Learn who Brahman (God) truly is.
Remember man made “religion”, not God (Brahman).
Brahman did not create for “religion”, colour, caste or creed.
Brahman created not just for all humanity, but for this whole world which includes all living beings and the magnificent and splendid wonder and glory of nature.
Love and respect and Brahman’s creation as much as you love Brahman.
Always have faith in Brahman, faith in yourself and faith in the goodwill of your fellowman.
The only thing that is constant, final and absolute is the Rtam.
The Rtam is the most absolute, perfect and divine law of Brahman.
Dharma along with Karma are the important and fundamental components of the Rtam.
Practice ध्यान (Dhyan) for at least 30 minutes in a day.
Do this not to relax for a few minutes, but to achieve समत्वम्ं (Samathvam) in your entire daily life.
What is समत्वम्ं (Samathvam)?
Once you achieve समत्वम्ं (Samathvam) you become a Yogi.
As Shyam Sundar Goswami said in his wonderful book about his named Master’s teaching:
A yogi can be in the forests of the Himalaya or in a big city;
a real yogi is unconcerned with his own environment as he is with himself.
Find at least 30 minutes a day for Hatha Yoga, or at least 15 rounds of Suryanamaskar.
Practice the main key to Happiness. Learn to have no expectations in every action you do.
Selfishness and Ego are the root cause of all suffering and evil in this world.
Never have an ego and never be selfish and inconsiderate.
Help the weakest of people and treat them as your equal with love and respect.
In the eyes of Brahman, all are equal.
It is the Rtam that makes people unequal.
The Rtam is a continuous wheel.
The wheel of Justice.
If you are not selfish, inconsiderate and do not have an ego, you will have the world at your feet and the whole world will love you and respect you and some may even die for you.
Ironically, having people die for them was actually main intention of a selfish and egotistical person in the first place.
Investing in people is the most valuable investment a person can make.
To invest in people you don’t need huge amounts of money.
In fact to invest in people, you don’t need any money at all.
To invest in people you need the consistent practice of True Love, Dharma, SEVA (Selfless Sacrifice) and the things I have figured out.
The first people to invest in are your true family and true friends.
Your true family and true friends are not attracted to your wealth, they are attracted to you. They will be the only ones standing by you when you no longer have your wealth.
Your true family is not just your blood family, they are just products of your Karma.
From my personal experience, your blood family usually shows you fish love.
Your true family and true friends give you true love, not fish love.
Only ignorant idiots take pride in the feeling of “I” and “my” and “only mine”.
It is only a world class ignorant dumbass who thinks the world begins and ends with only “I”, “my” and “only mine”.
It is an even more world class ignorant Six Sigma quality dumbass who thinks that they are immortal and can continue what they are doing forever.
It is an even more world class ignorant Kaizen Six Sigma quality dumbass who thinks that they can continue to dictate what the world should do even after they are gone.
Nothing you consider “yours” is really yours.
Your name was given to you by your mother.
Whether you like it or not, one day all your family would have left you.
That includes your mother and father who will eventually pass way, your siblings who will have their own families to look after, and your children who will wander off to chase their own dreams.
All that will be left is you and your spouse.
And one day, even your spouse will grow old and die.
And finally on the ultimate day, whether you like it or not you will be forced to leave your body.
Even if you are sorry for being forced to leave on that ultimate day, be extremely thankful if you first did not already end up blind, toothless, wearing adult diapers and probably not remembering when you ate your last meal, and not even remembering the name of your favourite child.
All the so called “wealth” you earned and proudly claimed as only yours, will one day be lost by your heirs who took their inheritance for granted.
Even worse, the so called “wealth” that you earned, may be thrown back in your face by your heirs, and abandoned to the wilderness if you aim to force your wishes on your heirs even after your gone.
And as I have said many times:
Anything that is taken for granted is usually lost, discarded or abandoned.
The only thing that is truly yours are the memories you leave behind in the ones who you truly love.
That is your only real wealth.
Learn to treasure the value of things, not the price of them.
Some of the most precious things in life are “free”.
Love, compassion, trust, kindness, honesty, respect, faith, devotion, sincerity, sacrifice, goodwill, benevolence, the splendour and glory of Nature, and many other such intangible but priceless and invaluable things have no intrinsic “price”.
There is no price on them, they are given freely and generously.
Would you really prefer to take all the money and gold in the world, and not bother to have even one of what I have mentioned above, because they have no price and are given freely and generously?
Never ever maintain any relationship with any person who only measures you by the money or wealth or assets you have.
Once your money and wealth is gone, that person will also be gone.
If the only problem is money, it is not a problem at all.
Money comes and goes and comes again.
Anybody who loses heart because they dont have money, is making a big mistake.
I know some people who have even committed suicide because they had no money.
There are much worse things in life to lose than money – health, your sense of well being, your very consciousness of self, your reputation, kindness, solidarity and goodwill of others and most importantly the trust, love and respect of those you love.
As long as you have the above, money should be the least of your worries.
Money while necessary motivates neither the best people nor the best in people. Purpose does
A wonderful quote by Vala Afshar.
Do not waste your time trying to offer a diamond to a pig.
There is absolutely no use offering a diamond to a pig.
It would step right over it, crush it into the filthy mud, and still prefer to wallow in filthy mud and eat slop.
Love, compassion, trust, kindness, honesty, respect, faith, devotion, sacrifice, sincerity, goodwill, benevolence, the splendour and glory of Nature and many other such intangible but priceless and invaluable things have no intrinsic “price”.
But the things I have mentioned above are more valuable than all the gold and diamonds, not just in the earth, but in the Multiverse.
They should only be offered to people who recognise its value.
You only realise the value of something or someone when you lose them.
Learn to recognise what true love is before you give or take it.
True love is to give without expectations.
Even more true love is to do for someone what they want to do, not what you want them to do.
Love means nothing without trust first, and then respect.
Trust is the most important relationship. Then comes Respect.
Only if you have trust and respect for a person does your love really mean something.
Without trust and respect, thinking somebody loves you is just a pointless delusion.
It is a two way pointless delusion:
You are deluded to think they really care about you and they are deluded to think they really care about you.
Be honest – Trust can only be earned if one is honest. Never lie, cheat or steal except for the protection of Dharma.
If you do not want to talk about anything, dont lie, just say “No Comment” like most diplomats do.
Or better yet, say:
“That’s for me to know and you to find out”.
Of course there are exceptions.
If somebody held a gun to your head and asked you for the address of your friend who he wanted to murder, then you can lie about your friend’s address.
Trust is the supreme relationship.
Trust is the fundamental basis of any relationship.
You cannot truly love or respect anybody unless you trust them first.
This applies even to your closest family including your parents, siblings, spouse and children.
