Raksha Bandhan

Raksha Bandhan is the most awaited Hindu festival commemorates the bond of love between a brother and sister.  this day literally translates to the 'bond of protection.' To celebrate this festival, brothers and sisters meet and exchange wishes. Sisters then tie a rakhi on their brothers' wrists, and an exchange of gifts usually takes place. It is a day when siblings pray for each others' well being and wish for each others' togetherness with lots of happiness and goodwill. The significance of Raksha Bandhan festival is huge in our country and is celebrated no lesser than any other festival. It is dedicated to the love of a sister and her brother holding immense importance in relationship. The name of the festival, Raksha Bandhan is made up of two words, Raksha (Protection) and Bandhan (Relation). this particular festival encompasses the warmth shared between the siblings 

Fancy and beautiful Rakhis are made and delicious sweets are prepared long before the Shravana Purnima. According to the Indian tradition, the family members get ready for the rituals early in the morning. Sisters prepare the puja thali which consists of roli, tilak, Rakhi threads, rice grains, aggarbattis (incense sticks), diyas and sweets. 

After offering the rituals to the deities of the family, the sister perform aarti of their brothers and ties Rakhi on their wrist put kumkum tika on the forehead of their brother and offer sweets. Then the brother in return pampers  their sister by giving them special gifts, acknowledging their unconditional love. The bless her with a promise to protect them from all evils of the world. The rituals performed on this occasion might differ from place to place but they carry the same enthusiastic aura throughout the globe.   

In Maharashtra, the festival of Raksha Bandhan is celebrated along with Narali Poornima (coconut day festival). Kolis are the fishermen community of the coastal state. The fishermen offer prayers to Lord Varuna, the Hindu god of Sea, to invoke his blessings. As part of the rituals, coconuts were thrown into the sea as offerings to Lord Varuna. The girls and women tie rakhi on their brother's wrist, as elsewhere.

In Haryana, in addition to celebrating Raksha Bandhan, people observe the festival of Salono. Salono is celebrated by priests solemnly tying amulets against evil on people's wrists. As elsewhere, sisters tie threads on brothers with prayers for their well being, and the brothers give her gifts promising to safeguard her.

Happy Raksha Bandhan, everyone!

 This is an Excellent piece of advice for any one who are feeling low and down or depressed today.   

" In order to Divorce yourself from unhappiness, Always keep the treasurers of happiness with you " 
  
Way To Happiness. 
  

This story is about a beautiful, expensively dressed lady who complained to her psychiatrist that she felt that her whole life was empty, it had no meaning. 

  

So, the lady went to visit a counselor to seek out happiness.  The counselor called over the old lady who cleaned the office floors.  The counselor then said to the rich lady "I'm going to ask  Mary here to tell you how she found happiness. All I want you to do is listen to her." 

  

So the old lady put down her broom and sat on a chair and told her story: "Well, my husband died of malaria and three months later  my only son was killed by a car.  I had nobody... I had nothing left.  I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, I never smiled at anyone, I even thought of taking my own life. Then one evening a little kitten followed me home from work.  Somehow I felt sorry for that kitten. It was cold outside, so I decided to let the kitten in. I got it some milk, and the kitten licked the plate clean.  Then it purred and rubbed against my leg and, for the first time in months, I smiled. Then I stopped to think, if helping a little kitten could make me smile, maybe doing something for people could make me happy. So the next day I baked some biscuits and took them to a neighbour who was sick in bed. Every day I tried to do something nice for someone. It made me so happy to see them happy. Today, I don't know of anybody who sleeps and eats better than I do. I've found happiness, by giving it to others." When she heard that the rich lady cried. She had everything that money could buy, but she had lost the things  which money cannot buy. 

"The beauty of life does not depend on how happy you are; But on how happy others can be because of you..." 

  
Happiness is not a destination, 
It's a journey. 
Happiness is not tomorrow, 
It is now. 
Happiness is not a dependency, 
It is a decision. 
Happiness is what you are, 
Not what you have. 
  


May your troubles be less, May your blessings be more, May nothing but happiness come through your door! 
  
Wishing Your Days Be Filled With Happiness, Peace And Good Health.

Self and Identity

People throughout the world are in search of their identity. Infact, they are not in search of their individuality, they are searching happiness and peace. It is only that they are not aware of the same. The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-will.

