Category: Wisdom

A Gift from Hari Bhajan Kaur

I was given a gift by Hari Bhajan Kaur on the occasion of my birthday.  It was a journal which contains verses from the bible, which I would like to share here.

This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalms 118:24
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.
Ecclesiates 3:1
But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.
1 John 1:7
Serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
Psalms 100:2
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1
God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.
Psalms 46:1
I can do everything from Him who gives me strength
Phillipians 4:13
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
Proverbs 16:24
Everything is possible for him who believes
Mark 9:23
Trust in the Lord with all Your Heart and Lean not on Your Own Understanding
Proverbs 3:5
My soul praises the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
Luke 1:46,47
…but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles…
Isaiah 40:31
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32
A friend loves at all times
Proverbs 17:17
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord
Colossians 3:23
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever
Psalms 23:6
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; know and the door will be opened to you
Matthew 7:7
Stop and consider God’s wonders
Job 37:14
Let your light shine before men. that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven
Matthew 5:16
My heart took delight in all my work and this was the reward for all my labor
Ecclesiastes 2:10
Let us love one another, for love comes from God.
1 John 4:7
The days of the blameless are known to the Lord, and their inheritance will endure forever.
Psalms 37:18
But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control
Galatians 5:22,23
Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.
Proverbs 16:3
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Matthew 6:34
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalms 90:12
All things are possible with God
Mark 10:27
He has made everything beautiful in its time
Ecclesiastes 3:11
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer
Romans 12:12
The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped
Psalms 28:7
…whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things
Philippians 4:8

Siri Singh Sahib’s First Principle of Success

The First Principle of Success

Siri Singh Sahib ji
You want to know the key to success? Simple – don’t walk on others. Don’t step on others’ toes. Carry others, carry people with you, above you; God shall carry you.

Some people ask me, “How do you know the answer to everything?” I said, “What is there to know? You know everything anyway.” You only need to know one thing: anybody who approaches you, just put him one step higher than he is. The job will be done, and you’ll be blessed.

Once a teacher came to his master and said, “Master, I am in a lot of trouble.” The master said, “What’s the problem? Why are you yelling and screaming for me? What’s your problem?” “You sent me to the city to teach, but everybody is just yelling at me and calling me a fake.” “They come and abuse you?” “Many people gather in the morning, and they are just mad.” “Oh, you are on a very successful note.” “Master, none have come in; none have come to learn from me; no one has come to say hello. All they do is yell and scream abuse at me. They shout and ridicule me.” “You are a great success. That’s all I wanted to hear.” “But what should I do about it?” “Go and stay there. When they come in the morning, smile; when they yell at you, smile; when they throw eggs at you, smile; when they throw stones at you, stand erect, with discipline and smile – keep smiling. Let us see what happens.”

He went, and people came, and they yelled, screamed, made faces, and he just smiled and blessed them. He stood as they threw vegetables at him and dirt at him and shoes at him; and he kept smiling, saying, “thank you, thank you.” Three days they continued. On the fourth day, they gave up and came and sat down. On the fifth day, they started abusing him again, but then stopped and looked at each other saying, “What are we doing?”

They decided they should go and apologize to him. So, two thousand people from the village came and told him, “We are very sorry; we never understood you.” he still smiled. They said, “Are you not happy?” He still smiled. “It doesn’t mean anything to you?” He smiled. Finally they said, “All right, give us the one final answer: Why are you smiling? He said “What else is there to do?” Let us pray and meditate – that’s the meditation. Smile.”

One smile can win the world, and one frown can lose it.
Just smile at adversity. I tell you it runs away. Two things cannot live together: adversity cannot remain where a man is smiling, and prosperity doesn’t live with those who are frowning. The face is an index not to the mind but to the soul.

You see people who are very unsuccessful – what do they do? When you start telling them many things, they lean in; they listen. There is no vitamin C that can stop them. That’s how they are. You must understand when somebody talks to you, if you are not willing to hear them out, you are foolishly going for an unsuccessful future. The first principle of success is, when somebody is talking, hear it. Don’t interrupt. Let him complete the sentence; hear him properly. When they are done and you are asked to speak, do not answer the question if you cannot uplift the person. If your answer uplifts that person, you shall be prosperous.
Siri Singh Sahib Ji
© Teachings of Yogi Bhajan
Reprinted from February 2014 Dasvandh Flyer.

