Proud !

Welcome to 19^th Monday Musings:

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One beautiful spring day a red rose blossomed in a forest. Many kinds of trees and plants grew there. As the rose looked around, a pine tree nearby said, "What a beautiful flower. I wish I was that lovely." Another tree said, "Dear pine, do not be sad, we cannot have everything."

The rose turned its head and remarked, "It seems that I am the most beautiful plant in this forest."

A sunflower raised its yellow head and asked, "Why do you say that? In this forest there are many beautiful plants. You are just one of them."

The red rose replied, "I see everyone looking at me and admiring me."

Then the rose looked at a cactus and said, "Look at that ugly plant full of thorns!"

The pine tree said, "Red rose, what kind of talk is this?  Who can say what beauty is? You have thorns too."

The proud red rose looked angrily at the pine and said, "I thought you had good taste! You do not know what beauty is at all. You cannot compare my thorns to that of the cactus."

"What a proud flower", thought the trees.

The rose tried to move its roots away from the cactus, but it could not move. As the days passed, the red rose would look at the cactus and say insulting things, like: This plant is useless? How sorry I am to be his neighbor."

The cactus never got upset and he even tried to advise the rose, saying, "God did not create any form of life without a purpose."

Spring passed, and the weather became very warm. Life became difficult in the forest, as the plants and animals needed water and no rain fell.

The red rose began to wilt. One day the rose saw sparrows stick their beaks into the cactus and then fly away, refreshed.

This was puzzling,

and the red rose asked the pine tree what the birds were doing. The pine tree explained that the birds got water from the cactus.

"Does it not hurt when they make holes?" asked the rose.

"Yes, but the cactus does not like to see any birds suffer," replied the pine. The rose opened its eyes in wonder and said, "The cactus has water?"

"Yes you can also drink from it. The sparrow can bring water to you if you ask the cactus for help."

The red rose felt too ashamed of its past words and behavior to ask for water from the cactus, but then it finally did ask the cactus for help.

The cactus kindly agreed and the birds filled their beaks with water and watered the rose's roots.

Moral of the story :

Never be proud , If god has give you some quality, sometimes those quality may not fulfill even your needs. God has given distinct qualities to everyone, you may have one and other may have different.

Another Lesson to learn from the Story :  Never judged anyone by their appearance again

Make it a great Week !

Shailesh

How we see things !

Welcome to 18^th Monday Musings:

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A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet.  He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help."  There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up.  A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.

That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were.  The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning?  What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way." I wrote: "Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it."

Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind.  The second sign told people that they were so lucky that they were not blind.

Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the story :

Be thankful for what you have.  Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.

When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile.

·         Face your past without regret. 

·         Handle your present with confidence. 

·         Prepare for the future without fear. 

Keep the faith and drop the fear & remember:

God IS in control!

“The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling…  And even more beautiful is knowing that you are the reason behind it “

Make it a great Week !

Shailesh

Patience !

Welcome to 17^th Monday Musings:

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Once there was a sweeper in a well known temple and he was very sincere and devoted.

Every time he saw thousands of devotees coming to take Darshan of the Lord, he thought that the Lord is standing all the time and giving darshan and He must be feeling very tired.

So one day very innocently he asked the Lord whether he can take the place of the Lord for a day so that the Lord can have some relief and rest.

The Deity of Temple replied, "I do not mind taking a break. I will transform you like Myself, but you must do one thing.

you must just stand here like Me, smile at everyone and just give benedictions. Do not interfere with anything and do not say anything.

Remember you are the deity and you just have faith that I have a master plan for everything.

" The sweeper agreed to this.

The next day the sweeper took the position of the deity and a rich man came and prayed to the Lord. He offered a nice donation and prayed that his business should be prosperous.

While going, the rich man inadvertently left his wallet full of money right there.

Now the sweeper in the form of deity could not call him and  so he decided to control himself and keep quiet.

Just then a poor man came and he put one coin in the Hundi and said that it was all he could afford and he prayed to the Lord  that he should continue to be engaged in the Lord's service.

He also said that his family was in dire need of some basic needs but he left it to the good hands of the Lord to give some solution.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the wallet left by the rich man. The poor man thanked the Lord for His kindness and took the wallet very innocently.

The sweeper in the form of the Deity could not say anything and he had to just keep smiling.

At that point a sailor walked in. He prayed for his safe journey as he was going on a long trip.

Just then the rich man came with the police and said that somebody has stolen his wallet and seeing the sailor there, he asked the police to arrest him thinking that he might have taken it.

Now the sweeper in the form of Deity wanted to say that the sailor is not the thief but he could  not say so and he became greatly frustrated.

The sailor looked at the Lord and asked why he, an innocent person, is being punished.

The rich man looked at the Lord and thanked Him for finding the thief.  The sweeper in the deity form could no more tolerate and he thought that

even if the real Lord had been here, he would have definitely interfered and hence he started speaking and said that the sailor is not the thief but

it was the poor man who took away the wallet. The rich man was very thankful as also the sailor.

In the night, the real Lord came and He asked the sweeper how the day was.

The sweeper said, "I thought it would be easy, but now I know that Your days are not easy, but I did one good thing." Then he explained the whole episode to the Lord.

The Lord became very upset on hearing this whereas the sweeper thought

the Lord would appreciate him for the good deed done.

The Lord asked, "Why did you not just stick to the plan?

You had no faith in Me. Do you think that I do not understand the hearts of all those who come here?

All the donation which the rich man gave was all stolen money and it is only a fraction of what he really has and he wants Me to reciprocate unlimitedly.

The single coin offered by the poor man was the last coin he was having and he gave it to Me out of faith.

