Movement of thought is problem

Our mind being the movement of thought, acts as a blurred screen. Through this screen we occasionally find clarity and soon it disappears. Somehow we are conditioned to put effort to find clarity through this screen only. We are heavily conditioned not to clear the screen and to try for a clear view or perception. Here we may refer to words of K, known and unknown. This distracted view, lack of clarity is what we know and we think it is secure. K's challenge to us might be can we clear the screen at an instance and have a clear perception. Can you put away your mind, this putting away and going beyond its likes and dislikes is real honesty as said by NISARGA. Then there is this benediction of clear perception which is action itself. This action is full of vitality, energy and free of conflict. 

Holding is sorrow

Holding onto things like family, friends, job, property, ideas, images, opinions is sorrow. When they follow you, it is bliss and happiness. May be watching them as an outsider, and out of that observation having a relationship with them is the key to happiness. Not only things but to watch yourself by you as an outsider is very important.

Transformation

What is transformation, psychologically? Thought always pushing us to become, to achieve, to find a secure place. From this constant effort confusion takes birth, and out of this confusion you act, or you don't act. Our education doesn't informed you that when you act out of confusion, that action produces further confusion. We act more fanatically, to clear confusion but the result will be exactly opposite. To clear this dark cloud of confusion, you must show courage to stay with it. It is very interesting to observe in yourself, that when you are in confusion you try everything else except staying with that confusion. Staying with it means neither you accepted it nor you are desiring the ending of confusion rather you are witnessing that very confusion with attention. Only in this silent witnessing you can go beyond the word confusion, and see what it really is.

It is interesting to observe, transformation begins when you slow down inwardly. Transformation is not something mystical, rather rational observation of what is happening inside, and ending of psychological aspects like fear, desire, loneliness, jealousy, greed, dependency..etc. Difficulty is that you need to observe without any desire to end something. That observation without judgement ends the thing, not your effort to end it. Another interesting thing is when you know, how you are going to transform, it is no more transformation. When you transform it's completely new state of being for you as well. So you can not recognize it, you might feel freshness which comes with that newness. when you transform you are a new being, mind entering into new and unknown state is transformation. It can only happen when there is freedom from the past.

Behind sexual perversion

No one can deny that a woman has to live with the same sense of freedom and happiness as we do, because social harmony and peace is interrelated with each and every one’s happiness in life. I know that most of you have respect for woman, but the present situation in India demands more open discussions and a little more energy from your side. There are many complexities that we need to resolve, behind this cruel action called “RAPE” or "sexual abuse". Without resolving them, if we make stringent laws, we are acting only on the peripheral of the issue. However, the centre from which this action springs up still remains the same. Laws are necessary, but they are not enough. In a physical relationship, the man and woman both should have a mutual agreement. Any action without that agreement proves that one is no more a MAN. We need to include this small fact in our education system.

A physical relationship is a sacred thing through which creation happens, looking at it in a vulgar sense is a sin. Having an affair seems to be a heroic action, but sex is just a part of life, not all of it. We must learn how to get energy out of it, and soon die to that pleasure, instead of feeding it to our memory. If we don’t die to that memory, it is used by thought and turns your life into a mess. Few of the issues behind this cruelty seem to be

1. Female foeticide – Because of this, the ratio of the girls to boys is reducing, and more men are left with wild unfulfilled desires, turning them into wild animals.

2. No sex education – When we don’t teach a child about sex as a part of nature and how to involve in it in a dignified manner, vulgarity creeps into the mind. Forget about the child, can you and I talk about sex in a dignified manner, without any vulgar thoughts or jokes creeping into our conversation?

3. Entertainment – In the entertainment industry, women are mostly objectified. Within the industry women may get paid well and may get good respect. But because of the way they portray women in public, the common man is looking at women as sex objects or glamour dolls. Indecent jokes about sexual organs have become a trend because of our movies today.

4. Not understanding the fact that there is no problem with desire, but the problem is with either suppression or the craving for it.

“I call him empty who has no love, and for him sex becomes a problem, an issue, a thing to be avoided or to be indulged.”
– Jiddu Krishnamurti

The cunning nature of thought

He lost something, and he is happy without any limits a sense of pure joy pervading his mind. Important thing is there is no effort inside to keep that "state of joyfulness" permanent. The mind has no desire to live in that state for the rest of life. Only thing he can see is, he lost something NOT accumulated. He don’t want to analyze it further, he don’t want to keep it. That tranquility, that sense of pure joy is always there on the corner. The obstacles between you and that pure joy is your desire to grab it, formulate it so that you can come to it whenever you want, your desire to control it, your effort to possess it these are real obstacles. You have enjoyed possessing material things, now you want to apply same here as well. This constant effort and struggle to live in that blissful state permanently, makes life miserable.

It's just request, you are not going for war

He entered into the bus, the seats were divided into two columns. There were four seats in a row, and a gap in the middle of each pair of seats. After going forward inside the bus, there was a window seat vacant but the seat next to it was full. Just behind that, the window seat was occupied and the other one is empty. He took that seat, and settled down and bus moved ahead. After some time, he felt uncomfortable as there is direct A/C wind coming onto his face. He wants to move and sit in the front window seat which is empty. He wants to move, but in the back of his mind thought is preventing him to take action. Don't just give all importance to example, it is just to make your understanding easy the scenarios are innumerable.

Why she said negative?

