ॐ शांति शांति शांति ||
असतो मा सद्गमय |
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ||
मृत्योर् मा अमृतं गमय |
ॐ शांति शांति शांति ||
Asato maa Sat gamaya
Tamaso maa Jyotir gamaya
Mrityor maa Amritam gamaya
Om Shaanti Shaanti Shaanti
Lead me from the Unreal to Real,
Lead me from Darkness to Light,
Lead me from Death to Immortality,
OM Peace, Peace, Peace.
This shloka is extracted from Brihad-aaranyaka-upanishad (1.3.28), contained within Shatapatha-braahmana, belonging to shukla-Yajur-Veda!!!
ॐ शांति शांति शांति ||
Friday, July 18, 2008
Sarvey Gurudev Namah ll _ Jai Guru Dev
Gurubrahma Guruvishnu
GLORY OF THE GURU
Gururdevo Maheshwaraha |
Guruhu sakshaat Parambrahman
GLORY OF THE GURU
The Hindu shastras have hailed such a GURU immeasurably:
SKANDA PURANA -GURUGITA
Above famous verse known by heart by all Hindu children glorifies the GURU:
"The GURU is Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh (Shiva), veneration to the GURU who is Parabrahman manifest."
The second line of the couplet does not literally mean that the GURU becomes Parabrahman - God, rather he is venerated as if God is manifesting through him.
On this day of GURU PURNIMA, disciples introspect, and resolve to offer pujan and reverence to the GURU in mind, action and speech; implicitly obey his unvoiced wishes, commands, serving him as one would God and lauding his glory and redemptive attributes.
Bhagwan Ved Vyas The day of full moon, PURNIMA, in the month of Ashadh is traditionally celebrated as GURUPURNIMA by Hindus. Also known as Vyas PURNIMA, the day is celebrated in remembrance and veneration to sage Ved Vyas. He is the Adi (original) GURU of the Hindu Dharma, who classified the Vedas, wrote the eighteen Puranas and the Mahabharat.
ROLE OF GURU IN LIFE
The Sanskrit word "Gu" means darkness or ignorance. "Ru" denotes the remover of that darkness. Therefore one who removes darkness of our ignorance is a GURU.
Only he who removes our ultimate darkness, known as Maya, and.
who inspires and guides us on to the path of God-realization is the true GURU.
Students also refer to their school teacher or college lecturer as GURU. The connotation of the word GURU in this case is one who imparts temporal knowledge (Apara Vidya) and is thus accordingly offered respect.
A spiritual aspirant, no matter how brilliant, can never attain such knowledge by his own endeavor. This is stipulated in the Shrimad Bhagwatam in which Jadbharat reveals to king Rahugan :
"O Rahugan! One cannot attain knowledge of Atma and Paramatma by performing penance, sacrifices, renunciation, Vedic study or worshipping deities of water, fire or the sun.
But when the dust from the feet of a satpurush (God-realized GURU) sprinkles on our heads, then we can surely attain this knowledge."
"If a person, despite possessing: a handsome, disease-free body, fame, a mountain of wealth, and even if he has studied the Vedas and all other scriptures, and has himself composed many scriptures, but has not surrendered himself at the feet of a GURU, then he has achieved nothing, nothing, nothing & finally also nothing."
The GURU plays a vital role in boosting the aspirant frequently, when he loses track, becomes despondent or simply runs out of steam. The aspirant is thus better able to obey the GURU if he understands the GURU'S GLORY.
In the presence of the GURU you become more alive. The pinnacle of intellect is awakened intelligence.
The GURU invokes not only intelligence but also the intellect in you. Knowledge may not invoke intelligence, but in intelligence, knowledge is inherent.
Whether you like it or not, the GURU principle pervades your life. Your mother is your first GURU and then from science to spirituality, from birth to death, GURU principle permeates your life.
There is a GURU for every discipline - a religious GURU (dharma), a family_GURU (kula), a raj_guru (GURU for the kingdom), a vidya_GURU (GURU for a particular discipline)and a sat_GURU (spiritual GURU).
