Pearls of Wise

======================================================================== ======================================================================== 23/12/2019. #Chapter-3-Karmayogam, Slokam-35 ======================================================================= ======================================================================= "Shreyan swa-dharmo vigunah para-dharmat sva-anushthitat, swa-dharme nidhanam shreyah para-dharmo bhayavahah," -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- shreyan—better; swa-dharmah—personal duty; vigunah—tinged with faults; para-dharmat—than another’s prescribed duties; swa-anushthitat—perfectly done; swa-dharme—in one’s personal duties; nidhanam—death; shreyah—better; para-dharmat—duties prescribed for others; bhaya-avahah—fraught with fear. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

======================================================================= ====================================================================== 22/12/2019. A leader is one who is able to lead the minds and intellects of the others around. If he thinks that he can lead by order and command, he is grossly mistaken. It will never work. Understand that everyone is directed by the mind, and the mind is directed by the intelligence. #A good leader must be able to touch the minds of his people, and also activate their intelligence. #And how will he do that? #Mind will respond to emotions. So have love, sympathy and concern. #Be considerate. #Whenever you say something to your assistants, keep the watchword, `consideration' in your heart. #Never dislike anybody. #Not all are equally efficient. Some will surely make mistakes. #But the world makes provision for all. So too your mind should make a provision for everybody. #Evaluate your people well, keeping in mind...

====================================================================== ======================================================================= 21/12/2019. Chapter 1 : Srimad Bhagavad Gita ======================================================================= 1.1 The Gita begins with a chapter on the Yoga of Arjuna’s despondency or Vishaad Yoga. Its backdrop is the Mahabharata war with both armies facing each other. Arjuna wants to survey the scene of war. He requests the Lord to position his chariot in the middle of the battlefield. Faced with his family on both sides, his dilemma begins. His emotions get the better of him and he is confused about his duties. #This is our problem… the problem of all humanity and Arjuna is our representative. 1.2 Literally the title of the chapter - Vishaad Yoga means the Yoga of sorrow. All sorrow would not qualify for this title, because per se, sorrow is not yoga. Only that sorrow which, yokes us to or propels us towards Bhagw...

======================================================================= ====================================================================== 20/12/2019. Post-2. ======================================================================= What is that central teaching? The central teaching is that, in fact, all life is yoga. Life is to be lived as the great sadhana, the great yoga. All actions constitute yoga. Everything that you think is yoga. Everything that you speak is yoga. Everything that you do is yoga. That is why everything that you think should be thought of as yoga. That is why everything that you utter should be regarded as yoga. That is why everything that you do must be done as yoga. There is nothing else in life except yoga and yoga alone. All of life is yoga. Life is the great sadhana. Life is the supreme yoga, every part of it. Life is to be lived as such. That is why it was given. Each and every one of our actions from morning till evening should have a God...

======================================================================== ======================================================================== 19/12/2019. Grief over any matter is born of ignorance. There is a difference between concern and grief. A person weeps because of the loving relationship with or personal attachment to the departed or simply because of the social expectation to cry. If the deceased lived an unrighteous life, there could be concern about his fate. For just this reason, rituals for a better situation in the after-life of the departed soul are prescribed. Even if a good person dies, there can be cause for grief, because in the absence of their wise counsel we fear for ourselves. There could be various reasons to grieve for one who has passed away, but why mourn for the living? Those who are alive can cause anxiety in many ways; sometimes we cry out of love or attachment.  Many a time, people grieve over fear of events that have not taken place. ...

======================================================================= ======================================================================= 18/12/2019. POST-1. ======================================================================= Education is the process of the gradual and systematic summoning of the tendency in the human being to the realisation of perfection. As the concept of perfection is unclear in the initial stages, the approach to the mind of the public, in this direction, has to be initiated with immense patience and care. When we deal with persons, we are really concerned with minds, and hence all successful approach in life is psychological. We have, first of all, to place ourselves in a position where we can appreciate sympathetic thoughts and feelings of people. For this purpose, we may classify society into three categories: (1) the student, who includes the child and the adolescent; (2) the man of the world or the active in society, including ...

======================================================================== ======================================================================== 17/12/2019. POST-2. ======================================================================== The great law-giver Manu, after describing the various tenets of Dharma, finally asserts: "Of all these Dharmas, the Knowledge of the Self is the highest; it is verily the foremost of all sciences; for, by it, one attains immortality." The pursuit of Dharma, Artha and Kama has its meaning in the attainment of Moksha which is the greatest of all the Purusharthas (end of human life). Dharma is the ethical and moral value of life; Artha is its material value; and Kama is its vital value; but Moksha is the infinite value of existence which covers all the others and is itself far greater than all these. Others exist as aids or preparations for Moksha. Without Moksha, they have no value and convey no meaning. Their value is conditione...