Unless you trust them first, all your other proclaimed “relationships” with them are worthless.
It is like trying to build a house on a foundation of sand.
Even a dog shed cannot be built on a foundation of sand.
Trust is that rock solid foundation over which you can build the worlds tallest skyscrapers and worlds’ strongest castles, dams and forts.
Trust but Verify.
It is better to trust but verify, than never trust at all.
If somebody trusts you, they have every right to verify that trust.
But in the same measure, never blindly trust anybody without verifying their underlying intentions and motives.
Especially in legal, financial and contractual matters where your own reputation is at stake, or even worse, you can become bankrupt, be held liable, or even be imprisoned, do not trust even your own father, brother, sister, son, daughter or even spouse without verifying their underlying intentions.
The most grievous and serious of losses and even death to a person was caused because of betrayal, not by their enemies, but by those they considered closest to them, their own family including fathers, brothers, sons and spouses.
Usually the only person who will never betray you is your mother.
But sometimes even honest mothers lead the way to hell with their selfish, egotistical and ignorant intentions.
Most of the marriages of those I know who failed, were mainly because of problems with the mother-in-law.
Word and action should be one like Paravathi and Parameshwara(Shiva).
Above is a very famous saying from Kalidasa who was the greatest poet and playwright ever in the history of the world.
For a person to be truly united in word and action, they should have achieved समत्वम्ं (Samathvam) and this only comes from sincere and sustained practice of ध्यान Dhyan.
Watch what you speak and write.
There is a saying in Kannada:
“A pearl once broken cannot be taken back, and words once spoken (or written) cannot be taken back.”
I personally know relationships that were built over years that were completely destroyed because of harsh words either verbally or written spoken in impulse and anger.
Verbal harshness is far more damaging especially if you do it in public and humiliate another person in front of a crowd.
Any person who cannot control impulsive harsh words and actions is not fit to be a leader or a manager of people and is only fit to be a low level technician or solitary worker who should not be allowed to interact with people or even animals and plants.
Such harsh, impulsive, selfish, self centered and disrespectful people are only fit to interact with machines or dig ditches or break stones.
People do not leave good companies, they leave bad managers.
The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.
This is a very famous saying by Americas most famous motivational speaker Norman Vincent Peale.
Focus on earning loyalty, not obedience
Obedience comes from fear, loyalty comes from the heart.
Loyalty can only be earned by consistently practicing Dharma, and being just and fair and equal towards all without favouritism or nepotism.
Loyalty is not a one-way street — it is reciprocal, you must be the first one to stand and last one to leave to those who stand by you.
In fact if you were truly loyal, you would never leave at all.
However it must be known that in transactional affairs(where there is a monetary component involved) – eg employment or business relationships, many a times these affairs become transactional — when the person is no longer capable of compensating somebody, they will leave.
Hence loyalty in transactional affairs can only be given upto the point a person will be putting their own well being at risk to remain loyal.
Whereas in affairs where there is no transactional component, loyalty can be place upto whatever the other level of loyalty the other person is willing to commit.
As I mentioned before in my article on the Raja Rishi (Sage King):
Only a just king commands the loyalty of people.
The subjects of a just king attacked by another will follow him until death, even if he is weak.
On the other hand, when a strong but unjust king is attacked, his people will either topple him or go over to the enemy.
Focus on earning respect, not attention
Barking dogs get attention, sleeping lions get respect.
So if a person is to earn respect, they need to develop qualities that are worth respecting and this only comes from the practice of Dharma, and development of some ability of competence with devotion, intelligence, talent, hard and smart work.
Age and authority does not mean automatic respect.
Just because someone is an elder or in a position of authority, it does not mean you have to automatically respect them.
Some people can live to be 80, but still be worthless dumbasses and most of our Representative DFIs do not deserve any respect because they would be in the position of authority that they are in if not for the “wonder” of FUKUS democracy.
Respect has to be earned by developing good Gunas (Character) and Karma(conduct), not demanded automatically by position or age.
Learn to recognise and work for good leadership and never work for bad leadership
I wish I read this excellent article by NK Carlson on the qualities of a bad leader. It is an eye opener and warning never to work for a bad leader.
Transparency
Good leaders communicate transparently, but only to the point of necessity. Bad leaders communicate either too transparently or not transparently enough.
Compassionate
Good leaders communicate with compassion. Bad leaders communicate with no compassion. When bad leaders communicate, they do not take the feelings of others into consideration. Bad leaders communicate in a way that is cold and distant. The root of this is those bad leaders don’t actually care about anyone other than themselves and their own power. Along with this, bad leaders will never say, “I’m sorry.” They won’t say they are sorry for something they did, they won’t even say they are sorry that a situation is bad. A bad leader never apologizes.
On the other hand, a good leader cares about people and takes others’ feelings into account. Most importantly, a good leader communicates bad news in a way where employees leave the conversation knowing the leader cares about them.
Answers Questions
A good leader is helpful and answers questions and concerns. A bad leader ignores questions or dances around them. This goes with the transparency issue above. A bad leader will withhold information for their own purposes. Even when you could be transparent and give answers, they will not, especially when those answers would undermine their power. A bad leader is far from helpful. In many cases, a bad leader will ignore questions or even attack question askers.
A good leader welcomes questions and answers each one, even if that answer is, “I’m sorry, I am unable to answer that question due to confidentiality.” A good leader wants more information available rather than less. A good leader wants to foster understanding when decisions are made. A good leader will help their employees understand through questions and answers. A good leader has nothing to hide about how a decision is made and why.
Clarity
Above all, good leaders seek to communicate with clarity. Bad leaders do not seek clarity, because many times, a bad leader makes decisions that would not pass scrutiny. Ironically, bad leaders may use more words to communicate decisions.
A good leader will communicate clearly in as few words as possible because they know that many words often bring more fog than clarity. A good leader is direct. Listening is also a sign of good communication. A good communicator listens to concerns rather than monopolizing the conversation so they can better address those concerns. Good communicators and leaders know that face-to-face conversation is usually the best way to communicate, especially when communicating bad news.
Good leaders choose the proper medium so that clarity can be maximized.
If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.
Ironically this was said by Goebbels who built his whole life by creating fear and hiding the real truth of the Nazi’s work.
Always be good and kind to people who have nothing to lose.
When a person has nothing to lose, they can either become a great saint or a dangerous suicide bomber.
The most dangerous suicide bomber is one who feels he has nothing to lose so he gives away his life freely in the form of hate for all mankind.
The most wonderful saint is one who feels he has nothing to lose, so he gives away his life freely in the form of love for not just mankind but the whole world.
Love and hate are not inborn qualities.
They are developed by a person’s interaction with the world around them.
If a person has only been shown hate, he will become a hateful person.