In the Upanishads five signs of SAT GURU are mentioned. In the presence of the SAT GURU; Knowledge flourishes (Gyana raksha); Sorrow diminishes (Dukha kshaya); Joy wells up without any reason (Sukha aavirbhava); Abundance dawns (Samriddhi); All talents manifest (Sarva samvardhan).
Mind is connected with the moon and full moon is a symbol of completion and pinnacle of celebration.
Among the12-13 full moons in a year the vaishakha full moon is dedicated to Buddha (his birth and enlightenment), jyeshtha full moon to mother earth and .
The aashadha full moon is dedicated to the memory of masters and
this is GURU - PURNIMA.
GURUPURNIMA is also called Vyasa PURNIMA. Vyasa is the embodiment of scriptural knowledge as well as experience. When a GURU or acharya delivers a talk, the seat is called Vyasa peetha.
Vyasa is familiar with every avenue of existence, both material and spiritual. There is a saying Vyaso chishtam jagat sarwam that means there is nothing under the sun that Vyasa has not touched upon.
As no sanchita karma is left in an embodied GURU, self shines through, which becomes very obvious in the presence of the GURU. But all those qualities that you appreciate in a GURU are also in your very nature.
Being with the GURU is like being with one's higher self. GURU, GOD AND ONE'S OWN SELF are synonymous.
Often one recognises wisdom but sees a gap between wisdom and one's own life. The purpose of becoming a disciple is to bridge that gap. Being with a GURU means spontaneous integration of life and wisdom. Respecting the GURU simply means honoring your innermost nature.
GURUPURNIMA is the day when the disciple wakes up in his fullness and in the wakefulness he can't be but grateful. This gratitude is not of dwaita (you and me), but of advaita.
It is not a river moving from somewhere to somewhere, but is the ocean moving within itself. So, gratefulness on GURU-PURNIMA symbolises that fullness.
The purpose of the GURU PURNIMA celebration is to turn back and review and see in this last one year
how much one has progressed in life. For a seeker, GURU PURNIMA is a day of significance.
It is the day to review one's progress on the spiritual path and renew one's determination and focus on the goal.
As the full moon rises and sets, tears of gratitude arise and repose into the vastness of one's own self.
Sarvey Gurudev Namah ll
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Om pUrNamadah pUrNamidam
Om pUrNamadah pUrNamidam pUrNAt pUrNamudachyate pUrNasya pUrNamAdAyapUrNamevAvashiShyateOm shAntih, shAntih, shAntihi
[Completeness is that, completeness is this,from completeness, completeness comes forth.Completeness from completeness taken away,completeness to completeness added,completeness alone remains.Peace, peace, peace!]
With our Vedantic knowledge, let us try to find out what the Infinite or Infinity is not or has not:
Infinity is unending. It never therefore began.
Infinity being boundless, it cannot have an outside. There is therefore no question of a second infinity. It is, therefore, one without a second.
Infinity therefore has no antonyms.
When there is no outside, no inside is warranted. So, infinity is without parts or contents.
When there are no parts, no separation is generated. Thus, infinity is spacelessness.
As space and time go hand in hand, infinity is timelessness too.
Infinity is thus fullness or completeness; nothing is there to add to it; nothing can be taken out from it; no outside agency can exist that can do the addition or subtraction!
Infinity alone remains.
Vedanta says that the experience of separation is an error and the multiplicity or duality generated thereby is non-real. The different entities objectified, including the limited me with all my internalizations, are mithyA. The seeming reality of duality is thus negated.
In contrast, mathematics, the first systematic language of ignorance, wants infinity to serve it as its house-maid while it does book-keeping for mithyA – the non-reality of finitude.(Madathil Nair)
http://www.advaitin.net/Discussion%20Topics/purnamadah%2520shanti-patha.pdf
[Completeness is that, completeness is this,from completeness, completeness comes forth.Completeness from completeness taken away,completeness to completeness added,completeness alone remains.Peace, peace, peace!]
