why did 1,000 die?"

“I kept my word,” Death responded, "I only took 100 people. Worry took the others.”

Worry is, and always will be, a fatal disease of the heart, for it signals the end of faith.

Release the regrets of yesterday, refuse the fears of tomorrow and receive instead, the peace of today.

Do not allow worries and work pressures inside your home. Once you enter your home, simply let go and let God take over.

Live this way and be eternally blessed.

Inward look is more important

A disciple who loved and admired his teacher decided to observe his behavior minutely, believing that if he did everything that his teacher did, then he would also acquire his teacher's wisdom.

The teacher always wore white, and so his disciple did the same.

The teacher was a vegetarian, and so his disciple stopped eating meat and replaced it with a diet of vegetables and herbs.

The teacher was an austere man, and so the disciple decided to devote himself to self-sacrifice and started sleeping on a straw mattress.

After some time, the teacher noticed these changes in his disciple's behavior and asked him why.

‘I am climbing the steps of initiation,' came the reply. ‘The white of my clothes shows the simplicity of my search, the vegetarian food purifies my body, and the lack of comfort makes me think only of spiritual things.'

Smiling, the teacher took him to a field where a horse was grazing.

‘You have spent all this time looking outside yourself, which is what matters least,' he said. 'Do you see that creature there? He has white skin, eats only grass and sleeps in a stable on a straw bed. Do you think he has the face of a saint or will one day become a real teacher?'

Four types of men

From Tales and Parables of Sri Ramakrishna

MEN may be divided into four classes:
1. the ever-free,
2. the seekers after liberation,
3. the liberated and
4. those bound by the fetters of the world.

1. Suppose a net has been cast into a lake to catch fish. Some fish are so clever that they are never caught in the net. They are like the ever-free. Among the ever-free we may count sages like Narada. They live in the world for the good of others, to teach men spiritual truths.

2. But most of the fish are entangled in the net. Some of them try to free themselves from it, and they are like those who seek liberation. The seekers after liberation want to free themselves from attachment to the world. Some of them succeed and others do not.

3. A very few fish do jump out of the net, making a big splash in the water. Then the fishermen shout, 'Look! There goes a big one!' They are like the Liberated. The liberated souls, such as the Sadhus and Mahatmas, are not entangled in the world, in woman and gold. Their minds are free from worldliness. Besides they always meditate on the Lotus Feet of God.

4. But most of the fish caught in the net cannot escape, nor do they make any effort to get out. On the contrary, they burrow into the mud with the net in their mouths and lie there quietly, thinking, 'We need not fear any more; we are quite safe here.' But the poor things do not know that the fishermen will drag them out with the net. These are like the men bound to the world. Those in bondage are sunk in worldliness and are forgetful of God. Not even by mistake do they think of God.

Trust in God's powers

Did you know that an eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks? The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come.

When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm.

While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it.

The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm.

When the storms of life come upon us - and all of us will experience them - we can rise above them by setting our minds and our belief toward God.

The storms do not have to overcome us. We can allow God's power to lift us above them.

God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment in our lives. We can soar above the storm.

Remember, it is not the burdens of life that weigh us down, it is how we handle them.

The Bible says, "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles." Isaiah 40:31

Believe what you feel

Adapted from: "Tuesdays With Morrie" by Mitch Albom

A teacher had an exercise for the students to try. They were to stand, facing away from their classmates, and fall backward, relying on another student to catch them. Most of the students were uncomfortable with this, and they couldn't let go for more than a few inches before stopping themselves. They laughed in embarrassment.

Finally, one student, a thin, quiet, dark-haired girl crossed her arms over her chest, closed her eyes, leaned back, and did not flinch, like one of those Lipton tea commercials where the model splashes into the pool..

For a moment, all were sure she was going to thump on the floor.

At the last instant, her assigned partner grabbed her head and shoulders and yanked her up harshly.

"Whoa!!" several students yelled. Some clapped.

The teacher finally smiled, "You see", he said to the girl, "you closed your eyes. That was the difference. Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, so you have to believe what you feel. And if you ever want to have other people trust you, you must prove that you can trust them too - even when you're in the dark. Even when you're falling".

Live a life full of Love

'Why is it that some people can resolve the most complicated problems really easily, whilst others struggle over every tiny crisis and end up drowning in a glass of water?' the student asked the Master.

Master replied by telling the following story:

'Once upon a time, there was a man who had been the soul of kindness all his life. When he died, everyone assumed that he would go straight to Heaven, for the only possible place for a good man like him was Paradise. The man wasn't particularly bothered about going to Heaven, but that was where he went.

But the angel who received him there, gave only a cursory glance through the index cards before her and when she couldn't find the man's name, she sent him straight to Hell.

And in the hell no one checked, for anyone who turned up is invited in. The man entered and stayed…

Some days later, Lucifer stormed up to the gates of Heaven to demand an explanation from St Peter. "What you're doing is pure terrorism!" he said.

St Peter asked why Lucifer was so angry, and an enraged Lucifer replied: "You sent that man down into Hell, and he's completely demoralizing me! Right from the start, there he was listening to people, looking them in the eye, talking to them. And now everyone's sharing their feelings and hugging and kissing. That's not what I want in Hell! Please, take him into Heaven!'

When the Master had finished telling the story, he looked at the student fondly and said: 'Live your life with so much love in your heart that if, by mistake, you were sent to Hell, the Devil himself would deliver you up to Paradise.'

Only the Heart can view right

A young couple moved into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they were eating breakfast, the young woman saw her neighbor hanging the wash outside.

"That laundry is not very clean; she doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."

Her husband looked on, remaining silent.

Every time her neighbor hung her wash to dry, the young woman made the same comments.

A month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and told her husband: "Look, she's finally learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this."

The husband replied, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows."

And so it is with life. The world doesn’t become green just because you view it with green glasses. The fault doesn’t lie with the world. Its your colored glasses that’s preventing you from seeing the reality and creates an illusory world. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. When the heart is pure and clean, what the eyes see is also pure and clean.