A man is beyond his mind, body and intellect. A child when born is ignorant of this fact that he/she shall one day be a separate individual! The sense of being an individual develops over the time through social interactions and then personality development. We tend to underestimate the importance of knowing our self and not knowing ourself leads to only confusion and nothing else.

When we don't know who we are and where or what we are heading towards, it's hard to set goals or get motivated or even determining the best course of action gets difficult, so it is indeed very essential to establish who we are before we are able to do anything.

To know our own self we should:

·  Be aware of your strengths, weaknesses, likes and   dislikes.

·  Observe and be aware of your moods, reactions and responses to what is happening around you.

·     Become aware of how these moods and emotions affect your state of mind.

·      Examine how you interact with others.

·     Observe how your environment affects you.

The familiarity with your own self is what to be sought and what has to be understood. A man should be aware of his real identity and by knowing it he will be able to solve most of the problems and complications of life. 

Knowing and understanding yourself better, in turn, leads to decision-making, setting and reaching appropriate goals and ultimately living more a productive life. This knowledge is unlimited by time and space and this is beyond any change.

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A VERY TOUCHING STORY

"My boss drove a luxury car everyday and it was my duty to greet him and to open the gates for him, as I worked as a watchman in his villa. But he never responded back to my greetings.

One day he saw me opening the garbage bags outside the villa in search for any leftover food. But, as usual he never even looked at me, it was like as if he never saw anything!

The very next day I saw a paper bag at the same place, but it was clean and the food inside was covered well. It was fresh and good food like someone had just brought it from the supermarket. I didn't bother as to where it came from, I just took the paper bag and I was so happy about it.

Every day I found this paper bag at the same place with fresh vegetables and all that we needed for home. This became my daily routine. I was eating and sharing this food with my wife and kids. I was wondering who this fool could be?! To forget his paper bag full of fresh food everyday.

One day there was a big problem in the villa and I was told that my boss has died. There were too many guests coming to the villa that day and I didn't get any food that day, so I thought that one of the guests must have taken it. But the same thing happened the 2nd day, the 3rd day and the 4th day.

It went on like this for a few weeks and I found it difficult to provide food for my family, so I decided to ask the wife of my boss for a raise in my salary or else I would quit my job as a watchman.

After I told her, she was shocked, and asked me, how come you never complained about your salary for the last 2 years? And why is this salary not enough for you now? I gave her so many excuses but she was never convinced!

Finally in the end, I decided to tell her the truth, I told her the entire story of the bag of groceries, and as to how it was my daily provision. She then asked me as to when this stopped? I told her after the death of her husband. And then I realized that I stopped seeing the paper bag immediately after the death of my boss. Why didn't I ever think of this before? That it was my boss who was providing this for me? I guess it was because I never thought that a person who never replied to my greetings could ever be this generous!

 His wife started to cry and I told her to please stop crying and that I'm really sorry that I asked for a raise, I didn't know that it was your husband who was providing me with the meals, I’ll remain as a watchman and be happy to provide my service.

His wife told me, I'm crying because I've finally found the 7th person my husband was giving this bag full of food. I knew my husband was giving 7 people everyday, I had already found the 6 people, and all these days I was searching for the 7th person. And today I found out.

From that day onwards, I started to receive the bag full of food again, but this time his son was bringing it to my house and giving it to my hand. But whenever I thanked him, he never replied! Just like his dad!

One day, I told him THANK YOU in a very loud voice! He replied back to me to please not be offended when he doesn't reply, because he has a hearing problem, just like his dad!”

Oh! We have been wrong so many times judging others without knowing the true story behind their actions. Be kind and courteous in dealing with others, for everyone is fighting a hard battle. Be careful, not everything is about you. Before you assume, there is this thing called ASKING.

Don’t just jump to conclusion, because that is truly not an exercise, it may cause you more harm at the end of the day. Many of our problems are caused by how we process what happens around us. Don’t judge a situation you have never been in. Be humble enough to learn. You do not know it all. Lets change the way we feel about ourselves and others.

There are two sides to a story: Don’t believe everything you hear. Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about."

SHARING

This is beautiful and means more than a thousand words can say............

