October 2016 – INNER THOUGHTS

DIWALI – A SACRED FESTIVAL OF LIGHT AND SOUND : TELLS US ABOUT REMOVAL OF DARKNESS (EVILS) IN ALL ITS MANIFESTATIONS; ANGER, GREED, JEALOUSY ETC AND BRING ABOUT LIGHT AND WISDOM (WISHING YOU HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS DIWALI ON 30TH OCTOBER 2016)

DIWALI – A SACRED FESTIVAL OF LIGHT AND SOUND : TELLS US ABOUT REMOVAL OF DARKNESS (EVILS) IN ALL ITS MANIFESTATIONS; ANGER, GREED, JEALOUSY ETC AND BRING ABOUT LIGHT AND WISDOM

DIWALI

Diwali is famousl knowny as the festival of light, with great reverence

Celebrated with joy, so immense

And the Amaysya night so dark night gets lighted

Which fills the populace with eternal love and huge satiety

With the grace of Maha Devi Lakshmi.

In the fond memory of return of Lord Rama,
To the kingdom of Ayodhya,
After 14 years’ of exile,
As per the wishes of his father,
The King Dhashratha of Ayodhya.

Whilst away from his kingdom and dear subjects,

And the lavishness and comforts of palace,
He withstood toil and tribulation,
In the forests with no habitation,
Subsisted merely on wild herbs,

Obtained from the woods,

Filled with wild animals and demons,
With his consort Sitaji and brother Lakshmanji along,
He neutralized many a demons,
Demons who desecrated an defiled the religious places,
Of worship of hermit, who worshipped God,
These demons respected no natural laws,
Of humanity and had writ,
Of the demon King Ravana,
Who abducted, with utter deceit, Sita Mata,
Lord Rama invaded Lanka, the fiefdom of Ravana,
There ensued a battle, so violent,
In which Lord Rama decimated Ravana’s arrogance
And with it his wickedness, for good,
From the Mother Earth,
The purpose for which Lord Vishu,
Had taken Ram’s Avtar.

.
People spruce up their houses tastefully
To welcome the Lordess of Wealth and Wellbeing,
The Mother Lakshmi, the most benevolent one.

Fire-works and lighted earthen wicks are lined up, so stylishly and systematically,
The houses are lighted nicely,
There is atmosphere of happiness all around
Business people worship their books of accounts,
And pray for peace and prosperity for the days to come,
People celebrate Diwali happily,
With traditional fervor and gaiety,
By praying at the religious places,
With a sincere prayer for their happiness.
And those of their nears and dears.

It is the festival whence air of goodwill prevails all around,
Good wishes and greetings along with sweets are exchanged,
For each others’ prosperity and good omen,

People light the wicks in rows tastefully,

Burst crackers to celebrate joyfully,

Yet, we ought to realize the importance of pollution free atmosphere,

To rid the world off gases most poisonous,

And celebrate everyday with the feeling of Diwali – so joyous.

O my dearest Lord,
And Mother Divine,
Be gracious in Showering Thy bounties,
For one and all – without bias,
So that all ills and intolerances are neutralized,
Like the demons done to death by Lord Rama,
So that every day may be like a Diwali Day,
For celebration with enthusiasm and gaiety.

DIWALI – A SACRED FESTIVAL OF LIGHT AND SOUND

Literally, the word DEEPVALI means (deep – light and vali a row and together it means a row of lights

After the expiry of Lord Ram’s 14 long years of exile, winning over the ‘Sone Ki Lanka – GOLDEN LANKA’ and killing the demon king Ravana with it all his evil Karmic deeds; Lord Rama, accompanied with his brother Lashmana and Sita and all his followers including Hanumanji (a reservoir of strength, knowledge and intelligence, courageous but without even a touch of pride, an epitome of Bhakti and Shakti – despite all these qualities he considered himself to be the humble servant of Lord Rama).

When Lord Rama reached Ayodhya, he was accorded a rousing reception / welcome by the happy populace there. They welcomed all by lighting their homes and streets of Ayodhya with earthen wicks. The righteous emperor Bharata, the virtuous one coroneted his elder brother Rama to the throne of Ayodhya.