With our Vedantic knowledge, let us try to find out what the Infinite or Infinity is not or has not:
Infinity is unending. It never therefore began.
Infinity being boundless, it cannot have an outside. There is therefore no question of a second infinity. It is, therefore, one without a second.
Infinity therefore has no antonyms.
When there is no outside, no inside is warranted. So, infinity is without parts or contents.
When there are no parts, no separation is generated. Thus, infinity is spacelessness.
As space and time go hand in hand, infinity is timelessness too.
Infinity is thus fullness or completeness; nothing is there to add to it; nothing can be taken out from it; no outside agency can exist that can do the addition or subtraction!
Infinity alone remains.
Vedanta says that the experience of separation is an error and the multiplicity or duality generated thereby is non-real. The different entities objectified, including the limited me with all my internalizations, are mithyA. The seeming reality of duality is thus negated.
In contrast, mathematics, the first systematic language of ignorance, wants infinity to serve it as its house-maid while it does book-keeping for mithyA – the non-reality of finitude.(Madathil Nair)
http://www.advaitin.net/Discussion%20Topics/purnamadah%2520shanti-patha.pdf
Monday, June 30, 2008
Mahatma Gandhi's seven social deadly sins
You have heard of the seven deadly sins:
Pride, lust, envy, greed, sloth, wrath and gluttony.
These are concerned with an individual's misbehavior.
But recently I saw another list from Mohandas Gandhi. These are described by Gandhi as the seven social deadly sins.
They are striking in their implications. I will list them and make a brief comment on each.
• Politics without principle. It seems that the lack of principle here is that one will do anything to get elected. And after being elected, one will do or say anything, take any bribe, bend any law to remain in office. Politics becomes a self- serving enterprise.
• Wealth without work. This brings to mind, among others, a certain hotel heiress, whose life has been corrupted by having it handed to her on a silver platter. I recommend the movie "The Ultimate Gift" as a corrective for this social sin. Gandhi himself set aside time for manual labor - perhaps as a reminder that he was not above the rest of humanity.
• Commerce without morality. Morality means having a sense of right and wrong. But to have a moral sense, one must have a conscience. Making and selling toys with high amounts of lead to enhance the bottom line shows a lack of morality. Devouring the natural resources of the planet and holding these resources hostage indicates that a company's bottom line has gone too low.
• Pleasure without conscience. Hedonism is a sister to lust. The lack of conscience in this case is that life is about my gratification. Everything, everybody serves to titillate and pleasure me. To degrade others, to use others - whether it's pornography or putting two people in a cage to pound one another - inevitably ends up degrading those who take pleasure in such activities. When an entire society, or individuals in a family, pursue this lifestyle, there is, to use a phrase, "the devil to pay."
• Education without character. In many instances, our "higher" education has become a job factory. Our classrooms produce people who are technology whizzes, but who will never read a book or newspaper. Nor will they understand the great issues that formed our society, and those same issues which continue to face our society. Without a grounding in the humanities, without being exposed to ideas and thinkers that form character, we can be one dimensional. That is, we have a job but no soul.
• Science without humanity. When the science for the atomic bomb was developed someone said that we had let the genie out of the bottle. Atomic energy has been a great boon for humanity as well as a great threat. We are on the verge of cloning humans. We have designer jeans to suit our taste. Will we have designer babies to suit our taste? The key here is "humanity." Will we serve our human needs, or will Mr. Hyde be the result of Dr. Jekyl's experiments?
• Worship without sacrifice. This seems to me to be the case when religion becomes entertainment. Which church has the biggest orchestra and can send chills down my spine? This seems to be the case when we preachers only preach the prosperity gospel. This seems to be the case when prophets cease being prophetic and tell people only what they want to hear. The central message is: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. We are called to die and rise with Christ. As with Christ that necessarily involves sacrifice.
Gandhi, although he was not a Christian, read the Gospels of Christ more than most people. The message of Christ inspired Gandhi to be a reformed and visionary. Gandhi's seven deadly social sins are food for thought indeed.
