The only real failure in life is to quit trying. So, remind yourself that giving up is not an option. - Victor M. Parachin
Long before he became a famous author and winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, Eli Wiesel (holocaust survivor) worked as a journalist and persuaded his paper to buy some articles from him reporting on India. Traveling on a tiny budget he explored the country writing in his book Memoirs: "I had long dreamed of visiting India, drawn to it by a desire to meet not maharajahs but sages, yogis and ascetics." Here are three of his experiences and insights from India.
#1. He traveled nearly broke. "Travel expenses were a problem," he honestly says explaining that his paper agreed to buy ten feature stories from him and, if they had reader interest, would purchase an additional ten. Desperate for income, he bought a lottery ticket for the first time in his life and "miracle of miracles, I won a modest amount" which covered some of his India travel expenses. #2. He learned that there is no antisemitism in India. "I have often heard Jews in Bombay and elsewhere assert that there has never been antisemitism in India. It is a country of spiritual defiance and conquest, a land of infinite probabilities," he wrote. From the 4th to the 14th centuries Judaism flourished in southern India without one single incident of persecution or discrimination, something never experienced in Christian Europe. #3. He had an amazing astrological reading done. One day a sage trained in Vedic astrology approach Wiesel offering to give him a reading with guidance for his future. Wiesel said he was more interested in hearing what the sage could tell him about his past so the sage asked Wiesel to write down his date of birth and one other date on a piece of paper. Taking the note, the sage turned his back, did some calculations then turned to face Wiesel with a look of terror on his face. "I see bodies, many bodies," he told Wiesel. That was based on a date Wiesel wrote on the note, the date of his liberation from a German concentration camp: April 11, 1945. That's the opinion of the Svetasvatara Upanishad, a Vedic text which extols the benefits of yoga this way: "When yoga is being performed....then there is no longer illness, old age, or pain for those who have obtained a body produced by the first of yoga. The first results of Yoga they call lightness, healthiness, steadiness, a good complexion."
Criticism is always advantageous. I have derived continued benefit from criticism at all periods of my life, and I do not remember any time when i was ever short of it.
- Winston Churchill Meditation practice awakens our trust that the wisdom and compassion that we need are already within us. It helps us to know ourselves: our rough parts and our smooth parts, our passion, aggression, ignorance and wisdom. The reason that people harm other people, the reason that the planet is polluted and people and animals are not doing so well, these days is that individuals don’t know or trust or love themselves enough. The technique of sitting meditation called shamatha-vipashyana (“tranquillity-insight”) is like a golden key that helps us to know ourselves.
From: Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living, by Pema Chödrön If you want to know how to live your life, think about what you would like people to say about you after you die - then live backwards. - Michael Josephson
Christianity has not been slain by attacks from without; it perishes from slow suicide.
- T. L. Harris (written in 1888) Wealth is a diamond with many facets. One facet of wealth is money, but it is not the only one. A happy family that enjoys each other, that is a great wealth. Another great wealth is living within your income. Even multi-millionaires are poor if they do not live within their income and always worry about debts, payments and responsibilities.
- Sivaya Subramuniyaswami A popular wisdom concept holds that we die when it's our time. So, here's a fascinating insight into a day when a very young Winston Churchill missed a destiny with death.
Shortly after the first world war erupted in 1914, Churchill volunteered to observe the fighting first hand in France. While in his heavily sandbagged trench shelter he received an invitation from a General asking Churchill to visit. The instructions called a three mile walk to a crossroad where Churchill would be picked up by an official vehicle and driven to the General's headquarters. After waiting for more than an hour, a vehicle arrived. The driver informed Churchill that he had been sent to the wrong crossroads and now it was too late for the meeting to take place. Churchill began the long three mile march back to his trench. By now it was dark and rain was falling. En route, Churchill's mood soured as he thought about the great waste of time and the carelessness of the General in providing an incorrect location. When he returned to his shelter, Churchill saw that it no longer existed. Five minutes after he left, a shell came directly into it killing everyone inside. Later, Churchill reported how his mood shifted from anger and frustration to appreciation and gratitude. He wrote: "Suddenly I felt my irritation against General X pass completely from my mind. All sense of grievance departed in a flash. As I walked to my new abode, I reflected on how thoughtful it had been of him to wish to see me again, and to show courtesy to a subordinate when he had so much responsibility on his shoulders." In Buddhist teaching, ignorance is simply refers to old patterns and behaviors that are not skillful. It derives from the Pali word avijja which means unskillful or lacking in awareness. Often the word deluded is an adequate translation. A simple example may be that of a young person first learning to drive. That person may believe she is driving the car well but is, actually a poor, inexperienced driver. She may be considered deluded because she doesn't know what is good driving and what is bad driving. Buddhism teaches that ignorance is the cause of suffering. Humans have a dysfunctional sense of self and do not fully engage right thinking, acting, speaking and conduct. Only when there is awareness or skill (vijja in Pali), can suffering be understood, addressed and overcome.
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Victor M. Parachin ...is aVedic educator, yoga instructor, Buddhist meditation teacher and author of a dozen books. Buy his books at amazon or your local bookstore. Archives
July 2024
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