If a person has only been shown love, he will become a lovable person.
SEVA is only done selflessly.
True SEVA is to be good and kind to people from you have nothing to gain, not even a thank you.
SEVA or selfless service is not returning a favour for somebody who has done you a favour.
SEVA is also not doing a favour for someone you care about or somebody who you think is important.
SEVA or selfless service is the most selfish form of service.
As the Dalai Lama said:
My advice is that if you must be selfish, be wisely selfish.
Wise people serve others sincerely, putting the needs of others above their own. Ultimately you will be happier.
If you want to be truly selfish, help someone.
People perform their best and give their heart and soul when given the promise of a reward.
This is a proven fact not only among adult humans, but also among children, and even among young animals.
People perform the worst and will usually always fail and rebel when given only the threat of punishment.
Ask the best of animal trainers, even those who train lions and tigers.
They use the promise of reward more than the threat of punishment.
Even to reform the worst of rapists, this is sometimes true.
But I always believe before the promise of reward, one must bear punishment for their actions especially if it is wicked actions that caused the suffering of another innocent person.
Never assume things, ASSUME just makes and ASS of U and ME.
Before arriving at a conclusion, depending on the answer you want, first always ask the questions:
- “Let me know what you think first?”
- “Why did you say that?”
- “What do you mean?”
Consider the cumulative effect, not the recency effect.
Most of us only consider the last interaction in a relationship.
Even if a person has been good to us previously, even for decades, but did something hurtful recently, we forget all the past good things and can even breakup a multi-decade relationship just because of the most recent bad experience.
Relationships once broken cannot be restored.
Work hard at saving a long term relationship.
When the relationship is down to its last threads, then work even more hard at saving even the last thread of that relationship.
Even if you have to cut off the thread of a new or unstable relationship, to save a valuable long term relationship, do it without hesitation.
Some people say that a broken relationship can be restored.
This is not true.
A good relationship is like a strong steel ropes of a wire bridge.
It is extremely valuable until the last thread breaks.
Once that thread is broken, there is only disaster and loss that follows.
A good relationship is also like a clear unbroken unscratched beautiful mirror.
It is clear and beautiful and you love to look at it all the time since it unconditionally reflects all your actions and makes you look and feel good and laughs and cries with you.
Once the mirror is broken it shatters into pieces.
The reflection is permanently lost.
Even if all the pieces are gathered and pasted together, the cracks will still remain visible and you will never get the original reflection of a clear unbroken mirror.
There are only two things left to do with a broken mirror:
- Remain satisfied with a broken mirror whose clear reflection you will never regain or enjoy again.
- Discard the old mirror and get a new mirror whose reflection you will again enjoy.
Money can buy many things, but cannot restore a destroyed relationship nor restore a broken mirror.
However this also has exceptions.
Even if a person has been good to you in the past, but is continuously harmful and hurtful to you in the recent past for at least three years or more, then it is better to review the relationship from a futuristic perspective and make your decision considering your future well being.
There is a golden saying in the Mutual Fund and Hedge Fund and other Investment Fund industries which are the biggest ever con games devised by the Wall Street/Dalal Street Pimps:
“Past performance is no guarantee of future results.”
Do not value relationships more than religion.
If you have to have to let go of religion to save a relationship, do that without any second thought.
In fact do not value relationships more than monetary considerations or anything material.
But be willing to sacrifice all relationships to protect Dharma.
Have long term relationships.
Long term relationships in business or personal affairs are stable, and stability brings trust and that is a good thing.
Never forget your oldest and your childhood friends.
They are the only ones who were friends with you for who you were, not what you may have become later in life.
Old friends are like gold.
One popular saying:
Make new friends, but don’t forget the old,
One is silver, the other is gold.
Another popular saying:
Old friends are gold! New friends are diamonds!
If you get diamonds, don’t forget gold,
Because diamonds can only be set in gold.
If you give in plenty first, you will get a lot more than you have given.
Give a person respect the first time you meet them.
Any person, from the manhole cleaner to the supreme leader.
Give a person kindness the first time you meet them.
Give a person compassion the first time you meet them.
The most ignorant and stupid saying is “Evil prevails when good men are silent and do nothing”.
Good men would not be silent if they saw evil prevailing.
Evil prevails because selfish evil men tolerate other evil men doing selfish evil things to other people.
Selfish evil men remain silent because the other evil men are not doing evil things to their family or their loved ones but to someone else’s family and loved ones.
If these other evil men had done evil things to this selfish person’s family, they would have been the first to rise up and stop the other evil men.
And as I have said before:
Selfishness is the root cause of all evil.
In my opinion, Bhishma was one of the most remarkable men ever in the history of the world.
He would have been on the same level of Lord Ram, if he had only placed adherence to Dharma above adherence to his family.
Bhishma thought he was following Dharma, but he was also one of its greatest violators.
He was blind to the faults of his family.
He was not only blind, but also silent about their faults and even condoned it when they continuously committed the most grievous violations Dharma, including the public molestation of a woman who was also a wife and mother.
One cannot remain blind and silent and condone any violations of Dharma, even if they are your done by your own family.
If you remain silent about evil, you are no better than the evil doer.
That is why Lord Ram is remembered with reverence even to this day:
He put adherence to Dharma not only above himself, but also above the well being of his most beloved pregnant wife and unborn child.
Lord Ram loved Sita more than himself.
Yet he sacrificed her and his unborn child because of Dharma.
One has to understand the conditions of those days to understand what Lord Ram did.
Considering today’s times, where serial adulterer and sexual predator Pompous Prick 🤢presidents, can have a nude supermodel third wife as First Lady of USA, some people are misguided and think what Lord Ram did was harsh and unfair and unreasonable.
But it is a really complex issue to understand Lord Ram’s plight and what led to his painful decision to hurt his most beloved wife and unborn child.
Another of the most ignorant and stupid sayings is “Everything is fair in love and war”.
Nothing is fair if Dharma is violated. But everything is fair to protect Dharma.
Hate the sin, not the sinner.
Do not condemn the person entirely, but only condemn and punish the bad quality in that person until it is removed and they reform.
Read my articles on Justice and Punishment.
Do not worry about your reputation, but always focus on your character every moment you breathe.
If you have a good character, your reputation will come automatically without any additional effort.
Be good in your thoughts first, only then can you develop character.
What you think is what you speak and what you will do.
Reputation is what others think of you. Character is what you think of yourself.
Today most people are more bothered about developing their reputation than their character.
They measure their success not by the strength of their character, but the strength of their material wealth, even if this wealth has been procured through petty and dishonest means.
Even if they are third class porkis in their character and behaviour, they are not bothered about reforming their character, they just want to develop an appearance of being gentlemen so that they can get a good reputation.