She was listening to a folk song about life. The essence of the song was to say, nothing is permanent in life so live like a guest on this planet. The message has truth in it, she said listen to this song how good it is. He asked her a question, what is the use of listening to this? She said we must listen whenever someone tells something good. He said what is the use, right after completion of that song if we are back in our daily routine? When we don’t give serious thought about it, what is the use of listening? Is it listening at all? She said you are always negative, that is the reason no one likes your books. Of course she told him humorously. He has given serious thought about it, these are his findings.

Are you not the problem?

When it comes to spirituality, what is the problem that you want to resolve? If we don’t make it complex it is you and I who are at the center of the problem, or we are the problem itself. That is the reason the job of a real guru is really tough one. The real one, is not interested in comforting words, sweet explanations, not interested in your worship, your money, your power. Their primary concern is to act like a mirror, in which we can see our own ignorance, jealousy, fears, endless desires, lack of love and compassion. Love and compassion are the essence of intelligence.

The art of LET IT GO(LIG)

Expectation of compulsory result burdens the mind. 'LIG' is like a relaxation point while you are taking the journey called life. The movement or journey of life, and relaxation both are equally important. Most of us don't have balance between these two. That might be the root cause of all our sorrow. Unfortunately we are either inclined towards working hard or being lazy. 'LIG' is like servicing and refueling a vehicle. 'LIG' is not a formula, rather, we need to understand the meaning in depth behind that phrase. We generally use 'LIG', to escape from facing the facts.

The lawyer inside us

There is a lawyer inside our mind, who always judges and
defends whatever we think of as the truth. If this lawyer is
interested in truth, we can create an entirely different society,
but unfortunately he is not. A mind which is incapable of
seeing the difference between an illusion and a truth, can
only bring disorder in its action. An illusion is nothing but
accepting a non-fact as the truth and vice versa. Don’t think
that this lawyer has only been destroying society, he has been
destroying our own life too, because we are missing out on
the strength and energy that we get when we perceive truth.

Be a light to yourself

One of the biggest stumbling block in life, is the deceiving nature of our own mind. If mind takes certain pleasure by getting attached to a book, worshipping another human being it creates an illusion that you are progressing. Whereas in reality you might be where you are, without moving a step further. Don't take knowledge from another about life, it is something you need to discover on your own. The guru's, sacred books, religions they are just pointers use them wisely. If you get attached to those pointers, those pointers might be people, gurus, eloquent motivational speakers, leaders trust me you are in big trouble.

BEST BOOKS FOR SELF HELP

Expert from the book(Freedom from the known):

THE DEMAND TO be safe in relationship inevitably breeds sorrow and fear. This seeking for security is inviting insecurity. Have you ever found security in any of your relationships? Have you? Most of us want the security of loving and being loved, but is there love when each one of us is seeking his own security, his own particular path? We are not loved because we don't know how to love. What is love? The word is so loaded and corrupted that I hardly like to use it. Everybody talks of love - every magazine and newspaper and every missionary talks everlastingly of love.

Please click on below titles if you wish to purchase. Will add more as soon as I found new ones.

Freedom from the known  --   Think on these things  --

First and last freedom

Order might be dearest thing to GOD

Human beings have invented machines like car, computer, aeroplane and so much more. They all function in a defined way and fulfil the needs of man. In the same way, life manifested itself in so many forms on this beautiful earth, and one among them is the human being. The machines created by man are to fulfil his own needs and for his comfort, but the manifestation of life which involves you and I, has been done with great care, affection, love and without any self-interest.

which one do you feed?

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Devil and His Friend

You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of
his, were walking down the street. Right head, they saw a man
stooping down to pick up something from the ground, look at
it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil,
“What did that man pick up?”
“He picked up a piece of the truth,” said the devil.
“That is a very bad business for you, then,” said his friend.
“Oh, not at all,” the devil replied, “I am going to help
him organize it.”

Most or all of our inward chattering is about organizing what is.

Quote about quote

Kisa Gotami

Kisa Gotami was the wife of a wealthy man of Savatthi. She
had only one child. When her son was old enough to start
running about, he caught a disease and died. Kisa Gotami
was greatly saddened. Unable to accept that her son was dead
and could not be brought back to life again, she took him in
her arms and went about asking for medicine to cure him.
Everyone she encountered thought that she had lost her mind.
Finally, an old man told her that if there was anyone who could
help her, it would be the Buddha.

In her distress, Kisa Gotami brought the body of her son
to the Buddha and asked him for a medicine that would bring
back his life. The Buddha answered, “I shall cure him if you
can bring me some white mustard seeds from a house where no
one has died.” Carrying her dead son, she went from door to
door, asking at each house. At each house the reply was always
that someone had died there. At last the truth struck her, “No
house is free from death.” She laid the body of her child in the
woods and returned to the Buddha, who comforted her and
preached to her the truth. She was awakened and entered the
first stage of arhatship (attainment of religious goals according
to Buddhism and Jainism). Eventually, she became an arhat.

Peace of mind

Once, Buddha was walking from one town to another with a
few of his followers. This was during his initial days. While they
were traveling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped
there, and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Do
get me some water from that lake there.” The disciple walked
up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people
were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a
bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the
water became very muddy and turbid.

The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!” So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very
muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.” After about half an
hour, Buddha again asked the same disciple to go back to the
lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently
went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had
absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and
the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some
water in a pot and brought it to Buddha. Buddha looked at the
water, and then looking up at the disciple, he said, “See what
you did to make the water clean. You let it be and the mud
settled down on its own, giving you clear water. Your mind is
also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little
time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in
any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.

