Give your 100%

A boy and a girl were playing together. The boy had a collection of marbles. The girl had some sweets with her. The boy told the girl that he will give her all his marbles in exchange for her sweets. The girl agreed.
The boy kept the biggest and the most beautiful marble aside and gave the rest to the girl. The girl gave him all her sweets as she had promised.
That night, the girl slept peacefully. But the boy couldn't sleep as he kept wondering if the girl had hidden some sweets from him the way he had hidden his best marble.

Moral of the story:

If you don't give your hundred percent in a relationship, you'll always keep doubting if the other person has given his/her hundred percent.. This is applicable for any relationship like love, friendship,etc. , Give your hundred percent to everything you do and sleep peacefully

Wait A Minute....

A man stood at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning.. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand seven hundred people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk. A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars. Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theatre in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organised by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people.

The outlines were:

§ In a common place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Yes/no
§ Do we stop to appreciate it? Yes/no
§ Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context? Yes/no

One of the possible conclusions from above experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing in our life? Worth sitting up and taking note of it!

Modesty Pays .Ego destroys.!!!

The story of Nahusha, the son of Aayu and father of the Yayaati, clearly shows us what un-attainable high positions one can achieve as long as he has inayam and what drastic downfall can happen if one has ahankaar.

Nahusha was raised in his childhood by the great Brahmarshi Vasishta. Since he was unaffected by happiness or sorrow and did not feel the slighest ahankaar when once Devatas praised him in his childhood, he was named Nahusha. He learnt all shaastras and after his education became the King. Due to his great qualities his fame spread quickly to all directions. Everyone was in praise of him, to such an extent that even vedas praised him. He performed 100 Ashwamedha Yaagas and hence was deserving the position of Indra.

Once, Indra killed an asura by name Vrutraasura. Though Vrutra was an asura, he was a braahmana and hence Indra had to suffer brahmahatyaa-paatakam and Nahusha was offered the position of Indra. Nahusha continued to be good, until one day he realized that he was the ruler, king of all the 14-lookas! He suddenly became very proud and once a person has Ahankaar, he does not think, he assumes he is the greatest and that he can never be wrong. Such was the power of being the king for the Devatas and all the worlds! He sends a message to Sachi-devi, the great Pativrata and wife of Indra (the previous Indra, the eldest brother of Devatas) that she must serve him as he is the Indra now. The very moment he wanted a Pativrata, all his good qualities, tapas-shakti everything were lost and his end was destined. Sachi-devi tells Nahusha "O great Indra! You are the God of the Gods. You are very great, please come to my house. But you being so great deserve to be carried by none other than Saptarishis. So please come in a pallaqi beared by them". Nahusha really feels that what Sachi-devi said is true (did not realize that she was a pativrata and hence the real meaning behind her words) and immediately ordered the Saptarishis to do so. Obviously the Saptarishis have conquered anger and ahankaar so they carry him. Nahusha sits in the pallaqi beared by them and in the height of his pride says "Sarpa Sarpa" (go fast) to Agasthya muni, since he was very short and was taking small small steps. Agasthya muni said "sarpobhava", in order to teach Nahusha a lesson. And immediately from the high position of Indra, he falls as a Ajagaram (huge Python) in some deep forest.


He spends thousand and thousands of years repenting for his mistake. Once when Paandavas were in the aashramam of Vrushaparva, Bhima goes to the forest and sees Nahusha who was in the form of an incredably huge Ajagaram. Bhima gets surprised by the amazing strength of it and asks it who it was. Nahusha tells his unfortunate story and says only the great Yudhishtira, who never deviates from the path of truth, can save him from this form. Meanwhile, Yudhishtira searching for Bhima reaches that place. Yudhishtira on knowing that the ajagaram is his ancestor Nahusha, he prostrates to him and takes his blessings. Later he answers all the questions of Nahusha and Nahusha gets freed from the terrible form, takes the form of a divya-purusha and goes to urdhva lokas in a divya vimaana.


Moral of the story:
As long as Nahusha had Vinayam he was respected by everybody. Once taken over by Ahankaar, he committed great mistakes and later had to experience the result.Even for a great person like Nahusha, the power of simhaasanam made him bad. One must be more and more careful to be good and humble as his power in the society grows.Yudhishtira showed the way elders must be respected.

One must never evaluate an elder for respecting them. According to our culture they always must be respected.Gnyaanam, knowledge of shaastra helped Yudhishtira answer the questions of Nahusha. One must always give utmost importance to gnyaanam and vigyaanam — using them one can acheive great wonders and help others.Pativratas power is graeater than anyone. One must never Desire a para-kaanta.