They develop this reputation by “donating” a small amount of their immense wealth to so called “charitable” purposes, that are actually just business and self promotion expenses towards enhancing their so called “reputation” as gentlemen.
They appear to meeker than a mouse and more polite to people from whom they are expecting some gain or benefit.
They also appear to meeker than a mouse and more polite to people who can bully them or could defame them or damage their reputation
But they will more wicked than a rabid dog to people who they think they can bully and from who they have nothing to gain from and think cannot affect their reputation.
A person may openly violate Dharma and even question the existence of Brahman, but if they “donate” a few lakhs to a so called “temple” they will be given a status higher than the most ardent and sincere devotee.
Unfortunately as is already written in the Shrimad Bhagavatam, Ramacharit Manas, Brighu and other texts about the evils of the Kaliyuga:
In the Kaliyuga, people are measured by the strength of their wealth not by the strength of their character.
Do not worry about success, but strive to achieve satisfaction.
Success is a measure of your efforts by others, satisfaction is a measure of your efforts by yourself.
The most important and priceless asset of yours is not your health, but your time.
If you manage your time well, you can easily manage your life and even your health which is the next important asset after time.
Time is the most precious commodity and treats all equally, the poorest of the poor or even the richest billionaires.
You cannot recover time when it is lost even if you are willing to pay a hundred trillion dollars for it.
Proper time management is very important to have a healthy and happy life.
Divide your time with a proper allocation for family, rest, exercise, ध्यान(Dhyan) and food.
Once all this is in balance, then your time at work will automatically be the most productive even if it is short.
Life is much more than just working to earn a living.
The end goal of your life should not be only your work.
A day will come when you will no longer be working and forced to stop working – either you may get old, or tired or fired.
There is a golden saying:
Love your job, not your company, because you never know when your company may stop loving you.
But the other components of your life – family, rest, exercise, meditation and food remain with you and love you dearly till the end of your life and are the main contributors to your well being.
Treat time as your most precious asset.
Be very careful how you spend your time. Especially when you spend it on people.
Spend your time only on your True Family, who will value and be grateful for the time you have spent for them, even if you have not given them anything material.
For the rest of the people just give them material things or money.
Most times we end up wasting time on people who dont really value our time, but actually only value our money.
Be a Finder, not a Seeker.
A seeker is looking for something, they are so caught up looking for that one single thing, that they forget the pleasures of the journey itself.
Be a finder, like a child on a picnic in a forest.
Have no goal, instead be free and open.
Be open to receive even the smallest of wonders that life sends you, even the simplest of things like the flight of a butterfly or the falling of raindrops.
Let things discover you, dont go out trying to discover things.
Only finders discover happiness, seekers are always frustrated pursuing and looking for the next big high.
As Jiddu said:
“Happiness is not a thing to be pursued; it comes.
But if you seek it, it will evade you.”
Always be polite and respectful and start off being nice.
I have made more friends than enemies and that is how I always start off any relationship.
Always try to have a discussion, not an argument.
A discussion: A polite and civil exchange of enlightened knowledge and ideas without ego and anger and acceptance of an enlightened view even if it is contrary to your own.
An argument: A violent exchange of ignorance, anger and ego by dumbasses.
Always forget what you give, but never forget to forgive.
I got the above wonderful saying from this wonderful Youtube video:
It is the thought and devotion that counts, not the value of the gift.
Some people think only people who give them really expensive gifts really care for them.
They also think the only way that they can show they care for a person is to buy an expensive gift for that person.
As Jiddu said:
Now you have the mind full and your heart empty.
Value people according to the thought and dedication they put into the gift.
Rich people may send their drivers to buy an expensive Rs 500 greeting card with pre-written fancy words from a fancy store, but a poor person who puts his heart and soul into the greeting even if he writes in pencil on a cheap ordinary piece of paper and with a lot of spelling mistakes, it has more value than a careless pre-written fancy greeting card.
As Lord Krishna said in the Gita:
If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.
Chapter 9 (Raja Yoga), Verse 26
You never know what you can get until you ask for it.
You can never know another’s suffering unless you go through the same suffering yourself.
A good way to start a conversation with a stranger is to ask the question “Where are you from?“ and then “What do you do?”
Have an open mind – Learn to listen and listen to learn.
A mind that is closed and has preconceived and rigid notions is a mind that is closed and anything closed does not have room to grow and flourish.
A closed mind is like dark and stuffy room where there is no light and fresh air, it is absolutely not a comfortable place to be.
As Leo Tolstoy said:
The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him.
Clarity of purpose beats force of will any day.
When you have clarity of purpose, you will automatically find a way that is sure and simple.
The saying “Where there is a will, there is a way” is a stupid saying devised by a world class dumbass.
It is like taking a hammer to get through a brick wall, when you can just look around the corner and find the door and get behind the wall with much less time and effort.
First develop clarity of purpose, then the way will automatically unfold in front of you.
To be a success at work or at anything material, do things because you want to do it, not because you have to do it.
When you work on something because you want to do it, you dont need to be motivated.
You will do it wholeheartedly and with full devotion.
Whenever you do something wholeheartedly and with full devotion it is usually a success as long as you have clarity of purpose.
But to be a success at life and achieve Moksha, for the protection of Dharma, do things because you have to do it, even if you dont want to do it.
Always be assertive, but never be aggressive
Assertiveness is the ability to express yourself and your rights without violating the rights of others.
Stanlee Phelps & Nancy Austin, The Assertive You
I wasted 42 years of my life because I was not assertive and always tried to please my aggressive and ungrateful father because he was paying my bills for my education and upbringing.
Dont ever repeat my mistakes.
There is no need to be obliged to you parents for your education and upbringing.
It is their duty to educate and raise you as per your dreams and wishes.
You can repay that debt by taking care of them in their old age.
But never sacrifice your youth, dreams and aspirations for the dreams of your parents.
If you want to pursue something, always have a Growth mindset.
In any given moment, we have two options:
to step forward into growth,
or to step back into safety.
Growth must be chosen again and again;
fear must be overcome again and again.
Abraham Maslow
Do everything with devotion not dedication.
Being dedicated is going to work and sincerely doing your duty.
Being devoted is like going to a temple, or for the more enlightened, practicing ध्यान (Dhyan) and serving Nature and the True Temples.
There is no expectation of a reward, just the joy of the action.
Devotion is doing it for love, dedication is doing it for duty.
Working with devotion is useless without discipline and perseverance.
Discipline and perseverance (grit) are the keys for any achievement in life.
A person may have focus, clarity of purpose, force of will and devotion.
But without discipline and perseverance(grit), everything is useless.
What exactly is perseverance(grit)?
Like the boxing saying goes:
Take a licking but keep on ticking.