The sailor might not have done anything wrong, but if the sailor were to go in the ship that night he was about to die because of bad weather and instead if he is arrested he would be in the jail

and he would have been saved form a greater calamity.

The wallet should go to the poor man because he will use it in My service.

I was going to reduce the rich man's karma also by doing this and save the sailor also.

But you cancelled everything because you thought you know My plan and you made your own plans."

Moral of the story :

God has Plan & Justice for everyone  We just have to have Patience.

Patience is Just trusting God's timing.

Make it a great Week !

Shailesh

Knowledge !

Welcome to 16^th Monday Musings:

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Ever heard the story of the giant ship engine that failed?

The ship's owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure out how to fix the engine. Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a youngster. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.

Two of the ship's owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking over things, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something, Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed! A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars.

"What?!" the owners exclaimed. "He hardly did anything!"

So they wrote the old man a note saying, "Please send us an itemized bill."

The man sent a bill that read:

Tapping with a hammer ........................ $ 2.00

Knowing where to tap .......................... $ 9998.00

Moral of the story :

Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort in your life makes all the difference !

Make it a great Week !

Shailesh

It is easier to criticize, but difficult to improve !

Welcome to 15^th Monday Musings:

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Once upon a time there was a painter who had just completed his course under disciple hood of a great painter. This young artist decided to assess his skills of skills so he decided to give his best strokes on the canvass. He took 3 days and painted beautiful scenery. Suddenly an idea flashed in his mind and he decided to display it on a busy street-square of that small town he was resident of. He wanted people's opinion about his caliber and painting skills..

He put his creation at a busy street-crossing. And just down below a board which read–

"Gentlemen, I have painted this piece. Since I'm new to this profession I might have committed some mistakes in my strokes etc. Please put a cross wherever you see a mistake."

While he came back in the evening to collect his painting he was completely shattered to see that whole canvass was filled with Xs (crosses) and some people had even written their comments on the painting.

Disheartened and broken completely he ran to his masters place and burst into tears. Sobbing and crying inconsolably he told his master about what happened and showed the pathetic state of his creation which was filled with marks everywhere. Such was the state that colors were not visible, only things one could see were crosses and correction remarks. This young artist was breathing heavily and master heard him saying "I'm useless and if this is what I have learnt to paint I'm not worth becoming a painter. People have rejected me completely.. I feel like dying"

Master smiled and suggested "My Son, I will prove that you are a great artist and have learnt a flawless painting."

Young disciple couldn't believe it and said "I have lost faith in me and I don't think I am good enough.. don't make false hopes.."

"Do as I say without questioning it.. It WILL work." Master interrupted him.

"Just paint exactly similar painting once again for me and give it to me. Will you do that for your master?.." Master instructed.

Young artist reluctantly agreed and two days later early morning he presented a replica of his earlier painting to his master. Master took that gracefully and smiled.

"Come with me." master said.

They reached the same street-square early morning and displayed the same painting exactly at the same place. Now master took out another board which read –

"Gentlemen, I have painted this piece. Since I'm new to this profession I might have committed some mistakes in my strokes etc. I have put a box with colors and brushes just below. Please do a favor. If you see a mistake, kindly pick up the brush and correct it."

Master and disciple walked back home.

They both visited the place same evening. Young painter was surprised to see that actually there was not a single correction done so far. But master wasn't satisfied as yet and he told his disciple "May be one day was too little a time for people to come up with ideas and take out time out of their busy schedules to correct it so let us keep it here for one more day. Tomorrow is Sunday, so we can expect some corrections coming in."

Next day again they visited and found painting remained untouched..

They say the painting was kept there for a month for no correction came in!

Moral of the story :

It is easier to criticize, but difficult to improve.

Make it a great Week !

Shailesh

Make A Commitment !

Welcome to 14^th Monday Musings:

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Whenever Thomas Edison had a new idea for an invention, he would announce it to the press, and then he would go to his lab to work on making his ideas into inventions. Committing to his plans publicly gave him a reason to stick to them.

In life we experience moments that inspire us to reach higher and change for the better, but often actually making that change in our lives is difficult, because we hide behind our doubts and fears, using them as an excuse not to begin. If we make a commitment, with family, friends and colleagues, we will be forced to work on it and will constantly be reminded about the promise we made.

 A commitment gives us a new power - no matter what comes in our way, it keeps us focused on our goals. Making a commitment is the first step to bringing about a change in your life - it opens the door to achievement.

The next step is acting on our commitments - Are we doing what we said we would do?

The easiest thing is to say what we will do.

The most difficult thing is to do what we said we would do.

Moral of the story :

Always make a commitment to yourself and be firm to it, The ‘most difficult’ thing is to do what we said we would do.

Commitment + Action = Achievement

Make it a great Week !

Shailesh

Things aren't always what they seem !

Welcome to 13^th Monday Musings:

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Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family.

The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion's guest room. Instead the angels were given a space in the cold basement.

As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it.

When the younger angel asked why ?

the older angel replied... "Things aren't always what they seem".

The next night the traveling angels came to spend the night at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife.

After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest.

When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field.

The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel "how could you have let this happen!? The first man had everything, yet you helped him,"

 she accused. "The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let their cow die."

"Things aren't always what they seem," the older angel replied.

"When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn't find it.

Then last night as we slept in the farmers bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I gave her the cow instead. Things aren't always what they seem."

Moral of the story :

Always evaluate the situation carefully.

Sometimes this is exactly what happens when things don't turn out the way they should.

If you have faith, you just need to trust that every outcome is always to your advantage.

You might not know it until sometime later, because Things aren't always what they seems.

Make it a great Week !

Shailesh