He Gave Me Everything I Needed

This poem, by Swami Vivekananda, is so simple and beautiful in its content and context that the reader almost connects himself at one point or the other to it. And at last, quite amicably or rather surprisingly, you find everything that went before in this poem or in your life, falling in its place nicely.

WHEN I ASKED GOD FOR STRENGTH ,

HE GAVE ME DIFFICULT SITUATIONS TO FACE .

WHEN I ASKED GOD FOR BRAIN & BROWN ,

HE GAVE ME PUZZLES IN LIFE TO SOLVE .

WHEN I ASKED GOD FOR HAPPINESS ,

HE SHOWED ME SOME UNHAPPY PEOPLE .

WHEN I ASKED GOD FOR WEALTH ,

HE SHOWED ME HOW TO WORK HARD .

WHEN I ASKED GOD FOR FAVORS,

HE SHOWED ME OPPORTUNITIES TO WORK HARD.

WHEN I ASKED GOD FOR PEACE ,

HE SHOWED ME HOW TO HELP OTHERS.

GOD GAVE ME NOTHING I WANTED ,

HE GAVE ME EVERYTHING I NEEDED

Hachiko : The World's most loyal dog

This real life story stands as an epitome of loyalty, whose measures are beyond the limits of any scales. The story is about a dog named, Hachiko (an Akita breed), who is remembered for his loyality to his owner even many years after his owner's death.

In 1924, Hachiko was brought to Tokyo by his owner, Hidesaburo Ueno, a professor at University of Tokyo. During his owner's life, Hachikō saw him off from the front door and greeted him at the end of the day, at the nearby Shibuya Station. Within a short span of time, the owner and his pet had developed quite an amicable bondage.

One evening, the professor didn't return on the usual train. He had suffered a stroke at the university on that day. His friend waited for the master thinking that he may come one day or the other. But as days passed, he could not find his master's face among the commuters. Efforts to bring him into a new home went in vain.

Commuters who knew Hachikō brought treats and food to nourish him during his wait. This continued for 10 years with Hachikō appearing only in the evening time, precisely when the train was due at the station. He died on 1935.

In Japan, Hachiko's faithfulness is regarded as a national symbol of loyalty. A bronze statue has been erected in his likeness at Shibuya station and guess who was the guest of honour at the time of unveiling --- Hachiko himself.

Life is an echo

There was this young boy who had a terrible quarrel with his mother(as is usual during our childhood days). He went out running and went to a hill. He shouted at the helm of his angst -- "I hate you". Almost pat came the reply --- "I hate you". The boy was startled and afraid. He ran back home and told his mother about the strange voice.

Mother, so she is, understood the context and told the boy to go back immediately and yell "I love you". The boy did the same and heard the reply as "I love you".

Now we all know what the context was - of course that was an echo. But if you read it carefully, the source of the echo was nature, which is the other name of Life. The message is crystal clear. If you love life, life would love you back. But the other way round, you dont leave any other choice for life to give you back.

Anyway

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never never be enough;
Give the world the best, you've got anyway.

You see in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them....anyway

Arthur Ashe's Why me ?

Tennis enthusiasts know him well or at the most heard the name. 

Arthur Ashe - the legendary player, had won 3 Grand Slams, when he was diagnosed with AIDS (due to accidental blood transfusion for a heart surgery).

From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which said :

"Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease ?"

To this Arthur Ashe replied :

The World over ------------------

5 crore children start playing tennis,

50 lakh learn to play tennis,

5 lakh learn professional tennis,

50000 comes to the circuit,

5000 reach Wimbledon,

4 to semi-final,

2 to the finals.

When I was holding a cup, I never asked GOD, "Why me?". 

And today in pain, I should not be asking GOD, "Why me ?"

It's interesting that during bad times, we question fate for choosing us the victim. We forget the same point when fate smiles and blesses us with happiness and joy. 

Life's fair or unfair is an understanding which varies depending on our maturity levels. 

We may not know the whole story, yet to be unfold, but we can always trust the story writer - The Creator.

Ways of thinking

A Man is going on a road,
Rain is the season, mates are toads,
Has to walk, default ‘coz of his mode,
No one else, to help reach his Abode

What is his mindset, let us see,
And compare ourselves to his Thee,
How the two sides of the same coin,
Makes a person, Abide from his toil

If He thinks as per cons,
He will end up with more horns,
Cursing, all the way, to his luck,
Hinders his ever decreasing buck,
Yes, he will exude greed and anger,
Emotions which he, ever linger,
Making the path more difficult as It is,
Taking him farther, than He is.

If He thinks as per prons,
No thing in the world can deter his way,
He don’t curse the stars or luck,
Instead, finds a way in every clutch,
Yes, he exudes cheerful & ‘come what may’
Taking into stride, whatever The say,
He attains the End without any gasps,
Without any reverie, long and big laps

Of the above, which is yours,
‘Prons’ than ‘cons’, would be the lure,
But it is the other way round,
Believe me, most of us are bound,
Bounded by the situations we in,
Bounded by the forces which make us in,
Bounded by physical and geographical demarche,
But not bounded for the efforts we can take,
To have the courage & heart to move on,
And not bounded to lose, when we can win

Forget To Give Up

People always apply brakes to their vehicles when they should not. Sounds quite strange, isn't it. But it is the most common universal truth which becomes the separating factor of the great and the ordinary.

The great Thomas Alva Edison, the guy who defied all limits of endurance, stands testimony to the persevering factor. This man will engross himself into experiments so much that he used to quit only when he got an amicable solution to the problem When he invented the electric bulb, he said that I have found 10000 ways that won't work. The mere number of the experiments done by him for something, which was quite unknown at that time, was in itself a marvel, to ponder upon.

Not to forget, his other famous quotation, which read "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration". It truly captures the essence of what we should do when things are down---that is to forget Giving Up.

Read these lines, which had always inspired me:
"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow, it will split in two and I know it was not that blow that did it - but all that had gone before"

So, let us push our limits and let limits know how much they can and are allowed to go, by pushing themselves.