By Father Fred Nijem is the priest and pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Warner Robins.
Pride, lust, envy, greed, sloth, wrath and gluttony.
These are concerned with an individual's misbehavior.
But recently I saw another list from Mohandas Gandhi. These are described by Gandhi as the seven social deadly sins.
They are striking in their implications. I will list them and make a brief comment on each.
• Politics without principle. It seems that the lack of principle here is that one will do anything to get elected. And after being elected, one will do or say anything, take any bribe, bend any law to remain in office. Politics becomes a self- serving enterprise.
• Wealth without work. This brings to mind, among others, a certain hotel heiress, whose life has been corrupted by having it handed to her on a silver platter. I recommend the movie "The Ultimate Gift" as a corrective for this social sin. Gandhi himself set aside time for manual labor - perhaps as a reminder that he was not above the rest of humanity.
• Commerce without morality. Morality means having a sense of right and wrong. But to have a moral sense, one must have a conscience. Making and selling toys with high amounts of lead to enhance the bottom line shows a lack of morality. Devouring the natural resources of the planet and holding these resources hostage indicates that a company's bottom line has gone too low.
• Pleasure without conscience. Hedonism is a sister to lust. The lack of conscience in this case is that life is about my gratification. Everything, everybody serves to titillate and pleasure me. To degrade others, to use others - whether it's pornography or putting two people in a cage to pound one another - inevitably ends up degrading those who take pleasure in such activities. When an entire society, or individuals in a family, pursue this lifestyle, there is, to use a phrase, "the devil to pay."
• Education without character. In many instances, our "higher" education has become a job factory. Our classrooms produce people who are technology whizzes, but who will never read a book or newspaper. Nor will they understand the great issues that formed our society, and those same issues which continue to face our society. Without a grounding in the humanities, without being exposed to ideas and thinkers that form character, we can be one dimensional. That is, we have a job but no soul.
• Science without humanity. When the science for the atomic bomb was developed someone said that we had let the genie out of the bottle. Atomic energy has been a great boon for humanity as well as a great threat. We are on the verge of cloning humans. We have designer jeans to suit our taste. Will we have designer babies to suit our taste? The key here is "humanity." Will we serve our human needs, or will Mr. Hyde be the result of Dr. Jekyl's experiments?
• Worship without sacrifice. This seems to me to be the case when religion becomes entertainment. Which church has the biggest orchestra and can send chills down my spine? This seems to be the case when we preachers only preach the prosperity gospel. This seems to be the case when prophets cease being prophetic and tell people only what they want to hear. The central message is: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. We are called to die and rise with Christ. As with Christ that necessarily involves sacrifice.
Gandhi, although he was not a Christian, read the Gospels of Christ more than most people. The message of Christ inspired Gandhi to be a reformed and visionary. Gandhi's seven deadly social sins are food for thought indeed.
By Father Fred Nijem is the priest and pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Warner Robins.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Health is Wealth
1. Add just one fruit or veggie serving daily. Get comfortable with that, then add an extra serving until you reach 8 to 10 a day.
2. Eat at least two servings of a fruit or veggie at every meal.
3. Resolve never to supersize your food portions -- unless you want to supersize your clothes.
4. Make eating purposeful, not mindless. Whenever you put food in your mouth, peel it, unwrap it, plate it and sit. Engage all of the senses in the pleasure of nourishing your body.
5. Start eating a big breakfast. It helps you eat fewer total calories throughout the day.
6. Make sure your plate is half veggies and/or fruit at both lunch and dinner.
Are There Any Easy Tricks to Help Me Cut Calories?
7. Eating out? Halve it, and bag the rest. A typical restaurant entree has 1,000 to 2,000 calories, not even counting the bread, appetizer, beverage and dessert.