Once the mind calms down, it can see things clearly and out of that
seeing, action emerges, leaving no place for conflict or pain in
that action.”

Burdens of the past

A senior monk and a junior monk were traveling together. At
one point, they came to a river with a strong current. As the
monks were preparing to cross the river, they saw a very young
and beautiful woman also attempting to cross. The young
woman asked if they could help her. The senior monk carried
this woman on his shoulder, forded the river and let her down
on the other bank. The junior monk was very upset, but said
nothing.

As they both were walking, the senior monk noticed that
his junior was suddenly silent and enquired, “Is something the
matter, you seem very upset?” The junior monk replied, “As
monks, we are not permitted to touch a woman, how could
you then carry that woman on your shoulders? The senior
monk replied, “I left the woman a long time ago at the bank,
however, you seem to be carrying her still.”
Children live with a similar state of mind as that of the
senior monk. Psychologically, past is always a burden. In the
present, all of us or most of us are conditioned by our past.
We all want to live with a fresh mind, without any burdens
of the past. Rarely do we find the traits of the senior monk
in us. To be in a calm, balanced and peaceful state of mind,
depth of knowledge about our psyche is mandatory. We have a
superficial knowledge about our psyche, and this is the reason
why there is no balance in our mind. Only silence can penetrate
into the nature and structure of the psyche, a chattering mind
cannot dwell deep. We all want to live in the present attentively,
but we fail to do so. Through this book, I want to explore the
same. So, let us examine together, the different aspects of our
psyche in the coming chapters.

Note: Feel deeply the state of mind of that senior monk.

The story of watermelons

The story of watermelons by Manohar Parrikar:

"I am from the village of Parra in Goa, hence we are called Parrikars. My village is famous for its watermelons. When I was a child, the farmers would organise a watermelon-eating contest at the end of the harvest season in May. All the kids would be invited to eat as many watermelons as they wanted. Years later, I went to IIT Mumbai to study engineering. I went back to my village after 6.5 years.

I went to the market looking for watermelons. They were all gone. The ones that were there were so small.

I went to see the farmer who hosted the watermelon-eating contest. His son had taken over. He would host the contest but there was a difference.

When the older farmer gave us watermelons to eat he would ask us to spit out the seeds into a bowl. We were told not to bite into the seeds.

He was collecting the seeds for his next crop. We were unpaid child labourers, actually. He kept his best watermelons for the contest and he got the best seeds which would yield even bigger watermelons the next year.

His son, when he took over, realised that the larger watermelons would fetch more money in the market so he sold the larger ones and kept the smaller ones for the contest.

The next year, the watermelons were smaller, the year later even small. In watermelons the generation is one year. In seven years, Parra's best watermelons were finished. In humans, generations change after 25 years. It will take us 200 years to figure what we were doing wrong while educating our children."

Without employing the passionate teachers, how can we train the next generation?

Unparallelled Donor

Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village. Arjuna was pestering Krishna, asking him why Karna should be considered an unparallelled Donor & not him ?

Krishna, turned two mountains into gold.

Then said, "Arjuna, distribute these two gold mountains among villagers, but you must donate every bit of it ".

Arjuna went into the village, and proclaimed he was going to donate gold to every villager, and asked them to gather near the mountain. The villagers sang his praises and Arjuna walked towards the mountains with a huffed up chest.

For two days and two nights Arjuna shovelled gold from the mountain and donated to each villager. The mountains did not diminish in the slightest.

Most villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes. Now Arjuna was exhausted, but not ready to let go of his Ego, told Krishna he couldn't go on any longer without rest.

Then Krishna called Karna and told him to donate every bit of the two gold mountains.

Karna called the villagers, and said "Those two Gold mountains are yours. " and walked away.

Arjuna sat dumbfounded. Why hadn't this thought occurred to him?

Krishna smiled mischievously and told him "Arjuna, subconsciously, you were attracted to the gold, you regretfully gave it away to each villager, giving them what you thought was a generous amount. Thus the size of your donation to each villager depended only on your imagination.

Karna holds no such reservations. Look at him walking away after giving away a fortune, he doesn't expect people to sing his NM praises, he doesn't even care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back. That is the sign of a man already on the path of enlightenment".

Giving with an Expectation of a Return in the form of a Compliment or Thanks is not a Gift, then it becomes a Trade.

Do we really know what is love? Is not the love in our relationships a form of trade?

Zen dialogue

Zen teachers train their young pupils to express themselves. Two Zen temples each had a child protegé. One child, going to obtain vegetables each morning, would meet the other on the way.

Where are you going? asked the one. I am going wherever my feet go, the other responded.

This reply puzzled the first child who went to his teacher for help. Tomorrow morning, the teacher told him, when you meet that little fellow, ask him the same question. He will give you the same answer, and then you ask him: 'Suppose you have no feet, then where are you going?' That will fix him.

The children met again the following morning. Where are you going? asked the first child.

I am going wherever the wind blows, answered the other. This again nonplussed the youngster, who took his defeat to his teacher.

Ask him where he is going if there is no wind, suggested the teacher.

The next day the children met a third time.

Where are you going? asked the first child.

I am going to the market to buy vegetables, the other replied.

Is not our minds restless like the first child?