Grit means never giving up even after failing.
What exactly is discipline?
Discipline starts by first being willing to accept responsibility for one’s actions.
Only a person who is willing to be responsible, is capable of being disciplined.
Our fraud education system thinks that caning and threat of punishment will inculcate a sense of discipline.
Discipline cannot be inculcated by punishment.
It has to be inculcated by motivating the heart and cheering and enlightening the spirit.
The Army is the paradigm of discipline.
Some people may say that the army inculcates discipline by harsh methods and threat of punishment.
This is not completely true.
The Army inculcates discipline by developing the ultimate sense of SEVA in a solider – a sense of responsibility for the well being of the nation.
Hence developing a sense of SEVA in a person will automatically inculcate discipline.
Some may say that SEVA is a too philosophical term and why do I always bring the concept of SEVA to all my writing.
There is a saying:
Charity begins at home.
So first inculcate a sense of SEVA towards your own well being.
Only a person who can take care of themselves first, is truly capable of taking care of others.
Don’t ever be selfish or unreasonable or unwilling to compromise.
Wealth is important, but not everything.
It is good to have money, but money alone wont make a person happy.
Instead of being unhappy in a one room thatched leaking house, you may be unhappy in a marble floored bungalow, but the fact remains you are still unhappy.
Dont love and respect monetarily rich persons, but love and respect good persons.
Ram, Jesus, Buddha, Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekanand were not the monetarily richest men of their times.
But they remain the richest men, even after millenniums, for they remain in our hearts and we value them for their goodness and character and the examples they set of themselves for humanity to follow.
Can you name even one of the monetarily richest men of those times?
Empathy and generosity of heart is much more valuable than generosity of money.
True generosity is if you are willing to sacrifice your most cherished and valued efforts for the benefit of somebody else without any expectations.
And more importantly if your willing to let that person take the benefit of your efforts and give them the free will and choice to let them grow and direct the progress of your gift to them.
Even if you are pauper but have the above generosity of heart, you are much richer than any billionaire who can only give paper money, that too only after they die and that too only for “charitable” purposes that they propose and specify in their will which is mainly for the sole purpose of furthering their legacy and for the own self interest.
Do not judge a book by its cover.
The only way to judge a book is by reading the content of every chapter to the entire end of the book.
That is the same way to judge a person:
By reading the content of their character and the sum of their actions, not just the content of their external appearance or most recent actions.
A persons external appearance is just like the cover page of a book.
Their character and sum of their actions are the true indicator of their worth.
We must never judge a person based on preconceived notions or assumptions based on their appearance, gender, religious, economic or social back ground.
Many times, almost 99.99999% of the time, the most remarkable of people are found only when you take the trouble to bother to remove the apparent veil over their appearance.
The veil should be removed from your eyes, it is your veil of ignorance which is blinding your vision.
Their appearance is as radiant and beautiful as it always ways, it is just covered by your veil of ignorance.
There is a saying that is absolutely true:
What you see in others is a true reflection of what you actually are yourself.
Never care about people who only judge you by your by your wealth or appearance or ancestry.
They will be the first to abandon you when you lose the above.
Always care about people who have a rich heart.
They care about you, not your wealth or appearance or ancestry.
A rich heart may be under a poor coat.
This is wonderful video below from which I got the above saying:
Do not judge beauty only by good looks.
Mother Teresa, Ramakrishna, Sharada Mata, Swami Vivekanand were beautiful human beings, though they may not have been as good looking as our eye candy supermodels and movie stars.
This world is fooled by appearances and material illusions like wealth, dynasty, fame, good looks, rituals, public prayer, big talk, flattery, false claims and promises and the arrogance of title and power.
It does even pause to consider and realise the true value of actual wisdom, character, and a sense of Dharma in not just words, but also in thought and action.
As Jiddu said:
Outward beauty can never last, it is marred always if there is no inward delight and joy.
We cultivate the outer, paying so little attention to the thing inside the skin; but it is the inner that always overcomes the outer.
It is the worm inside the apple that destroys the freshness of the apple.
The true character of a person is known only when you give them wealth and power.
If you really want to know the true character of a person, give them wealth and power, and then ask the employees and associates junior and subordinate to the person.
Especially the most junior level of his employees and associates from who he feels he has nothing to gain like the cleaner, teaboy, driver and officeboy.
If you dont work with the person, then go out with them to the cheapest restaurant and see how they treat the waiter and table cleaner.
You cannot have a split personality – there is no separate business and personal character
There is only one character and it shows both in business and personal affairs.
Your true friends, relatives and well wishers are known only when you have lost all your wealth and power.
Actions speak louder than words.
There is a saying in English:
“Empty vessels make the most noise”.
Never trust a person who flatters you and uses sweet words and swears undying loyalty to you.
Never count on a person who boasts and talks big, to do any task of importance.
The person who you should trust the most is the one who walks into your life and stands by you in the worst of times.
A person who is genuinely happy for your joys and truly sorry for your sorrows.
Such people dont make a show of such things in big flowery words or big actions like cheering and clapping.
It is usually in small gestures of warm hugs and silent but brilliant smiles of joy, and silent but painful tears of sorrow.
Empty Vessels make the most noise.
Never take a person who talks big of himself seriously.
Unfortunately most of our Representative DFIs, including our NRI Business Development Manager, his chaddi dost Obama and also the Pompous Prick 🤢 in the USA, come to power because the public thinks they are “Brilliant Orators”.
There is no difference between a “Brilliant Orator” and a “Smooth Talker”.
The end result of both is to impress people by their words and not their actions.
A “Brilliant Orator” is like a loud fart:
First all you hear is the loud noise and you even laugh and even joke about it, and some even are proud of it.
Only later do you realise the stinky smell of shit which causes embarrassment and discomfort not only to the farter but mainly to the others also in the same room.
There is no difference between a “Brilliant Orator” and an asshole.
Finally all that comes out of them is stinky shit.
Still Waters run Deep.
This is a really brilliant saying in the English language.
It means a person who has deep character, knowledge, experience and wisdom, will usually be humble and quiet and let their achievements speak for themselves.
They will not foolishly promote themselves by making loud verbal diarrhea farts with their “Brilliant Oratory”.
Never sacrifice your self-respect or principles for money.
As they say:
“A man for whom money is everything, will do anything for money.”
Poverty is the worst of crimes against humanity.
As the Shanthi Parva says, to be poor is to be cursed.
A person in poverty only thinks about survival and getting their next meal and not going hungry.
There is even a story in the Upanishads, about a learned Vedic scholar who could recite all the Vedas by heart, but completely forgot all the Vedas when he went hungry.
The poor do not even dream about living or being spiritual or trying to inquire into the higher ideals of life.
Poverty also sometimes makes a person desperate and a desperate person does wicked actions.