8. When dining out, make it automatic: Order one dessert to share.
9. Use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate.
10. See what you eat. Plate your food instead of eating out of the jar or bag.
11. Eat the low-cal items on your plate first, then graduate. Start with salads, veggies, and broth soups, and eat meats and starches last. By the time you get to them, you'll be full enough to be content with smaller portions of the high-calorie choices.
12. Instead of whole milk, switch to 1 percent. If you drink one 8-oz glass a day, you'll lose 5 lbs in a year.
13. Juice has as many calories, ounce for ounce, as soda. Set a limit of one 8-oz glass of fruit juice a day.
14. Get calories from foods you chew, not beverages. Have fresh fruit instead of fruit juice.
15. Keep a food journal. It really works wonders.
16. Follow the Chinese saying: "Eat until you are eight-tenths full."
17. Use mustard instead of mayo.
18. Eat more soup. The noncreamy ones are filling but low-cal.
19. Cut back on or cut out caloric drinks such as soda, sweet tea, lemonade, etc. People have lost weight by making just this one change. If you have a 20-oz bottle of Coca-Cola every day, switch to Diet Coke. You should lose 25 lbs in a year.
20. Take your lunch to work.
21. Sit when you eat.
22. Dilute juice with water.
23. Have mostly veggies for lunch.
24. Eat at home.
25. Limit alcohol to weekends.
2. Eat at least two servings of a fruit or veggie at every meal.
3. Resolve never to supersize your food portions -- unless you want to supersize your clothes.
4. Make eating purposeful, not mindless. Whenever you put food in your mouth, peel it, unwrap it, plate it and sit. Engage all of the senses in the pleasure of nourishing your body.
5. Start eating a big breakfast. It helps you eat fewer total calories throughout the day.
6. Make sure your plate is half veggies and/or fruit at both lunch and dinner.
Are There Any Easy Tricks to Help Me Cut Calories?
7. Eating out? Halve it, and bag the rest. A typical restaurant entree has 1,000 to 2,000 calories, not even counting the bread, appetizer, beverage and dessert.
8. When dining out, make it automatic: Order one dessert to share.
9. Use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate.
10. See what you eat. Plate your food instead of eating out of the jar or bag.
11. Eat the low-cal items on your plate first, then graduate. Start with salads, veggies, and broth soups, and eat meats and starches last. By the time you get to them, you'll be full enough to be content with smaller portions of the high-calorie choices.
12. Instead of whole milk, switch to 1 percent. If you drink one 8-oz glass a day, you'll lose 5 lbs in a year.
13. Juice has as many calories, ounce for ounce, as soda. Set a limit of one 8-oz glass of fruit juice a day.
14. Get calories from foods you chew, not beverages. Have fresh fruit instead of fruit juice.
15. Keep a food journal. It really works wonders.
16. Follow the Chinese saying: "Eat until you are eight-tenths full."
17. Use mustard instead of mayo.
18. Eat more soup. The noncreamy ones are filling but low-cal.
19. Cut back on or cut out caloric drinks such as soda, sweet tea, lemonade, etc. People have lost weight by making just this one change. If you have a 20-oz bottle of Coca-Cola every day, switch to Diet Coke. You should lose 25 lbs in a year.
20. Take your lunch to work.
21. Sit when you eat.
22. Dilute juice with water.
23. Have mostly veggies for lunch.
24. Eat at home.
25. Limit alcohol to weekends.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Save Mother Earth
Beautiful speech from a 12 yr old girl to save Mother Earth
The following is the transcript of the speech that Severn Suzuki gave to the Plenary Session at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio Centro, Brazil. Severn was twelve years old. Hello, I'm Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. - The Environmental Children's Organisation.
We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada trying to make a difference:Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me. We raised all the money ourselves to come six thousand miles to tell you adults you must change your ways. Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future.
Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come.
I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard.
I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet because they have nowhere left to go. We cannot afford to be not heard.
I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in the ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don't know what chemicals are in it.
I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad until just a few years ago we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear about animals and plants going exinct every day -- vanishing forever.
In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterfilies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.
Did you have to worry about these little things when you were my age?