The other side

One day a young Buddhist on his journey home came to the banks of a wide river. Staring hopelessly at the great obstacle in front of him, he pondered for hours on just how to cross such a wide barrier. Just as he was about to give up his pursuit to continue his journey he saw a great teacher on the other side of the river. The young Buddhist yells over to the teacher, "Oh wise one, can you tell me how to get to the other side of this river"? The teacher ponders for a moment looks up and down the river and yells back, "My son, you are on the other side".

Why don't we approach great obstacles in life with a simple & silent mind? Why we always desire for an end result from the beginning? why don't we stay with the problem, so that it can reveal itself?

My misunderstandings and corrections

There are certain things one must be careful while reading JK, or any other true GURU. Here I am writing my understanding, please examine them without acceptance or denial.

1) Attachment to people, things corrupts the mind. Caring for people, things is not attachment. Care without being possessive is possible.

2) Knowledge leads to ignorance. Here knowledge is not technical, it is knowledge we gathered from society, friends, religion, books, gurus, media about what is good and bad in life. Scientific knowledge is not dangerous because there it is not based on belief it is based on thorough inquiry, reason, logic and it is rational.

3) Time is sorrow. Here time not by clock, but the interval between idea and action. In that interval thought comes into play, and tweaks action for it's own comfort.

4) A person with self knowledge is highly moral and law abiding, but his morality is based on his own understanding. It is not confined by his upbringing or social acceptance.

5) Helping others is secondary, but correcting yourself comes first. There is no helping others actually, when you do charity, plant trees, save water, or do something else you are actually helping yourself by bringing some order.

6) The teacher can't be aware of your inward nature. It is you, who needs to be diligently aware about your thoughts. He can only point out through awareness you can keep thought in it's place.

7) The greed for money, power, position, recognition will invite sorrow. There is nothing wrong with money, power, growth that you get naturally. When you are working out of passion they may come to you, and they are not harmful in that way. Natural growth is like the growth of a tree, there is no competition, ambition, comparison in that growth. The tree grows seemlessly, without struggle, pain. That natural growth is always recommended, it is not out of desire to become somebody. Natural growth is always inclusive, the growth of the present mankind is exclusive. There is natural growth, when you enjoy the blissfulness of being. The desire to become negates this extraordinary beauty of being.

8) These teachings along with your diligent work on yourself, will give freedom from false. With out freedom from false life becomes endless struggle and strife. One can not expect material benefits (success, recognition, money) out of it.

9) One can not take shelter in these teachings to feel secure. These teachings will inform you that there is no such thing as psychological security, so that the constant wastage of mind's effort to find security can be saved.

The flapping flag

Once two Zen monks were walking down the road. It was a breezy day. One of them said to the other: "Look, the flag is flapping in the breeze." The second monk replied: "No, that is foolish. The breeze is flapping the flag!" And so they spent an exciting quarter hour: "The flag is flapping!""The breeze is flapping!"

As the debate was heating up, the Zen master appeared on the road. They ran to him. "Roshi, please settle our dispute. I say the flag is flapping in the breeze, he says the breeze is flapping the flag. Which one of us is right?" The master looked at them with a penetrating eye. "You are both wrong," he said. "Your minds are flapping!"

This story best resembles the present news media, how they take simple issue and turns it into a major crisis without resolving it. Are we not influenced by media, leaders, religious propaganda?

A Mother's Advice

Jiun, a Shogun master, was a well-known Sanskrit scholar of the Tokugawa era. When he was young he used to deliver lectures to his brother students. His mother heard about this and wrote him a letter: "Son, I do not think you became a devotee of the Buddha because you desired to turn into a walking dictionary for others. There is no end to information and commentation, glory and honor. I wish you would stop this lecture business. Shut yourself up in a little temple in a remote part of the mountain. Devote your time to meditation and in this way attain true realization.

We understand a little, but talk extensively. Is not verbalization a major factor, which prevents realizing truth?

Mokusen's Fist

Mokusen Hiki was living in a temple in the province of Tamba. One of his adherents complained of the stinginess of his wife. Mokusen visited the adherent's wife and showed her his clenched fist before her face. What do you mean by that? asked the surprised woman.

Suppose my fist were always like that. What would you call it? he asked.
Deformed, replied the woman.

The he opened his hand flat in her face and asked: Suppose it were always like that. What then? Another kind of deformity, said the wife.

If you understand that much, finished Mokusen, you are a good wife. Then he left. After his visit, this wife helped her husband to distribute as well as to save.

Doesn't it mean we are living with closed fist, when we try to possess a person in our relationship? Is possession, attachment, jealousy love?

The lawyer inside us

There is a lawyer inside our mind, who always judges and
defends whatever we think of as the truth. If this lawyer is
interested in truth, we can create an entirely different society,
but unfortunately he is not. A mind which is incapable of
seeing the difference between an illusion and a truth, can
only bring disorder in its action. An illusion is nothing but
accepting a non-fact as the truth and vice versa. Don’t think
that this lawyer has only been destroying society, he has been
destroying our own life too, because we are missing out on
the strength and energy that we get when we perceive truth.
Now, can you look at the lawyer inside you and have some
fun watching him? Because only when you extend the hand
of friendship towards him, can you understand the lawyer and
negate him effortlessly, not when you say I must live without
that lawyer. Please remember that ‘understanding’ is the only
task you are left with, and you can’t be lazy about this.