What’s a major difference between Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Jay Leno?

I see two beautiful people.  Gods in their own domain.

They both left the stage this week.

People who saw them admired their art and were elevated.

One saw his own grace and beauty in their eyes, and was elevated.  

The other did not see clearly that precious soul that was himself.

The life of the artist is lived polishing what others see.

Giving in that way can overcome extraordinary obstacles and hardship.   It can also distract one to forget to turn that kindness inward and cultivate an inner projection that makes one one’s own beloved friend.  Giving ones’ self away can allow one to form an intimate relationship with the self.

When one realizes that the self is empty, then how one perceives the self in that reality can determine whether one looks to fill it up from the outside, like the the drug dependent artist or insatiable wall street tycoon, or with one’s own (God’s) love and admiration.   Ang Sang Waheguru.

May I suggest a nice meditation for polishing the radiant body, which is what others see and also what we see inside us:  NM345 Mind and Mentality II Scope and Projection I ?

 

 

The Tale of the Sands

A STREAM, from its source in far-off mountains, passing through every kind and description of countryside, at last reached the sands of the desert.  Just as it had crossed every other barrier, the stream tried to cross this one, but found that as fast as it ran into the sand, its waters disappeared.
It was convinced, however, that its destiny was to cross this desert. and yet there was no way.Now a hidden voice, coming from the desert itself, whispered: “The Wind crosses the desert, and so can the stream.”
The stream objected that it was dashing itself against the sand, and only getting absorbed: that the wind could fly, and this was why it could cross a desert.
“By hurtling in your won accustomed way you cannot get across.  You will either disappear or become a marsh.  You must allow this wind to carry you over to your destination.”
But how could this happen?”By allowing yourself to be absorbed in the wind.”
This idea was not acceptable to the stream, After all, it had never been absorbed before.  It did not want to lose its individuality.  And, once having lost it, how was on to know that it could ever be regained?
“The wind”, said the sand, “Performs this function.  It takes up water, caries it over the desert, and then lets it fall agin.  Falling as rain, the water again becomes a river.”
“How can I know that this is true?”
“It is so, and if you don’t believe it, you cannot become more than a quagmire, and even that could take many, many year; and it certainly is not the same as a stream.”
“But can I not remain the same stream that I am today?”
“You cannot in either case remain so,” the whisper said.  “Your essential part is carried away and forms a stream again.  You are called what you are even today because you do not know which part of you is the essential one.”
When he heard this, certain echoes began to arise in the thoughts of the stream.  Dimly, he remembered a state in which he – or some part of him, was it? – had been held in the arms of a wind.  He also remembered – or did he? – that this was the real thing; not necessarily the obvious thing, to do.
And the stream raised his vapour into the welcoming arms of the wind, which gently and easily bore it upwards and along, letting it fall softly as soon as they reached the roof of a mountain, many, many miles away.  And because he had his doubts, the stream was able to remember and record more strongly in his mind the details of the experience.  He reflected “Yes, now I have learned my true identity.”
The stream was learning. But the sands whispered: “We know. because we see it happen day after day: and because we, the sands, extend from the riverside all the way to the mountain.”
And that is why it is said that the way in which the Stream of Life is to continue on its journey is written in the Sands.

from Awad Afifi the Tunisian
in Tales of the Dervishes
by Idries Shah

The Wolf and the Lamb, an Aesop Fable

A WOLF, meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea to justify to the Lamb the Wolf’s right to eat him. He thus addressed him: “Sirrah, last year you grossly insulted me.” “Indeed,” bleated the Lamb in a mournful tone of voice, “I was not then born.” Then said the Wolf, “You feed in my pasture.” “No, good sir,” replied the Lamb, “I have not yet tasted grass.” Again said the Wolf, “You drink of my well.” “No,” exclaimed the Lamb, “I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother’s milk is both food and drink to me.” Upon which the Wolf seized him and ate him up, saying, “Well! I won’t remain supperless, even though you refute every one of my imputations.”  The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.