All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if we have all the time we want and all the solutions. I'm only a child and I don't have all the solutions, but I want you to realise, neither do you!
You don't know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.
You don't know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.
You don't know how to bring back an animal now extinct.
And you can't bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert.
If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!
Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business people, organisers, reporters or poiticians - but really you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sister, aunts and uncles - and all of you are somebody's child.
I'm only a child yet I know we are all part of a family, five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species strong and we all share the same air, water and soil -- borders and governments will never change that.
I'm only a child yet I know we are all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal.
In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid to tell the world how I feel.
In my country, we make so much waste, we buy and throw away, buy and throw away, and yet northern countries will not share with the needy. Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our wealth, afraid to share.
In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food, water and shelter -- we have watches, bicycles, computers and television sets.
Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent some time with some children living on the streets. And this is what one child told us: "I wish I was rich and if I were, I would give all the street children food, clothes, medicine, shelter and love and affection."
If a child on the street who has nothing, is willing to share, why are we who have everyting still so greedy?
I can't stop thinking that these children are my age, that it makes a tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of those children living in the Favellas of Rio; I could be a child starving in Somalia; a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.
I'm only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this earth would be!
At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world. You teach us:
not to fight with others,
to work things out,
to respect others,
to clean up our mess,
not to hurt other creatures
to share - not be greedy.
Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?
Do not forget why you're attending these conferences, who you're doing this for -- we are your own children. You are deciding what kind of world we will grow up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying "everyting's going to be alright" , "we're doing the best we can" and "it's not the end of the world".
But I don't think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities? My father always says "You are what you do, not what you say."
Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown ups say you love us. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you for listeningSevern Cullis-Suzuki has been active in environmental and social justice work ever since kindergarten. She was twelve years old when she gave this speech, and she received a standing ovation. Now 23, Cullis-Suzuki spearheads The SkyFish Project and continues to speak to schools and corporations, and at many conferences and international meetings. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The following is the transcript of the speech that Severn Suzuki gave to the Plenary Session at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio Centro, Brazil. Severn was twelve years old. Hello, I'm Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. - The Environmental Children's Organisation.
We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada trying to make a difference:Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me. We raised all the money ourselves to come six thousand miles to tell you adults you must change your ways. Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future.
Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come.
I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard.
I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet because they have nowhere left to go. We cannot afford to be not heard.
I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in the ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don't know what chemicals are in it.
I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad until just a few years ago we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear about animals and plants going exinct every day -- vanishing forever.
In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterfilies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.
Did you have to worry about these little things when you were my age?
All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if we have all the time we want and all the solutions. I'm only a child and I don't have all the solutions, but I want you to realise, neither do you!
You don't know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.
You don't know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.
You don't know how to bring back an animal now extinct.
And you can't bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert.
If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!
Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business people, organisers, reporters or poiticians - but really you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sister, aunts and uncles - and all of you are somebody's child.
I'm only a child yet I know we are all part of a family, five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species strong and we all share the same air, water and soil -- borders and governments will never change that.
I'm only a child yet I know we are all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal.
In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid to tell the world how I feel.
In my country, we make so much waste, we buy and throw away, buy and throw away, and yet northern countries will not share with the needy. Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our wealth, afraid to share.
In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food, water and shelter -- we have watches, bicycles, computers and television sets.
Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent some time with some children living on the streets. And this is what one child told us: "I wish I was rich and if I were, I would give all the street children food, clothes, medicine, shelter and love and affection."
If a child on the street who has nothing, is willing to share, why are we who have everyting still so greedy?
I can't stop thinking that these children are my age, that it makes a tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of those children living in the Favellas of Rio; I could be a child starving in Somalia; a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.
I'm only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this earth would be!
At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world. You teach us:
not to fight with others,
to work things out,
to respect others,
to clean up our mess,
not to hurt other creatures
to share - not be greedy.
Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?
Do not forget why you're attending these conferences, who you're doing this for -- we are your own children. You are deciding what kind of world we will grow up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying "everyting's going to be alright" , "we're doing the best we can" and "it's not the end of the world".