My dear friends, I don’t know whether you can see it or
not, but how beautiful and happy our life would be, if we all
stood for truth. In that stand, you may lose many things which
you hold very dear to yourself, but that very losing makes you
nothing and nothing contains everything. Is not this lawyer
nothing but our own psychological knowledge? Things that
our parents told us, the books that we read, different political,
religious, social influences on our mind, all of these form
this lawyer. But the question is, how much do we purify the
content before taking it for granted? What if this lawyer is
just a bundle of knowledge and memories? That’s why it is
said, with knowledge comes ignorance. We are talking about
psychological knowledge, not technological knowledge. The
ability to look at something with a simple mind is the key
to happiness in life, not running after money, sex, power or
position.

What are you inside?

A conversation between Wayne Dyer and his student:

If I were to squeeze this orange as hard as I could, what would come out? I asked him.

He looked at me like I was a little crazy and said, Juice, of course.

Do you think apple juice could come out of it?

No! he laughed.

What about grapefruit juice?

No!

What would come of it?

Orange juice, of course

Why? Why when you squeeze an orange does orange juice comes out?

He may have been getting a little exasperated with me at this point.

Well, it s an orange and that s what s inside.

I nodded.

Let s assume that this orange isn t an orange, but it s you. And someone squeezes you, puts pressure on you, says something you don t like, offends you.
And out of you comes anger, hatred, bitterness etc. Why?

The answer, as our young friend has told us, is because that s what s inside .

It s one of the great lessons of life.

What come out when life squeezes you? When someone hurts or offends you?
If anger, pain and fear come out of you, it s because that s what s inside.

It doesn t matter who does the squeezing: your mother, your brother, your children, the government.

If someone says something about you that you don t like, what comes out of you is what s inside.
And what s inside is up to you, it s your choice.

When someone puts the pressure on you and out of you comes anything other than love, it s because that s what you ve allowed to be inside.

Once you take away all those negative things you don t want in your life and replace them with love, you ll find yourself living a highly functioning life.

Squeeze out of yourself Love and Compassion!!!

When you ignore to learn what you are inside, suffering follows.

Corporate ant story

Every day, a small Ant arrives at work very early and starts work immediately.

She produces a lot and she was happy.

The Chief, a Tiger, was surprised to see that the Ant was working without supervision.

He thought if the Ant can produce so much without supervision, wouldn’t she produce even more if she had a supervisor!

So he recruited a Bee who had extensive experience as supervisor and who was famous for writing excellent reports.

The Bee’s first decision was to set up a clocking in attendance system.

He also needed a secretary to help him write and type his reports and he recruited a Rabbit , who managed the archives and monitored all phone calls.

The Tiger was delighted with the Bee's reports and asked him to produce graphs to describe production rates and to analyse trends, so that he could use them for presentations at Board‘s meetings.

So the Bee had to buy a new computer and a Laser printer and recruited a Cat to manage the IT department.

The Ant, who had once been so productive and relaxed, hated this new plethora of paperwork and meetings which used up most of her time…!

The Tiger came to the conclusion that it was high time to nominate a person in charge of the department where the Ant worked.

The position was given to the Monkey, whose first decision was to buy an Air Conditioner and an ergonomic chair for his office.

The new person in charge, the Monkey, also needed a 💻 computer and a personal assistant , who he brought from his previous department, to help him prepare a Work and 'Budget Control Strategic Optimisation Plan' …

The Department where the Ant works is now a sad place, where nobody laughs anymore and everybody has become upset...

It was at that time that the Bee convinced the boss, the Tiger; of the absolute necessity to start a climatic study of the environment .

Having reviewed the charges for running the Ant’s department , the Tiger found out that the Production was much less than before.

So he recruited the Owl, a prestigious and renowned consultant to carry out an audit and suggest solutions.

The Owl spent three months in the department and came up with an enormous report, in several volumes, that concluded...
.
.
.
.
“ The Department is overstaffed ...”
.
.
.
.

Guess who the Tiger fires first?
.
.
.
.
.

Of course, the Ant.........,

"....because she showed lack of motivation and had a negative attitude. "

The real leader tries to replace fear, control, pressure with passion. Creating passion for work is real solution.

Expectations and Relationships

Sooner or later, our relationships turn into pain and suffering.
When one neglects the other, we get wounded psychologically
and we carry on with that hurt. There are innumerable things
that hurt us like this, but we never learn something out of it,
instead deciding on keeping ourselves away from getting hurt
for the rest of our life. When someone hurts me, if I tell myself
that I must be careful next time, and something like this
should not repeat itself, etc., then I am slowly isolating myself
from the society, by building walls around me and thinking that
this isolation will protect me. This isolation brings
with it, its own loneliness and pain. Thinking is a very complex
affair; when I can’t understand my thinking, how can I
guide others?

Three monks

“There are three monks, who had sat in deep meditation for many years amidst the Himalayan snow peaks, never speaking a word, in utter silence. One morning, one of the three suddenly speaks up and says, ‘What a lovely morning this is.’ And he falls silent again. Five years of silence pass, when all at once the second monk speaks up and says, ‘But we could do with some rain.’ There is silence among them for another five years, when suddenly the third monk says, ‘Why can’t you two stop chattering?”

You may attend many spiritual programs or run away to mountains, but can you end something in you if you don't face it?

cartoon in a magazine

The other day I saw a cartoon in a magazine, " he(Jiddu Krishnamurti) recounted to the audience. "It's in New York City, at a busy intersection in Times Square. There are two dogs sitting by the curbside, watching the people hurrying by, always busy and in a rush. And one dog says to the other, 'you know, reincarnation gives me the creeps.