HE will never give up on you

One day I decided to quit...I quit my job, my relationship, my Spirituality. .. I wanted to quit my life.

I went to the woods to have one last talk with my God/Allah/Bhagwan or whatever name you give HIM. "God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"

HIS answer surprised me... "Look around", HE said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"

"Yes", I replied.

Then HE told me,

"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo."

"In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. - But I did not quit on the bamboo". HE said.

"In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit".

"In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. I would not quit". HE said.

"Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant. ..But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle." HE said to me.

"Did you know, my wonderful creation, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots. I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you too"

"Don't compare yourself to others". HE said. The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern. Yet they both make the forest beautiful."

Your time will come, HE said to me. You will rise high

How high should I rise I asked.

How high will the bamboo rise HE asked in return.

As high as it can I questioned

Yes. He said, Give me glory by rising as high as you can.

I left the forest and bring back this story. I hope these words can help you see that HE will never give up on you.

Coffee & Cup

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other's cups.

Now if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

Don't let the cups drive you... Enjoy the coffee instead.

Law of garbage truck

One day, I hopped into a taxi and took off for the airport . We were driving in the right lane when suddenly, a black car, jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed the brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. I mean, was really friendly. So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck'

He explained, "Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. NEVER take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on with the routine life." Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so...... 'Love the people who treat you right.. Pray for the ones who don't.'

A very rightly said quote: Life is 10% what you make and 90% how you take!!!!

Contributed by Adilaksmi through MPowerBusinessExcellenceClub Yahoo Group.

Power of GOD

Contributed by Adilakshmi through MPowerBusinessExcellenceClub Yahoo Group.

Steaming hot Peas Biryani! Mouth-watering! Delicious! Mother usually made Peas Biryani on Wednesday afternoons in winter. It was her favourite dish to prepare, for it was easy to make, yet a hot favourite amongst the kids. Moreover fresh peas were in season and tasted heavenly!

She heated some oil in a pan and added a spoonful of cumin seeds. Then she added a handful of chopped onions. She proceeded to add some green
peas and seasoned them with salt and turmeric powder. Having sautéed them for a couple of minutes she turned in the cleaned and washed rice and poured in a good amount of water. She covered the pan with a lid and let it cook on a slow flame.

Strangely, the ingredients in the simmering pot started a conversation. The rice was the first to say, 'I am the most important of all of us present here for I am pure white and wholesome. I am the key ingredient to making Peas Biryani. I am Sathya, this is the Truth.'

The yellow turmeric powder chuckled and said, 'No longer are you white my dear, for I have dyed you in my own colour. I am Dharma. This is my duty.'

The peas smiled peacefully and said, 'What is Peas Biryani, without peas, eh? We are the most attractive and delicious part of this preparation. We are shanti. We are peace. We are peas (peace) and our colour too is green that is the colour of peace!'

The salt mused to itself and said, 'Who would ever be able to eat Peas Biryani, without salt? I am the most important of all. If I were not there Peas Biryani would be unpalatable. My taste shall be infused in each particle. I am prema. I love each one of you equally.'

The onions said, 'We add the tang to this dish. We add flavour. We are the soul of all vegetarian food. We are ahimsa. We tolerate all other flavours, yet retain our own!'

The pan spoke up and said, 'It's I who is holding all of you in here.But for me, you would all have been separate identities. I have held you together, so that jointly, you can become a delicious dish. Where would you be without me? I am discipline and I am indispensable.

The cumin seeds were dancing up and down in the boiling water and said,'Try making Biryani, without us! It shall be quite tasteless. We sizzle in the hot oil first of all for we are devoted to spreading our flavour, wherever we go. We are devotion.'

The Biryani was almost ready and the oil glistened on every grain ofrice. It said, 'I ensure that each grain of rice, each pea and each cumin seed, retains its individual identity. I prevent stickiness. I am discrimination! '

The water was almost completely absorbed by now. It smiled contentedly and said, 'I was determined to permeate into each particle of all of you. Without me could peas Biryani ever have been made? I am determination and I am the most important of all!'

Mother came by and checked to see, if the Biryani was done. The gas flame smiled quietly to itself and said, 'Each one is so full of itsown importance. Without the power of heat provided by me, what would they be? It is the power of God vested in me that I can give the energy to cook. But alas, who remembers the power of God?' God smiled to Himself as the lady turned off the gas and waited, till He was needed again.

Each one of us in this world is so full of his or her importance. We conveniently forget God who gives us the power to do everything.Whether acknowledged or not, whether remembered or not, God is the power behind doing and making everything.