How would one define poor?
I would say that one is poor if one does not have access primarily to food, water, health care, education, accommodation, justice, rule of law, and security.
Once we develop these basic things, in the next step we can then also add telephone and internet communication and public transport.
Go to school and get a true education at least till 3rd form (8th Standard).
I do not remember most of what I was taught in school, but the memories of the friends I made and the joy I brought to my parents, when I did well at school and when I graduated from college will always remain.
It also did help me get my job.
I did learn things in school that did have applications in my job too.
Some of the smartest people I know only had a 3rd form (8th Standard) education.
They knew how to read, write and count and used it in varied ways with a very open and flexible mind.
And they did much better than many PhD graduates.
They even raised children who went on to become Generals, Doctors, Lawyers and world class businessmen.
In Bharat, especially in these times, only those who study in English medium are considered to be “educated”.
A person who studies in English medium, can only be considered English literate.
Most likely, fit only to be a qualified candidate to write job exams in English.
True education is only attained when one becomes a decent human being.
Dont work just to make money and get rich.
You will never be successful, nor make any money, if you work only to make money and get rich.
Develop a talent and work hard, smart, persistently, patiently and devotedly to perfect that talent.
Work to achieve extreme expertise and competence in that talent.
Once you develop extreme expertise at you talent you will automatically be successful.
All that follows your success, like money and fame is just because of your extreme expertise in the talent you have.
Money and fame are not end results in themselves.
They are byproducts for the success you have achieved at perfecting your talent and this can only come from vision, devoted, sustained hard and smart work.
Remember it is smart work that counts, not hard work.
The donkeys are the hardest working animals, but the man who rides the donkey cart is the smartest worker.
Even though he is just one man, he can get a hundred donkeys to work for him, and even though he is not doing as much physical work as the donkeys, the success of the donkeys’ journey depends on him.
His success lies in the fact that he knows the road ahead and where it will lead while the donkey just concentrate on the potholes in front of them.
Because the donkeys are just looking at the potholes on the road, and not where the road leads, they may end up on a one way road that leads off a cliff.
To be truly happy and successful you must follow your talents, not passion or monetary incentives as your main vocation.
Choosing a job just for the sake of a good salary is the biggest lie that you are telling yourself.
Just because you have a passion for something does not mean you are good at it.
Everybody has a passion to be a musician, actor, dancer or painter, but very few have any real talent for it.
Find your talent, everybody has some gift that they are really good at.
What is talent?
It is doing something really well that comes naturally to you, without any additional effort but others find difficult to do and even admire you for your ability to do it.
Remember even talent has to be developed.
Develop your talent with regular practice, devotion, perseverance, and hard and smart work.
Once you are really good at it, it will automatically make a living for you.
Some people say that if you have a passion for something and work hard at it, you will surely work wonders.
I do not think that this is true, there has to be some basic level of talent first.
You cannot make a crystal glass from pure sand alone.
No matter how much you try, some amount of lead has to be added to make crystal glass.
Talent is that “lead“, you must have it to make crystal.
Without talent (lead), you will only have ordinary glass, no matter if you use the same technique to manufacture crystal glass a thousand times.
However lead will always remain lead, if it is not mixed with sand and then made to undergo the melting heat and the rest of the arduous process to be manufactured into crystal.
Hence a talent is useless unless it is developed, and that is possible only by practice, devotion, persistence and smart work.
Triumph only comes through trials.
Anybody who boasts that they have never failed, has not tasted true success at all.
Only a person who has tasted failure, knows how to succeed.
Anybody who boasts that they have achieved things easily without much effort has not has not tasted true success at all.
Only a person who has recovered from failure, and not only worked hard, but also worked smart and with clarity of purpose has tasted true success.
Triumph only comes through trials.
Have compassion and be charitable in thought, word and deed.
Do not wish for things to happen, do something to make it happen.
Destiny is what you make of it, but your Karma is your potters mould and Brahman dispassionately turns the wheel of the Rtam.
Remember you are responsible for your Karma.
Just like a potter’s mould, your Karma is mainly is in your hands.
But like the potter’s wheel, Brahman is responsible of turning of the wheel, for the absolutely dispassionate dispensation of the Rtam.
The Rtam just keeps turning like the potter’s wheel, it does not care what you make of your Karma.
If you have good Karma you will have a beautiful pot, if you have bad Karma you will have a wrangled mess of clay.
If you have bad Karma, you have to start all over again with that wrangled mess of clay.
A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.
This is a wonderful saying by James Allen.
Only losers complain about problems, winners provide solutions to problems.
Use moderation in everything you do.
Even a little drinking or gambling is fine.
As long as it is done in moderation and not in excess.
Anything done in excess, not only drinking and gambling, but even being excessively loving and kind to somebody, finally only brings ruin to a person.
Do hate anything or anyone, just ignore and forget about them.
Ignoring and indifference is much more hurting to a person than hating them.
Get these people you dont like out of your mind.
Dont even think about them.
As Swami Vivekanand said:
I gain whether you love or hate me,
If you love me I am in your heart,
If you hate me I am in your mind.
Do not hate or fear the unknown.
Do not hate or prejudge any group of people you dont know personally at an individual level.
It is wrong to hate all Muslims or Blacks or Mexicans or Pakistanis.
There are many Arya and Brahma Dana among them.
Do not love or prejudge any group of people you do not know personally at an individual level.
It is wrong to like all Whites, or Hindus or Jews.
There are many Anarya and Wicked among them.
Make fun of the government and people in authority, always be cynical about them and always verify their motives and expose any hypocrisy.
Do not make fun of a persons God, family, friends or some achievements they are proud of.
Some people will fight you bitterly for this even and destroy decades long relationships, even if you know them really well.
If you don’t think about women as sex objects or don’t think that you are better than them, you will have more women friends and associates.
Have long term relationships.
Long term relationships in business or personal affairs are stable, and stability brings trust and that is a good thing.
Only make promises you can keep otherwise just say no.
Do not fight with violence (forcefully) unless you have exhausted all other options and absolutely have no other option.
According to the Sanathan Dharma there are four stages of fighting:
- Sama (try to befriend or form alliance)
- Dana (give gifts, presents and do favours)
- Bheda (confuse, deceive, separate, divide and rule)
- And finally when all else fails Dhand (military or physical force).
Be fearless but also pragmatic and realise that discretion is the better part of valour.
Some of the greatest battles were won by people who were not only fearless but also had discretion and knew when to retreat when faced with losses, then regrouped and came back much stronger.
Remember the saying:
He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day.
Some people may think I am talking like this since I am basically a coward.
I also used to think like the rest of the so called brave but actually foolhardy people:
Stand to the last man.