Why there is this incessant chattering of the mind "to become somebody, to reach somewhere"?

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Depression

Dear Friend,

If you are depressed please don't go for sweet pills of comforting words. Would like to suggest you for bitter pills of self-awareness. Comforting words may put away your burdens for time being, but soon they will be back with greater force. When there is movement in life, is there a place for depression? When life moving according to your wishes, you don't feel depressed. Some how your life became stagnated, and out of that stagnation depression gains strength. Are you serious about getting out of stagnation, or your thought taking certain pleasure in being in that state of suffering?

Social status is an illusion

The person who accumulates knowledge for recognition in society, is not so different from a person who is longing for money, power..etc. When you are passionately learning something, you enjoy the very process of learning. You don't desire to be recognized, you may get recognition but you are aware about the danger of getting caught in it. The desire to get recognized makes life miserable. Social status is an illusion, it is just another product of thought. Like many other products of thought, social status is also unreal. The real beauty lies in being simple and humble.

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Verbalization vs silence

Verbalization is the major cause of decay of our brains. In explaining through words we can go to any extent, what really matters is do you behave? We are habituated to analysis, but the more we analyze the less we understand. We say silence is profound, yet we live with a chattering mind. Surely it is profound because only in silence one can see oneself as he is or she is. A chattering mind gives importance to what it should be, a silent mind observe what it is in the present. What you are in the present is real, what you should be is just an image created by thought. Please put away the burden of becoming somebody, and start understanding what you are in the present. The burden of becoming, invites struggle and sorrow in life. Don't try to apply, first examine it and make it your own.

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Meaningless practice

A young man wanting to find truth goes to see a famous guru. 'Master, can you teach me meditation and truth?' he asks. The guru agrees, and the disciple immediately assumes the lotus posture, closing his eyes and breathing rhythmically to show what he knows. The master doesn't say anything but picks up two stones from the ground and starts rubbing them against each other. Hearing the strange noise, the disciple opens his eyes and asks, 'Master, what are you doing?' The guru answers 'I'am rubbing these stones against each other to polish them into a mirror so I can look at myself.' 'The disciple laughs, 'but master, if you don't mind my telling you: you'll never be able to make a mirror of these stones by rubbing them against each other. You can do that forever, and it won't work.' 'Similarly, my friend,' the master says, 'you can sit like that forever, but you'll never be meditating or understanding truth.'

Do you ever question your practices, knowledge, especially about life? or you take shelter in some guru, philosophy, religious book...etc?

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Do you really trust?

A Catholic is standing on a mountain and looks down into the beauty of the valley. Suddenly he slips and falls down the cliff and is barely able to hold on to the branch of a tree that is growing there. Below him is an abyss of a thousand feet. He doesn’t know what to do, so he prays, ‘Please, Lord, help me. Save me from death.’ And a voice comes out of the sky and says, ‘Have faith, let go! And the man looks up and calls out, ‘Is there anybody else up there?”

While we were all laughing, Krishnamurti looked at us with bright eyes, eventually asking, “What is trust? Do you have trust? Not trust in something, some idea or ideal, just trust.”

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God & Air

A hermit was meditating by a river when a young man interrupted him.
“Master, I wish to become your disciple,” said the man. “Why?” replied the hermit. The young man thought for a moment. “Because I want to find God.”
The master jumped up, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, dragged him into the river, and plunged his head under water.
After holding him there for a minute, with him kicking and struggling to free himself, the master finally pulled him up out of the river. The young man coughed up water and gasped to get his breath. When he eventually quieted down, the master spoke.
“Tell me, what did you want most of all when you were under water.”
“Air!” answered the man. “Very well,” said the master. “Go home and come back to me when you want God as much as you just wanted air.”

How serious we are about change in the world, if you are serious it begins with you.

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self improvement or negation

We often listen to words like 'be positive, be confident, believe in yourself, you can do it, self improvement'. We rarely, or never listen to teachings which are based on self negation(Please click on JK Teachings on sidebar). Here I would like to explain the difference with simple example, but go beyond the example and feel truth for yourself.

Suppose you have a floor which is full of oil, slippery. The first category of teachings makes us to, work hard so that you can walk fast even on the slippery ground. Even though these teachings are more popular, it negates joy and happiness in life. They pushes you to work hard, knowingly or unknowingly we use another human being just as a stepping stone for our success. Here there is no place for love and compassion, what matters is only success and getting a result. When end result  is only important, we miss the joy of learning.

The fox is real

In a small village in India, a little fox told its father of its wish to eat human flesh. Next day father fox managed to get some pig meat and offered to his son. But the little fox didn't have it. Then the father fox managed to get some cow meat and offered it. The little fox declined to eat that as well. The stubborn little fox was adamant that he will not settle for anything other than human meat. That night the father fox left the pork in the front of a masjid/mosque and the beef in the front of a temple/mandir. By next day morning the entire village was filled with human dead bodies. The little fox ate human meat for a week and was so happy his father managed to get so much human meat.

Story might be hypothetical, but the Fox is for real, and the division is real. Why humanity failed to see a simple fact that "where ever there is division, there must be conflict"?

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Have we tried all?