Dhanteras : It falls two days prior to Diwali. Dhan means wealth and teras means thirteenth day as per Hindu Calendar. On this day, devout purchase gold, silver ornaments / coins or any other precious metal or utensils as per the propensity of the person concerned. Maa Lakshmi – the Goddess of Wealth and wellbeing is worshiped on this day. Also Kuber, the treasurer of gold and silver is also worshipped. On this day, houses and business established are spruced up for the ongoing Diwali. It is also accompanied with Yama poojan (worship – the God of death) for ensuring sound health and wellbeing with his blessings.

THOUGHTS ON DIWALI

A Sterling Example of Obedience. The king of Ayodhaya Dhashratha, had made a solemn pledge to his wife Kakto ask for two boons or promises when she had saved him from a certain critical situation. She was given promises she could realize those boons whenever she wanted. While there was a strong news that the king wanted Ramji to be coroneted as the king, Manthra the maid servant of KaIkeyi poisoned the ears of the queen Kaikeyi and exhorted her to ask for realization of two promises given to her by the king.

First the coronation for Bharata (Kaikeyi’s son) and second, 14 years’ exile for Rama (the son of Kaushilya). As there was the dictum in the family since ages together: – Raghukul Reet Sada Chali Aayi Puran Jaaye Par Bachan Na Jaye (There is a tradition in Raghukul that they will prefer death to break a promise), so Ayodhya king had to concede the demands of Kaikeyi though with heavy heart/ grudgingly.

After hearing about the turn of events (Coronation for Bharata and exile for him), Rama did not say even a single word. Contrarily, he put on his the simplest dress to depart for exile, thus obeying the directive of his father without demur or reservation. Sitaji (consort of Ramji and Lakshamana (the son of Sumitra) too wanted to accompany Rama. This is a fine example of obedience of the orders of elders in the family. We ought to imbibe this fine trait of Lord Rama and thus follow a righteous path in our life.

Fine example of cohesion in the family. As Bharata came to know about the 14 years’ exile to Rama and coronation for himself, he felt very disappointed. He flatly refused to be crowed as a king of Ayodhya in the absence of elder brother Rama and Lakshmana. No arguments of any sort could placate him. He thought this act of being emperor as adharam (irreligiosity). He even went to the jungles in order to persuade Rama and Lakshmana to persuade them to come back to Ayodhaya but Rama did not agree to this because of the promise of his father. This is termed as Bharat Milap.

Finally, he extracted a promise from Ramji that on his return back from 14 years’ exile, he will take the reigns as an emperor. Such was the love between the brothers – an unparallel one. Rama’s love for Bharta was also an example that ought to be followed by brothers now for ensuring goodwill in our families. Wealth or any other consideration should not be an impediment for a good relations in our families.

Ravana the Demon King was most Learned Demon King. Ravana, the son of Vishwashrava (A Brahman rishi) and his mother Kaikasi (from a demon family) was a scholarly person who had the knowledge of Vedas and other scriptures at his finger tips but he is taken in negative light because he did not make use of this knowledge for the benefit of demon clan. But Ravana was intoxicated with his prowess and knowledge. So much so he was swayed by ego that he stooped to abducting Sita Mata the consort of Lord Rama – an evil act. It goes to prove that if we do not use the knowledge with sagacity, we sure will fall prey to unethical karma leading to our sure downfall.

Kuber Puja. Kuber is the step brother of Ravana and is considered as the treasurer of wealth. It is believed amongst the devout that worship of Lord Kubera, especially on the auspicious day of Diwali, brings affluence and progress in business. Just as we can have fresh water from the fresh water reservoir, we can have Lord Kubera’s blessings if we pray sincerely and work hard for that. Meaning, he bequeaths wealth if we sincerely do our karma as per the natural laws. His graces those who resort to right karma and possess right attitude in life. Kubera pooja is done on Diwali Day so that there is sufficiency of everything for meeting the needs of our family.

Lordess Lakshmi & Lord Ganesha Pooja. Diwali is considered complete without first inviting Lord Ganesha because He is an embodiment of good beginning and removes obstacles besides being the Lord of Wisdom. Lordess Lakshmi represents wealth and well being. On the auspicious day of Diwali, both of the deities share a single altar thus ensuring blessings of the both. The former is taken as Lordess of wealth and the latter as the bestower of prosperity.