Translated by George Fyler Townsend. Aesop’s Fables (p. 15). Amazon Digital Services, Inc..

Awareness of Death

There was once a dervish who embarked upon a sea journey.  As the other passengers in the ship came aboard one by one, they saw him and – as is the custom – asked him for a piece of advice.  What he advised was: ‘Try to be aware of death, until you know what death is.’  Few of the travelers felt particularly attracted to this admonition.

While at sea a terrible storm blew up.  The crew and the passengers alike fell upon their knees, imploring God to save the ship.  They alternately screamed in terror, gave themselves up for lost, hoped wildly for deliverance.  The dervish sat quietly, reflective, not reacting.

Eventually the buffeting stopped, the sea and sky were calm, and the passengers remembered how serene the dervish had been throughout the episode.  One of them asked him: ‘ Did you not realize that during this frightful tempest that there was nothing more solid than a plank between us all and death?’

‘Oh, yes, indeed,’ answered the dervish. ‘I knew that it is like that at sea.  I also realize, however, that in living day to day there is even less between us and death.  In that moment of dread you were aware of death because you thought it was immanent.  Will you hold that awareness as you live this day?

Musashi’s Nine Principles of Strategy

Musashi1.  Do not think dishonestly
2.  The way is in the training
3.  Become acquainted with every art.
4.  Know the ways of all professions.
5.  Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters.
6.  Develop intuitive judgement and understanding for everything.
7.  Perceive those things which cannot be seen.
8. Pay attention even to trifles.
9. Do nothing which is of no use.

— Miyamoto Musashi
The Book of Five Rings

Timing in Strategy

MusashiThere is timing in everything.  Timing in strategy cannot be mastered without a great deal of practice.

Timing is important in dancing and pipe and string music, for they are in rhythm only if timing is good.  Timing and rhythm are also involved in the military arts, shooting bows and guns, and riding horses.  In all skills and abilities there is timing.

There is also timing in the Void.

There is timing in the whole life of the warrior, in his thriving and declining, in his harmony and discord.  Similarly, there is timing in the Ways of the merchant, in the rise and fall of capital.  All things entail rising and falling timing.  You must be able to discern this.  In strategy there are various timing considerations.  From the outset you must know the applicable timing and the inapplicable timing. and from among the large and small things and the fast and slow timings find the relevant timing, first seeing the distance timing and the background timing.  This is the main thing in strategy.  It is especially important to know the background timing, otherwise your strategy will become uncertain.

You will win battles with the timing in the Void born of the timing of cunning by knowing the enemies’ timing, and thus using a timing which the enemy does not expect.

–Miyamoto Musashi
The Book of Five Rings

I wish to express my gratitude to my teacher of many years in the Art of Aikido, Bobby Ishibashi, who explained to me the most important aspects of relating with an attacker:  distance and blending.     — HNS

The Five Sutras of the Aquarian Age

1.  Recognize that the other person is you.

2.  There is a way through every block.

3.  When the time is on you, start, and the pressure will be off.

4. Understand through compassion or you will misunderstand the times.

5.  Vibrate the Cosmos. Cosmos shall clear the path.

— Siri Singh Sahib Ji
In the Name of the Cosmos

You Didn’t Build That

Nasrudin (during his age, there was no car) has been looking for a parking place for twenty minutes already. He turns around, he waits, he drives a bit further, but finds nothing.

He has an important business meeting and he’s going to be late, but nothing, no parking space. Filled with despair he raises his eyes up to the sky and says:

“My God, if you get me a parking space in five minutes, I promise to you that I’ll eat kosher (halal) food for the rest of my life…”

And suddenly – O miracle! – right next to him a car drives away leaving an ideal parking spot.

So Nasrudin turns his eyes to the sky and says: “God, stop searching, I found one!”

Nasrudin Tells a Lie

One day Nasrudin and his friends decided to play a joke on the people in a village. So Nasrudin drew a crowd, and lied to them about a gold mine in a certain place. When everybody ran to get their hands on the gold, Nasruddin started running with them. When asked by his friends why he was following them, he said “So many people believed it, that I think it may be true!”