We tried all possible ways to bring about a good society. The world witnessed dictatorship, religious propaganda, charity, social reforms, environmentalists, scientists, philosophers, journalism, spirituality, economists trying for equality, democracy, communism, non violence, we even tried wars for peace the list goes on and on. Finally we came to a conclusion that nothing can be done, suffering is part of life we can't end it. We finally satisfied with theories, philosophies which says disorder is part of life.

What we have not tried with committed effort, is common man's wisdom through holistic education. The root of all disorder in the world is self-centered activity of human mind. Only wisdom can break this pattern of longing for security, and make you listen to your heart. Most unfortunate thing that can happen to any country is, education becoming business commodity.

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In passion real growth

Mukesh and Anil joined a company together a few months after their graduation from university.

After a few years of work, their Manager promoted Mukesh to a position of Senior Sales Manager, but Anil remained in his entry-level Junior Sales Officer place.

Anil developed a sense of jealousy and hatred, but continued working anyway.

One day Anil felt that he could not work with Mukesh anymore. He wrote his resignation letter, but before he submitted it to the Manager, he complained that Management did not value hard-working staff, but only promoted only the favoured!

The Manager knew that Anil worked very hard for the years he had spent at the company; even harder than Mukesh and therefore he deserved the promotion. So to help Anil to realize this, the Manager gave Anil a task.

“Go and find out if anyone is selling water melons in town?”

Anil returned and said, "yes there is someone!"

The Manager asked, "how much per kg?" Anil drove back to town to ask and then returned to tell the Manager; "they are Rs 13.50 per kg!"

The Manager told Anil, "I will give Mukesh the same task that I gave you.

So the Manager said to Mukesh, in the presence of Anil ; “Go and find out if anyone is selling water melons in town?”

Mukesh went to find out and on his return he said:
"Manager, there is only one person selling water melons in the town. The cost is Rs 49.00 each water melon and Rs 32,50 for a half melon. He sells them at Rs 13.50 per kg when sliced. He has in his stock 93 melons, each one weighing about 7kg.

He has a farm and can supply us with melons for the next 4 months at a rate of 102 melons per day at Rs 27.00 per melon; this includes delivery.

The melons appear fresh and red with good quality, and they taste better than the ones we sold last year.

He has his own slicing machine and is willing to slice for us free of charge.
We need to strike a deal with him before 10 a. m tomorrow and we will be sure of beating last year's profits in melons by Rs 223 . This will contribute positively to our overall performance as it will add a minimum of 3.78% to our current overall sales target.

I have put this information down in writing and is available on spreadsheet.

Please let me know if you need it as I can send it to you in fifteen minutes."

Anil was very impressed and realized the difference between himself and Mukesh. He decided not to resign but to learn from Mukesh.

Let this story help us keep in mind the importance of going an extra mile in all our endeavors.

MORAL : Mukesh involved and enjoyed the work whereas Anil just tried to complete, but is completion possible without passion? Can fear and competition bring about passion? Or is it freedom which can ignite passion?

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Don't worship sign boards

Gurus, sacred books, religions, leaders they are no more important than a sign board. Unfortunately we garland sign boards, worship, adore them instead of taking journey further. Real teacher acts just like a mirror, it is our job to use it and diligently correct ourselves.

Rules or Understanding

One should live based on rules or one's own understanding about life? Moment to moment observation and learning can only handle the dynamics of life. Rules formed out of knowledge can only breed conflict. One must live in a state of experiencing, not based on past knowledge, memories or experiences.  Conflict is one of the major reason which makes the mind dull.

Argument vs Discussion

Two people arguing furiously about present state of the world. They both have their own opinions, conclusions, beliefs, set of ideas to bring about a better world. They asked a wise man how to bring a better world.

The wise man said, if you stop arguing and start discussion you are stepping towards better world.

When you are important it is argument, when truth is important it is discussion. The art of discussion must be part of education, it can solve complex human problems without much effort.

what you sow, you reap

A small story which beautifully illustrates that what you sow, you reap.
" Once upon a time there was a small time businessman from a small village who used to sell butter in the nearby town. A big shop owner in the town was his regular customer. The villager used to deliver every month the shop owner the required butter in 1 Kg. Blocks and in turn he used to get grocery items like sugar, pulses etc from the big shop owner.
Once the shop owner decided to weigh the butter and to his surprise every block of butter weighed 900 gms. instead of 1kg. Next month when the villager came to supply Butter, the shop owner was very angry at him and told to leave the shop, to this the villager replied him courteously " Sir, I am a very poor villager,
I don't have enough money to even buy the required weights for weighing the butter, I usually put the 1Kg sugar you give me on one side of Weighing scale and weigh butter on another side". This beautifully illustrates that what we give to others comes back to us.

When we believe in reincarnation, why don't we stay away from self-centered activity of the mind?

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Silence your mind

A worried man said, I can't fight bad.

A wise man said no need to fight, just silence your mind through awareness so that you can listen to your heart that is good enough.

religion

Religion has been reduced to belonging to a group and feeling secure, we lost profound teachings, which are actually foundation for every religion. True religion is a heart full of Love and compassion.

stop thinking

A man out of pride said nothing is impossible, a wise man asked him to stop thinking for few minutes.

Importance of wisdom in you

Each and every human being on this planet desires a life without struggle and suffering. Without struggle doesn't mean being lazy, rather a life full of passion. Through war, competition, comparison, divisions can we bring order, or is it love, compassion, sharing, cooperation? All or most of the times our actions towards a better society are like 'a defected robot is trying to correct another defected robot'.