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle,
and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared." 
----- Siddhartha Gautama Buddha

Life isn't easy and we all know that. For some it is even more so difficult than the rest. Happiness and Joy in such a condition seems as a distant horizon for it easily wearies the mind, body, and soul of a person.

The greatest gift we can give to ourselves and everyone around is the gift of sharing. In a situation where any one of us has been blessed with the priceless gift of delight, we should hasten to share it out with those who may be needing it too. Perhaps a smile... a warm thought... a kind word... a helpful gesture... a prayer... or maybe just a simple hug can do wonders. This may perhaps seem unimportant and insignificant ... but to the person you will be giving it shall the whole world.

Happiness and joy is contagious. All it takes is to light up the spark and the sooner than we think, that tiny spark bursts into huge flames quickly warming those plenty hearts around you reaching out to everyone with its light. Share this gift freely. It shall only enhance by spreading and we will not lose anything. In fact, it doubles up in huge measure and becomes a blessing it was meant to be. For them..... As well for us.

Without a second thought we should invest our energy into cultivating relationships as such associations are like a garden, the more time we spend tending and planting in the garden, the more spectacular the garden turns out to be. Similarly, our focus should be on investing our time, effort and imagination into developing and maintaining meaningful relationships as it is our sincere efforts only that shall yield good results and we shall see all the relationships flourishing and growing.

We live in a truly abundant universe that is filled with opportunities and possibilities. We should give ourselves and everyone around us the gift of our ongoing personal development because when we commit to take care of ourselves, we become a better, friend, business partner, employee, spouse etc. Believe in yourself and the support everyone around you can, this way we shall discover the key to unlock our unlimited potential.

Teach the people how you should be treated by treated them the same way. When we project an exemplary picture to the world, in which we commit to keep improving, we tend to give ourselves freely and this helps others to achieve their dreams too. Exactly the same will be reciprocated back and everyone around us will become part of our support system.

What are you waiting for, take the plunge today and commit to become the type of person you want the world to be. This way the world will seem to change and will be filled with all the right type of people. If you want the world to change, then change the only thing you have control over, change yourself and the world will change. Everything around you will change as you change. Anything you pursue will always elude you; everything you embrace will be attracted to you

Still why are people hesitant? Sharing happiness should become one's second nature. Happiness never gets abridged but expands with multiplier effect by sharing.

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Role of the Women of Today

  

India is gradually emerging as a powerful nation since women began playing significant roles for the development of the country. The role of woman in India today is phenomenal and the transition of woman from the past to present is worth mentioning as the woman who was once considered to be the masters in the art of home making are now considered to be the forces that shape a country.

So true are the words of Albert Einstein- “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”  

In India, there was a time when women were just confined to kitchen and house, but gradually, awareness towards education uplifted them where they began to get educated and some after higher education came out on the social and political platform to rub shoulder with the men. This struggle was the opening up of the new horizon for a new womanhood in India.

The new generation of women seem to have wheels under their feet where girls are extremely ambitious and focused. They seem to emerge from clearly defined boundaries of their homes and enter schools, colleges with a well-defined role at the workplace. They efficiently rearrange their career and social life along with her family life following all the traditions and festivities. A great amalgamation of Western emancipation and Indian warmth, full of compassion and family values. They are extremely talented and progressive trying their best to walk on equal footings with men in all fields of the society.

Previously women faced many Social Problems like Dowry, Child Marriages, death during Childbirth, Sati and many other social problems but nowadays the status of women in India has been a subject to many great changes over the past few millennia. Today, they are well aware of their status and position in society so that they refuse to suffer but fight for their rights. There is no doubt this awakening is making them move faster towards a better tomorrow.

“The extension of women's rights is the basic principle of all social progress.” -- Charles Fourier

The status of women in modern India is a sort of a paradox. The modern Indian women have honed their skills and jumped into a battlefield of life fighting against social restrictions, emotional ties, religious boundaries and cultural clutches. She can now be seen working on par with men in every field. As compared with past women in modern times have achieved a lot but in reality they have to still travel a long way. Their path is full of roadblocks. The women have left the secured domain of their home and are now in the battlefield of life, fully armoured with their talent. They must avail themselves of the educational opportunities provided and learn to empower themselves.

"Educate a man and you educate an individual. Educate a woman and you educate a family."  