Sometimes I have taken the most foolish risks standing alone unarmed against a bunch of uncouth lecherous rowdies.
But by the grace of Brahman, I was blessed to have not a hair touched on my head by rowdies, because the crowd who faced me were basically cowards.
So they just walked away when faced with my resistance and threat of much worse to happen to them than what they would do to me.
I have also wandered in gang violence prone areas in the USA counting only on the protection of Brahman, who of course did protect me since I am still standing unharmed today.
What I believe is sometimes true:
Sometimes all it takes it one brave heart to strike fear in millions of cowards.
You will notice I said “sometimes”.
There are always many exceptions to the above rule and my idealism also got tempered by harsh reality when I read the advise of Bhishma in the Shanti Parva.
It dont remember the exact words but it was something on the lines of:
When in extreme danger and all is lost, save yourself at all costs.
You can regain everything you lost and help everybody who depend on you, if you save yourself.
If you lose yourself, everything you have is lost, and your family is left to the wilderness.
There can be no braver man and greater general than Bhishma.
So what I say has the backing of one of the greatest warriors and generals in the history of the world.
Value True Moral Courage more than Physical Courage.
“Common experience shows how much rarer is moral courage than physical bravery.
A thousand men will march to the mouth of the cannon where one man will dare espouse an unpopular cause . . . True courage and manhood come from the consciousness of the right attitude toward the world, the faith in one’s purpose, and the sufficiency of one’s own approval as a justification for one’s own acts.” – Clarence Darrow, Resist Not Evil
“The man who can face vilification and disgrace, who can stand up against the popular current, even against his friends and his country when he know he is right, who can defy those in authority over him, who can take punishment and prison and remain steadfast-that is a man of courage.
The fellow whom you taunt as a ‘slacker’ because he refuses to turn murderer-he needs courage.
But do you need much courage just to obey orders, to do as you are told and to fall in line with thousands of others to the tune of general approval and the Star Spangled Banner?” – Alexander Berkman
Speak out your mind and fear no one.
At the same time, even if you speak out your mind, try to put it the most kind, gentle and non humiliating words possible.
An iron hand behind a velvet glove, has a much better effect than whipping somebody and humiliating them in public.
Live within your means and never borrow more than you can pay back.
In fact it would be best if you do not borrow at all.
Live simply, save your earnings and then buy things you really need, not things that you want.
Learn from the past but do not dwell on the bad things that happened in the past.
Live for today, like it is your last day in this world.
Plan for tomorrow, but do not worry about it.
Read and practice the primary teachings of the Sanathan Dharma and also the Sakyamuni.
Be happy with what you have especially if you have enough.
Learn to let go gracefully.
When the times comes for you to leave this world, make all preparations with complete transparency and the full consent of your successors.
Otherwise all that you have built will only end in disputes, destruction, abandonment and ruin.
Let go gracefully while you are still alive. Do not wait for God to take things from you without your consent.
Leave enough for needs, not for wants.
Those of us who are fortunate and have earned enough wealth must leave at least 50% of our wealth to our family.
But do not give them so much that they lead an idle and wasteful existence.
Given them enough for their needs and for a decent living so that they have the freedom to practice their talents and passions.
Give them enough so that they do not have to be forced to do work they dont like just for the sake of earning money.
But they still have to work because they like what they are doing.
But do not give them so much that they waste their time in idleness and wasteful desires.
If they want more than they need, let them earn it themselves.
It helps to take risks, but only risk what you can afford to lose.
Never give up, always be persistent and patient.
Remember even if you get sour grapes, be patient, leave them to dry and you will get raisins which are much more sweeter and even more profitable than fresh grapes.
Think big – aim for the stars.
Then at least you will reach the mango tree.
Always look at the big picture first, then work out the details.
I was trained as a surveyor and mapper, so that is the fundamental rule of surveying:
But remember the big picture can only be drawn with attention to fine details.
Document what is most precious to you.
Take photos, videos, audios, write letters and emails.
Don’t just talk, memory can fail and you can forget precious moments, and you cannot share memories with your loved ones.
Do not watch the Presstitutes TV News.
Instead read good independent newspapers and independent websites.
In fact many news papers also today are Presstitutes.
TV News from the Presstitutes is for people who are ignorant and lazy and dont want to think and find out for themselves.
The only option left is some independent reputed newspapers, independent news websites and reputed blogs on the internet.
Never get your news from Whatsapp and Facebook. It is highly unreliable.
Watch very little TV and do not have a cable TV connection.
Watching TV really does rot your brain and make you a dumbass.
There are many reputed scientific studies that have proven that TV really does rot your brain especially in young children who watch TV.
Watching TV leads to antisocial behavior, lowered verbal IQ, obesity, diabetes and mental health problems because of altered brain structure.
Develop a good and consistent reading habit.
Develop a good and consistent reading habit right from childhood.
Read a wide variety of material – from comics to novels to spiritual stuff to anything that really interests you.
Now with the advent of the Internet the whole worlds library is available on your computer or tablet or even mobile, a major part of it for free, even from the world’s leading universities like MIT and Harvard and IIT.
There is even Google Translator so you can reasonably translate foreign material also.
It may not be the perfect translation, but it gives you a decent idea of the material.
Try to be an intellectual but definitely be an expert at something.
An intellectual is someone who knows a little about a lot of things and knows where to find experts.
An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less.
Below are some really good sayings that have helped improve my perspective of life:
When I Asked God for Strength
He Gave Me Difficult Situations to Face
When I Asked God for Brain & Brawn
He Gave Me Puzzles in Life to Solve
When I Asked God for Happiness
He Showed Me Some Unhappy People
When I Asked God for Wealth
He Showed Me How to Work Hard
When I Asked God for Favours
He Showed Me Opportunities to Work Hard
When I Asked God for Peace
He Showed Me How to Help Others
God Gave Me Nothing I Wanted
He Gave Me Everything I Needed.
Golden Rules of Management
More kindness, less judgment.
More freedom, less micromanagement.
More appreciation, less criticism.
The secret to living well and longer is:
Eat half,
Walk double,
Laugh triple
And love without measure.
Tibetian Proverb
To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.
Mark Twain
Happiness consists more in small conveniences or pleasures that occur every day, than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom.
Benjamin Franklin
I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others. Marcus Aurelius
Never let the future disturb you.
You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.
Roald Dahl
There is a great difference between knowing and understanding.
You can know a lot about something and not really understand it.
Charles F Kettering
I do not fear the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks.
I fear the man who has practiced one kick, 10,000 times.
Bruce Lee
Opportunity comes, but it doesn’t come often, so seize it when it does come.
Charlie Munger
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Martin Luther King Jr.
If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts,
he will scrutinize it closely,
and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it.