But I don't think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities? My father always says "You are what you do, not what you say."
Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown ups say you love us. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you for listeningSevern Cullis-Suzuki has been active in environmental and social justice work ever since kindergarten. She was twelve years old when she gave this speech, and she received a standing ovation. Now 23, Cullis-Suzuki spearheads The SkyFish Project and continues to speak to schools and corporations, and at many conferences and international meetings. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Gandhi's Top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World
Gandhi's Top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World
"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty."
Mahatma Gandhi needs no long introduction. Everyone knows about the man who lead the Indian people to independence from British rule in 1947.
So let's just move on to some of my favourite tips from Mahatma Gandhi.
1. Change yourself.
"You must be the change you want to see in the world."
If you change yourself you will change your world. If you change how you think then you will change how you feel and what actions you take. And so the world around you will change.
And the problem with changing your outer world without changing yourself is that you will still be you when you reach that change you have strived for. You will still have your flaws, anger, negativity, self-sabotaging tendencies – in short, your ego.
Since your ego loves to divide things, to find enemies and to create separation it may start to try to create even more problems and conflicts in your life and world.
2. You are in control.
"Nobody can hurt me without my permission."
What you feel and how you react to something is always up to you.
You can choose your own thoughts, reactions and emotions to pretty much everything. You don't have to freak out, overreact of even react in a negative way.
And as you realize that no-one outside of yourself can actually control how you feel you can start to incorporate this thinking into your daily life and develop it as a thought habit. A habit that you can grow stronger and stronger over time. Doing this makes life a whole lot easier and more pleasurable.
3. Forgive and let it go.
"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."
"An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind."
Fighting evil with evil won't help anyone.
Forgiving and letting go of the past will do you and the people in your world a great service.
If you don't forgive then you let the past and another person to control how you feel. By forgiving you release yourself from those bonds. And then you can focus totally on, for instance, the next point.
4. Without action you aren't going anywhere.
"An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching."
Taking action is hard and difficult.
Preaching or reading or studying endlessly gives you the feeling of moving forward.
To really get where you want to go and to really understand yourself and your world you need to practice. Books can mostly just bring you knowledge. You have to take action and translate that knowledge into results and understanding.
5. Take care of this moment.
"I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following."
Why? Well, when you are in the present moment you don't worry about the next moment that you can't control anyway. And the resistance to action that comes from you imagining negative future consequences - or reflecting on past failures - of your actions loses its power. And so it becomes easier to both take action and to keep your focus on this moment and perform better.
6. Everyone is human.
"I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps."
"It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err."
When you start to make myths out of people – even though they may have produced extraordinary results – you run the risk of becoming disconnected from them. You can start to feel like you could never achieve similar things that they did because they are so very different. So it's important to keep in mind that everyone is just a human being no matter who they are.
It's important to remember that we are all human and prone to make mistakes.
Be able to see with clarity where you went wrong and what you can learn from your mistake.
7. Persist.
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
Be persistent. In time the opposition around you will fade and fall away. And your inner resistance and self-sabotaging tendencies that want to hold you back and keep you like you have always been will grow weaker.
Find what you really like to do. Then you'll find the inner motivation to keep going, going and going.
8. See the good in people and help them.
"I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won't presume to probe into the faults of others."
Leadership means getting along with people."
There is pretty much always something good in people. And things that may not be so good. But you can choose what things to focus on.
And when you see the good in people it becomes easier to motivate yourself to be of service to them. By being of service to other people, by giving them value you not only make their lives better. Over time you tend to get what you give.
So you, create an upward spiral of positive change that grows and becomes stronger.
9. Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self.
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
"Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well."
I think that one of the best tips for improving your social skills is to behave in a congruent manner and communicate in an authentic way. People seem to really like authentic communication. And there is much inner enjoyment to be found when your thoughts, words and actions are aligned. You feel powerful and good about yourself.