======================================================================== ======================================================================== 16/12/2019 "Ahalya Moksham in Epic Ramayanam" - Swami Udit Chaithanya ======================================================================== After Sri Rama completed Vishwamitra Maharshi’s Yagam, Rishi takes Rama to Ahalya Devi’s Gautama Ashram. She is Gautama Maharshi’s wife. She now lies as a stone due to an earlier curse. To bring her back to life, by touching Sri Rama Swami’s feet, Vishwamitra brings Rama here . This story is known to all ( Curse to Ahalya ) but what actually is the message here ? Bringing back a person who is like a dead stone to Life . What is the meaning of lying like a stone ? We should not understand this in its grossified sense, instead, have to understand it subtlety. Ramatwam is when we make an effort to bring life back into a person. This is the great humanity ...

======================================================================= -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30/09/2019 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The faculty of thinking called the mind is a continuous flow of various thoughts desire, will, intention, imagination, and ideas. The body is the counter through which we transact with the world and the mind is the instrument of our experiences – good or bad, joyful or sorrowful. It is the mind alone that performs all actions. The mind dormant as in deep sleep or in coma is incapable of any conscious action or interaction. The mind employs the body as a tool to accomplish its tasks. The body can be likened to the hardware of the computer and the mind to its software. When the software is infected with viruses it causes problems and sometimes, even crashes...

======================================================================== -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30/09/2019. 1. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Education is the process of the gradual and systematic summoning of the tendency in the human being to the realisation of perfection. As the concept of perfection is unclear in the initial stages, the approach to the mind of the public, in this direction, has to be initiated with immense patience and care. When we deal with persons, we are really concerned with minds, and hence all successful approach in life is psychological. We have, first of all, to place ourselves in a position where we can appreciate sympathetic thoughts and feelings of people. For this purpose, we may classify society into three categories: (1) the student, who includes th...

======================================================================== -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  29/09/2019. Post-1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Worshipful homage to that supreme, eternal, universal Being who revealed Himself in a glorious personal form comprising total Divinity as the world teacher, Lord Krishna, and who revealed Himself in and through the Gita wisdom teachings that He imparted for all mankind, for all times, through His beloved devotee and disciple, the warrior prince Arjuna. He not only revealed His divine nature through His Bhagavad Gita teachings, He also revealed how man can realise Him fully, can experience Him, and, ultimately, how man can merge himself in Him to become one with Him. All this He taught within the compass of 700 brief verses contained in 1...

======================================================================== -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 29/09/2019. Post -1. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The life of man is an indication of what is beyond him and what determines the course of his thoughts, feelings and actions. The wider life is invisible, and the visible is a shadow cast by the invisible which is the real. The shadow gives an idea of the substance, and one can pursue the path to the true substance by the perception of the shadow. Human existence, by the fact of its limitations, wants and various forms of restlessness, discontent and sorrow, points to a higher desired end, incomprehensible though the nature of this end be. As life on this earth is characterised by incessant change, and nothing here seems to have the character...

======================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 27/09/2019. THE GITA — I (New Discoveries, Vol. 6, pp. 205-7. Cf. Ida Ansell's notes of "The Gita I", Complete Works, I.) [Mr. Frank Rhodehamel's notes of a Bhagavad-Gitâ lecture delivered Saturday, May 26, 1900, in San Francisco, California] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *National Seminar On Hinduism : Chennai On Sep 26, 2019  As part of the 125th Anniversary Swami Vivekananda’s Chicago Addresses, a National Seminar on Hinduism for Youth was held at Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai on 21 September 2019. ------------------------------------------------...

====================================================================== -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26/09/2019. Srimad Bhagavad Gita : POST-2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Srimad Bhagavad Gita – an epitome of Spiritual Psychology” ‘Maha Bharatham’ authored by Sri Veda Vyasa, is undoubtedly the greatest text,  ever written on Human Psychology. It says, “Vyasochhishtam Jagat Sarvam”. The great sage Veda Vyasa, the greatest seer of all times, in his infinite wisdom, could see and foresee all minds of the past, present and future too. All that ever happened in the past and could ever happen in the future too, he could visualize Five thousand years back! It is quite unfortunate that we Indians failed to understand such a great visionary. No wonder, our society is gripped by the ...

======================================================================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ref : PM’s statement prior to his departure for USA : 20 Sep, 2019 : News Update : PM INDIA. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------      I am visiting the United States of America from 21 to 27 September 2019. I will visit Houston and, thereafter, New York to attend the High Level Segment of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. In Houston, I will interact with CEOs of leading energy companies in the US with the aim to enhance India-US energy partnership. Energy has emerged as a new area of mutually beneficial cooperation and is fast becoming an important facet of our bilateral relationship. In Houston, I look forward to my meeting with and address to the Indi...