If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. – Bertrand Russell, Roads to Freedom
“You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.” – Robert A. Heinlein, Revolt in 2100/Methuselah’s Children
The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. Plato
“Who controls the past, controls the present, controls the future” George Orwell
Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create bad times.
“Its not that a few men have the courage to be evil but that so many lack the courage to be good.” – Slightly changed from the original in the script of the film “The Childhood of a Leader”
“The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance”: Benjamin Franklin
“Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God”: Benjamin Franklin
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
You’re not rewarded in life for what you know. Instead, you’re rewarded in life for what you create.
“Watch your thoughts; for they become words. Watch your words; for they become actions. Watch your actions; for they become habits. Watch your habits; for they become character. Watch your character for it will become your destiny.” — Frank Outlaw
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. –ALBERT EINSTEIN
“War ends at the moment when peace permanently wins out. Not when the articles of surrender are signed or the last shot is fired, but when the last shout of a sidewalk battle fades, when the next generation starts to wonder whether the whole thing ever really happened.”
— Lee Sandlin
“Formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune.” — Jim Rohn
“On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?” And Vanity comes along and asks the question, “Is it popular?” But Conscience asks the question, “Is it right?”… The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience, but where he stands in moments of challenge, moments of great crisis and controversy.” — Martin Luther King Jr., The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
“If you want to forget something or someone, never hate it, or never hate him/her. Everything and everyone that you hate is engraved upon your heart; if you want to let go of something, if you want to forget, you cannot hate.” – C. JoyBell C.
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” – Desmond Tutu
“Respect is how to treat everyone, not just those you want to impress.” – Richard Branson
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
“A rich family takes care of all its children, not just those with talents valued by the marketplace.” Warren Buffet
“The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.” – H. L. Mencken
“We cannot be both the world’s leading champion of peace and the world’s leading supplier of the weapons of war.” – Jimmy Carter
“If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery:
“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” Dale Carnegie
“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.” Anne Lamott
“But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint:” – Edmund Burke – Source: Reflections on the Revolution in France
“The state represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul, but as the state is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence.” — Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi –
Bhagat Singh said: “They may kill me, but they cannot kill my ideas. They can crush my body, but they will not be able to crush my spirit.”
The strength of a nation is found not in the number of its laws, but in the character of its people — James Montogomery Boice
A government big enough to give you all you want is strong enough to take everything you have…. Thomas Jefferson
“The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.” – Tagore
A hard-worker can fail but a lazy person can never succeed.
“I can calculate the movement of stars, but not the madness of men.”— Issac Newton
”Maturity comes with observation and experience not with age.”
“If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.” — JD Rockefeller
“Never make a claim you cannot achieve ; never make a claim you intend to achieve.” – Sun Tzu (Confucius)
“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, it is the rule.” Nietzsche
“The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger — but recognize the opportunity.” ― John F. Kennedy
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back at you.
Freidrich Nietzsche
As Warren Buffet said: “In order to succeed you must first survive.”
Those who don’t take risks should never be involved in making decisions.
People who are bred, selected, and compensated to find complicated solutions do not have an incentive to implement simplified ones.
There is an expression “never buy when you can rent the three “Fs”: what you Float, what you Fly, and what you …that something else”.
Nicolas Taleb
It is preferable to have an army of sheep led by a lion to an army of lions led by a sheep. Alexander
“There are decades where nothing happens, and then there are weeks when decades happen.” – Lenin
Avoiding stupidity is easier than seeking brilliance.
Wesco continues to try more to profit from always remembering the obvious than from grasping the esoteric. … It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent. There must be some wisdom in the folk saying, `It’s the strong swimmers who drown.’
Charlie Munger
Being a leader does not mean dominating the situation. It means empowering people to do what they would not have imagined possible.
Sadhguru
Making assumptions about something that you do not know is a sure way to remain ignorant.
Sadhguru
“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.” -Oscar Wilde
“Graveyards are filled with indispensable men.” -Charles de Gaulle
“There are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout”
Thoreau
It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing. So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it… Life is long if you know how to use it.
Seneca
Business and final intelligence are not picked up within the four walls the school. You pick them up on the streets. In school, you are taught how to manage other peoples money. On the streets, you are taught how to make money.
Ajaero Tony Martins
“Who is rich? He who is satisfied with his lot.” — Ben Zoma
“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.” — Epictetus
“Great piles of knowledge in the head are not the same as mental activity. A man may be very learned and very useless. And then again, a man may be unlearned and very useful. The object of education is not to fill a man’s mind with facts; it is to teach him how to use his mind in thinking.”
Henry Ford
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” — Alvin Toffler
Power should not be given to people who have no sense of inclusiveness. Sadhguru
You cannot live without dying. You cannot live if you do not die psychologically every minute. This is not an intellectual paradox. To live completely, wholly, every day as if it were a new loveliness, there must be dying to everything of yesterday, otherwise you live mechanically, and a mechanical mind can never know what love is or what freedom is. – Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known,77
Once you shift your order of priorities from “having–doing–being” to “being–doing–having,” your destiny will be in your hands.
Sadhguru
What is good may not please everyone – what is pleasing may not be good for everyone.
Sadhguru
How easy or difficult the spiritual process is going to be for you is determined by you – not by nature, and not by your Guru.
Sadhguru
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, or the most intelligent, but the ones most adaptable to change.” Darwin
“What does it mean to be mentally ill in a world that is obviously mad?”
“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labour and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he’s always doing both.” -LP Jacks
“How strange it is, that a fool or knave, with riches, should be treated with more respect by the world, than a good man, or a wise man in poverty! “ – Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764
“It will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need, and our air force has to have a bake-sale to buy a bomber.” – Robert Fulghum
“He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.” – Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790)
Who you are in the world depends on the opinions of others – this is not important. What is important is who you are within yourself.
The difference between knowledge, knowing, and wisdom: Knowledge can be acquired. Knowing is a realization. Wisdom, you have to earn.
If you love someone, you should do what they like for them. Not what you like.
Religions exist only because people don’t experience the Creator within them. Otherwise, who would believe God is sitting in heaven?
Being on the spiritual path does not mean trying to get closer to the Divine – you are seeking to become one with the Divine.
Leadership means inclusiveness and reaching out, not dominance and power.
Sadhguru
“The Roots of Violence: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principles:” – Mahatma Gandhi: Indian leader, 1869-1948
“We never see the smoke and the fire, we never smell the blood, we never see the terror in the eyes of the children, whose nightmares will now feature screaming missiles from unseen terrorists, will be known only as Americans.” : Martin Kelly
Minsky once wrote : Stability is the greatest source of instability.
“Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held its ground.” – Rosa Parks
You cant stop the waves, but you can learn to surf–Jon Kabat-Zinn
When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.