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power of questioning

Father and son, went to a temple, suddenly son shouted after seeing the pillars of Lions at the entrance of the temple "Run Dad, or those Lions will eat us " Dad consoled him saying "they are just statues and wont harm us"
Son replied " if those lion statues wont harm us then how could statues of God give us blessings" The father wrote in his diary...
"I am still speechless on my childs answer and have started searching for God in Humans instead of statues. . I didn't find God but I found humanity. ....

Are we encouraging the quality of questioning in our children? or are we telling them don't question, rather be a part of this profoundly sick society?

Questioning is the beginning of intelligence... Jiddu Krishnamurti.

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Jiddu Krishnamurti

Some of the profound quotes from JK teachings

1.    It’s not work but your own resistance towards work makes you dull.
2.    Wherever there is division there must be conflict.
3.    What is meditation is important, not how to meditate.
4.    The solution lies within the problem not outside of it.
5.    Discipline means act of learning all the time.
6.    The way you approach a problem is tremendously important.
7.    You can act only in the present.
8.    You can not hurt another without hurting yourself.
9.     It’s no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
10.  All propaganda is false, and man lived on propaganda ranging from soap   to God.
11.  Freedom from the desire for an answer is essential to the understanding   of a problem.
12.  The word GURU means the one who dispels ignorance, not the one who  imposes his own ignorance on you.

To read more please follow below links: (Free ebooks link)

Freedom from the known
The first and last freedom
Free Ebooks

JK Schools and study centers:

Jiddu_Krishnamurti_Schools

www.jkrishnamurti.org (An international website)

What is education?

Is education all about merely acquiring knowledge and passing exams? With such kind of education can we build a better world, where we all can live happily and peacefully? The most fundamental part of education, which is "knowing about yourself" is missing from present education system. Observing your own life, and your own mind and it's distractions, capacities must be primary education. From ignoring the importance of self knowledge, all kinds of disorder comes into being. Disorder being fear, loneliness, conflict, endless divisions between man and man, ugly wars, suffering..etc. If education cannot produce young people, who are passionate to solve human problems what is the meaning of such education?

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To Calm A Disturbed Mind

Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were traveling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there.”

The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!”

So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.” After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake.

This time too he found that the lake was muddy. He returned and informed Buddha about the same. After sometime, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back. The disciple reached the lake to find the lake absolutely clean and clear with pure water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said,” See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be…. and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water. Your mind is also like that! When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.

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walk to put away burdens

After a good nap in the afternoon, went for a walk. There is great beauty to go for a walk all by yourself. Walking alone with a sense of joy is beneficial for both body and mind. That 'sense of joy' is not possible when one walks out of force, or by making a resolution that 'I must walk'. It must begin with a sense of freedom. Can there be freedom when the motivation is from outside? It is even more joyful to walk in nature. It's therapeutic to lose incessant chattering of the mind, by watching trees, birds, and clouds as a whole. The incessant chattering, makes the mind dull. Unfortunately we can see people walking while talking on their phones, or chattering with another. When we are walking for health, we must do it for its own sake and with a sense of joy. Not only walk, but any action in life should be for its own sake not to escape from ourselves. Can we act in such a way that, we are bonding with ourselves NOT escaping from ourselves?

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THE PARROT'S TRAINING

In ‘The Parrot’s Training’, we are told of a golden cage that is built to imprison a wild and uncivilized parrot so that she could be properly educated. In addition to the usual school curriculum, she was also expected to learn to listen and obey. She was allowed to question but within the structure and not question the structure itself. First, the teachers tried stuffing her with pages of the official textbooks. Days went by but that did not work. Then teachers, educators came together to brainstorm on some creative means to make things more interesting. More activity based things were introduced to drill the concepts in. A UNICEF project came with all kinds of child-friendly and joyful techniques. The cage was decorated with all sorts of colourful pictures and charts. There was a blip in interest, but it died as soon as it came. The educators from all over came together to talk once again. They decided that more investment is required in the system. The World Bank was approached. It gave a loan to the king to build a bigger cage with a nice toilet. A software company gave her a laptop with free internet connection. Many other facilities were added. But still, there was no considerable difference in parrot’s attitude towards learning! Finally the intellectuals came in and debated for days. It was decided that researchers from the Harvard researchers should be invited to conduct studies on the parrot’s brain and multiple intelligences. They came and as a result many papers were published, and many a books were written. The parrot’s case became famous, however, it’s personal condition only worsened. As her distress increased she was given mindfulness training. They also taught her about child rights. Some concerned individual advised the parrot needs sometime alone. Not understanding what he or she truly meant, an hour of silence and meditation was included in the already overly packed timetable.

The only thing parrot was not allowed to do was the little thing she so dearly wanted to do – to leave the cage. Whenever she tried to break out she was put in back. In fact, she was scolded for being ungrateful and impertinent. Time and again she was reprimanded, “We are doing so much for you, spending so much on you and you do not even care.”

Over the years parrot did end up learning a few things but lost the interest in learning itself. She slowly became dependent on the very cage she earlier wanted to break out from. She internalized the fact that the people around her were indeed doing a favor to her; that she and eventually her children too needs support of this wonderful cage. One day the cage was accidentally left open but she was afraid to venture out. Her dreams were reduced to being a rat in the rat-race. Slowly her spirit withered away. In the end, a lot of people made a lot of money on the parrot’s education, everyone benefited except the parrot.

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