Playing Gamble on Diwali Day. A legend has it that on Diwali Day Goddess Parvati played dice with Lord Shiva and He ordained that anyone who gambled on this day, prosperity will smile on that person. This tradition continues even today. But some unscrupulous / unethical people just gamble away their homes and hearths on this day and have to fend for themselves. This is bad. Tradition is OK, but excess of everything is bad – should never be forgotten.

It should never be forgotten that when tradition marries with modernity, may it be celebration of festivals or any other day, we consider this as a pious and worth celebrating, it gives us feeling of wellness amongst our fellow beings. But one thing we ought not forget that celebration should never be individualistic in nature. When all are happy then celebration gives more satisfaction. May it be celebration of Diwali, Christmas Day, EID or any other religious day – when all accompany us, celebration becomes more meaningful and eventful in true sense of terms.

Message: Care to be taken that the crackers used (if at all) should be of low intensity and should produce less no or less noise or air pollution.

WHO IS THE TRUE LEADER?

^{WHO IS THE TRUE LEADER?}

^{A TRUE LEADER}

^{TRAITS WHICH OVER SHADOW OTHERS IN WAYS SO MANY}

^{THESE MAY BE ACQUIRED JUST NATURALLY}

^{OR MAY BE EARNED OVER A PERIOD OF TIME}

^{THROUGH CONSTANT UPHILL-STRUGGL, SO ACUTE}

^{BY LEADING A LIFE, SO TESTING}

^{WITH TOTAL DEDICATION TO THE TASK AT HAND}

^{SETTING EXAMPLE LIKE UNDAUNTED NELSON MANDELA}

WHO ONCE SIMPLY SAID : I went for a long holiday for 27 years,” !

^{THUS BECAME A MAN OF THE MASSES}

^{AND MOST DARLING OF THE MULTITUDES}

^{WHO WORSHIP HIM FOR HIS SACRIFICES FOR THEIR FREEDOM}

^{IN INDIA TOO WE’VE EXAMPLE OF MAHATMA GANDHI}

^{CALLED DEARLY BY THE PUPULACEE BAPU JI}

^{WHO WON FREEDOM FOR INDIA WITH NON-VIOLENCE AS A WEAPON.}

^{A LEADER IS ONE WHO ENDORSES AND ACCEPTS OTHERS VIEWPOINS}

^{A PERSON WHO POSSESS MISSION AND VISION FOR HIS MEN IN GENERAL}

^{WHO LOVE THEIR LEADER FOR ALL HE STANDS FOR, SO FIRMLY}

^{A TRUE LEADER KNOWS THEIR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES, DOUBTLESSLY}

^{POSSESSES spirited ASPIRATION AND ENOUGH INSPIRATION}

^{WITHOUT EVEN AN IOTA OF EXPECTATION}

^{MOTIVATES THEM WHILE GOING GETS TOUGHER}

^{REWARDS THEM FOR SHOWING GOOD RESULTS}

^{PEOPLE ACCEPTS PUNISHMENT FROM HIM TOO WITH A SMILE!}

^{BECAUSE HE IS ALSO KNOWN FOR HIS IMPARTIALITY.}

^{WHEN FACED WITH SURE FAILURE, AFTER BEST & SINCERE TRY}

^{HE EMBRACES TEAMMATES AND INSPIRES FOR ONE MORE TRY}

^{RATHER THAN EMBARASSES WITH TALK, SO PITHY}

^{MAKES EFFORTS TO INFUSE CONFIDENCE IN HIS TEAMMATES, SO DELIGENTLY}

^{WITH HIM AT THE HELM TIME PASSES SO EASILY AND PRODUCTIVELY}

^{A PERSON WHO IS SELFLESS AND INCORRUPTIBLE}

^{A PERSON WHO IMPRESSES OTHERS WITH HIS EXCELLENT KARMA}

^{HE IS KNOWN FOR HIS COMPASSIONATE NATURE TO ONE AND ALL}

^{HE IS KNOWLEDGE POWERHOUSE WITH IMMENSE WISDOM}

^{YET BEREFT OF ANY EGO}

^{BUT HUMBLE TO THE CORE}

^{A MAN OF INDOMITABLE COURAGE}

^{FOR FEAR OR ANGER DOES NOT HAVE ANY PLACE IN HIS LIFE}

^{BECAUSE HE FOLLOWS TRUTH AND FACES IT ABOVE ANYTHING ELSE IN LIFE.}

HOLY BIBLE: But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but will speak whatever he hears, and will tell you what is to come. – BIBLE