10. Continue to grow and evolve.
"Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position."
You can pretty much always improve your skills, habits or re-evaluate your evaluations. You can gain deeper understanding of yourself and the world.
From Henrik Edberg’s book on Personal Development published on May, 2008
Search the Web:Mahatma Gandhi
Search News
"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty."
Mahatma Gandhi needs no long introduction. Everyone knows about the man who lead the Indian people to independence from British rule in 1947.
So let's just move on to some of my favourite tips from Mahatma Gandhi.
1. Change yourself.
"You must be the change you want to see in the world."
If you change yourself you will change your world. If you change how you think then you will change how you feel and what actions you take. And so the world around you will change.
And the problem with changing your outer world without changing yourself is that you will still be you when you reach that change you have strived for. You will still have your flaws, anger, negativity, self-sabotaging tendencies – in short, your ego.
Since your ego loves to divide things, to find enemies and to create separation it may start to try to create even more problems and conflicts in your life and world.
2. You are in control.
"Nobody can hurt me without my permission."
What you feel and how you react to something is always up to you.
You can choose your own thoughts, reactions and emotions to pretty much everything. You don't have to freak out, overreact of even react in a negative way.
And as you realize that no-one outside of yourself can actually control how you feel you can start to incorporate this thinking into your daily life and develop it as a thought habit. A habit that you can grow stronger and stronger over time. Doing this makes life a whole lot easier and more pleasurable.
3. Forgive and let it go.
"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."
"An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind."
Fighting evil with evil won't help anyone.
Forgiving and letting go of the past will do you and the people in your world a great service.
If you don't forgive then you let the past and another person to control how you feel. By forgiving you release yourself from those bonds. And then you can focus totally on, for instance, the next point.
4. Without action you aren't going anywhere.
"An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching."
Taking action is hard and difficult.
Preaching or reading or studying endlessly gives you the feeling of moving forward.
To really get where you want to go and to really understand yourself and your world you need to practice. Books can mostly just bring you knowledge. You have to take action and translate that knowledge into results and understanding.
5. Take care of this moment.
"I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following."
Why? Well, when you are in the present moment you don't worry about the next moment that you can't control anyway. And the resistance to action that comes from you imagining negative future consequences - or reflecting on past failures - of your actions loses its power. And so it becomes easier to both take action and to keep your focus on this moment and perform better.
6. Everyone is human.
"I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps."
"It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err."
When you start to make myths out of people – even though they may have produced extraordinary results – you run the risk of becoming disconnected from them. You can start to feel like you could never achieve similar things that they did because they are so very different. So it's important to keep in mind that everyone is just a human being no matter who they are.
It's important to remember that we are all human and prone to make mistakes.
Be able to see with clarity where you went wrong and what you can learn from your mistake.
7. Persist.
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
Be persistent. In time the opposition around you will fade and fall away. And your inner resistance and self-sabotaging tendencies that want to hold you back and keep you like you have always been will grow weaker.
Find what you really like to do. Then you'll find the inner motivation to keep going, going and going.
8. See the good in people and help them.
"I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won't presume to probe into the faults of others."
Leadership means getting along with people."
There is pretty much always something good in people. And things that may not be so good. But you can choose what things to focus on.
And when you see the good in people it becomes easier to motivate yourself to be of service to them. By being of service to other people, by giving them value you not only make their lives better. Over time you tend to get what you give.
So you, create an upward spiral of positive change that grows and becomes stronger.
9. Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self.
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
"Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well."
I think that one of the best tips for improving your social skills is to behave in a congruent manner and communicate in an authentic way. People seem to really like authentic communication. And there is much inner enjoyment to be found when your thoughts, words and actions are aligned. You feel powerful and good about yourself.
10. Continue to grow and evolve.
"Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position."
You can pretty much always improve your skills, habits or re-evaluate your evaluations. You can gain deeper understanding of yourself and the world.
From Henrik Edberg’s book on Personal Development published on May, 2008
Search the Web:Mahatma Gandhi
Search News
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