There is no arena, which remains unconquered by our Indian women. The most important name in the category of such women is the politician of recent times: Mrs. Indira Gandhi. In India, women have adorned high offices including that of the President, Prime Minister, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, etc. Where Kiran Majumdar Shaw is the richest Indian woman, there some of the notable and outstanding women who have set examples for others are Mother Teresa, Kalpana Chawla, Kiran Bedi, Sarojini Naidu, etc. Indian women have mastered anything and everything which a woman can dream of. But still women have a long way to achieve equal status in the minds of Indian men.

Development of our country depends on the empowerment of women. A man and a woman are like two wheels of a cart. The cart can move fast and safely too, when both of them pull it in the same direction and with equal strength. Hence no developing country or society can afford to ignore the role of women, if they are to progress. Because it is very positively acknowledged that history looks different when the contributions of women are included.

“You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of women”- Jawaherlal Nehru.

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Contentment

Contentment is that learned behaviour which is not dependent on circumstances but it is a state of being, not a state of doing for it is entirely based on the riches we develop inside us through our upbringing, thought process and behaviour etc. It is the inner sense that makes us contended and satisfied, therefore we must understand that contentment is a journey not a destination with a beginning, a middle and an end and on its completion which we enjoy to the utmost while travelling. Living each day and savouring every moment of it as if it were our last should be our resolution and we must learn to cope with our frustration because total control in life is rarely possible and we get frustrated for different reasons on various issues.

At some point, we all get caught up in our own misguided attempts to find peace and contentment by over working ourselves to death.

This reminds me of a famous artist who met a fisherman enjoying himself and soaking in sunset.

“Why aren’t you out fishing?” the artist inquired inquisitively.

“Cause, I’ve caught all the fishes I needed for today.”

“Well, why don’t you go out and catch more? Make a profit, buy a bigger boat, hire more men and become wealthy. Then only you could just sit and watch sunsets.”

“What do you think I’m doing now?” the fisherman smiled.

Our frustration should be at such a tolerance level that it should not kill contentment giving rise to frustration. Today is all what we have, right now is all that we possess and we need to appreciate and thank God for the same.

Just living for ourselves shall give us contentment. Many of us don’t even know what exactly contentment is because we expect our environment to be exactly the way we want it to be. We want our spouse to fulfil our expectations and our children to conform to a prewritten plan we have ordained for them. And this way we want everything to fall into its perfect niche in the little cupboard where we compartmentalize every element of existence. Why?

Why can’t we not let everything go according to its own pace? Why do we not let everyone live their own way? Why do we need to command everyone? Why cannot we give space to our own near and dear ones so that they too live their own life? Why can we not be happy in the happiness of others?

When we’re focused and aware of our ambitious goals, we are likely to feel contented and happy because if we don’t know of our expectations, then life becomes dull and boring therefore always make small achievable goals and pursue for them vigorously for inspiration to a prosperous future. Enjoy even the small things in life as we can only be contented from such deeds only. This cannot be purchased from materialistic things as money is not everything in life. In the pursuit of contentment, chasing after life’s big pleasures instead of enjoying the small ones is futile because this is as if we are losing tiny sparkling diamonds that are strewn across our path in running after the big ones.

Never sacrifice family for the sake of your own achievements because family is the one who is the real well-wisher and always wants to see us happy and smiling even during odd circumstances. Just imagine for a moment … you are extremely rich living in a big house of your dreams with an expensive car and rich bank account and plan for a luxurious five star holiday. No doubt it is wonderful that you have achieved what you aimed for, but how, with whom and on what cost? You are standing all alone with no one to share your contentment whereas your other family members who may not be having so much wealth are united and happily enjoying themselves with each other. For wealth you might have sacrificed your family, but your family preferred sacrificing you for happiness and contentment.

You may have had to relegate your loved ones to the second best, but you have a failed a precious relationship in your awakening, and you have missed all your children’s childhood years, or been too busy to celebrate birthdays and remember anniversaries. At the end of the day, it’s no good having all life’s luxuries if there’s nobody meaningful to share them with. Discontentment leads to more desires and needs which is nothing but deception. We can only feel contented when we need to complete our journey from earth to heaven in peace, satisfaction and humanity, it is only then, when we actually can attain self-actualization.

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