LEADERSHIP LESSONS GIVEN IN BHAGWAD GITA:

Leaders should embrace rather than avoid formidable challenges because they bring out the leaders’ greatest strengths
Leaders should be resilient in their actions and should not be weakened by pain and pleasure.
Selfish desires and animosity obscure the purpose of leadership.
Leaders achieve lasting power and glory by exercising compassion and selfless service.
Effective leaders do not lead by fear or anger.
Leaders need to be aware of the self and the surroundings

In every community, there are some people, who are different from others in their traits. They are the ones who earn respect from people in general. They actually do even an ordinary job just extraordinarily. Everyone would like to emulate him and act upon his advice. In other words, his guidance commands respect and people accept that without any demur because they have full trust on him. This kind of respect is not got easily. The people concerned have to undergo different hardships to earn it.

A LEADER DOES A JOB IN AN EXCEPTIONAL WAY

A great leader excels in the sphere of activity in which he is exposed to. It becomes an example for others to follow. Mahatma Gandhi was a great leader. His ideals of self denial and self control besides facing hardship with composure are best known to everybody.

If we peep into the history of the world, we can come across the great leaders like Abrahim Lincoln, Churchil, Stalin, Patel, Nehru, Nelson Mandela and many more, to whom the people believed even more than their own selves. During their lifetimes, they faced hardships, their lives were not bed of roses, made self sacrifices and suffered immensely while struggling for others. While doing so, they faced pressing times and many of them were jailed for longer periods of time which Nelson Mandela had undergone: 27 long years!

HOW LEADERS ARE MADE

Shakespeare has very rightly said: Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust. There are born leaders, they possess inner urge to excel. They, more often than not, need no training for the leadership traits but only a little reminder coupled with a little inspiration. In other words, their leadership talents are honed through training under a true leader in the early stage itself. The qualities of courage, initiative, drive, handling responsibilities etc are the ones which make a good leader.

FERTILE GROUNDS FROM WHERE LEADERS ARE DEVELOPED

Play ground is one of the sources from where leaders are groomed. Play give us endurance, courage, give sufficient opportunities to play under stress, takes failure and success with equanimity, besides bestows discipline qualities in the youth. All the players have to obey the captain who inspires the team members to give their best under diffeent conditions. Other informal institutions like Church, Temple, Mosque etc also produce good leaders.

THE FOLLOWING ARE SOME OF THE QUALITIES OF GOOD LEADERS

In Bhagwad Gita explains about the qualities of a true leader: One who is very circumspect that others are watching what one does, because they set an example what one does and follow such leader in action, Krishna says,:i am the Paramatama, who has no activity because i am limitless. Yet he has taken a human body to show and set an example, to others as to how we should live in this world,

A TRUE LEADER LIVES FOR OTHERS. HE IS NOT PETTY MINDED. HE IS PREPARED TO MAKE SELF SACRIFICES. ….MAHATMA GANDHI

^{A GOOD LEADER HAS THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERISTICS:–}

^{A good leader sets good example for others to follow.}
^{A good leader is compassionate towads others.}
^{A good leader never shows off – meaning does not have ego.}
^{A good leader maintains equanimity in pleasure and pain.}
^{A good leader follows truth despite hurdles.}
^{A good leader remains cool and resilient despite provocations.}
^{A good leader is not selfish.}
^{A good leader is righteous and virtuous.}
^{A good leader performks the task with ease and peace.}
^{Failure does not in any way makes a good leader despondent.}
^{A good leader keeps away from negative emotions.}
^{A good leader is self aware/self conscious.}
^{A good leader respects the opinions of others.}
^{A good leader is remembered even on his death.}
^{A good leader is a good guide for others.}
^{Sincerity iof purpose is the main plank of a good leader.}
^{A good leader never disassociates himself from his society.}
^{A good leader is always detached from the worldly possessions.}
^{A good leader is spiritually inclined.}
^{A good leader rises above his own selfish ends.}

WE ARE THE ARCHITECT OF OUR OWN DESTINY. WE CAN MAKE IT EASIER OR TOUGHER ACCORDING TO OUR OWN KARMIC DEEDS OR MISDEEDS.

WE ARE THE ARCHITECT OF OUR OWN DESTINY. WE CAN MAKE IT EASIER OR TOUGHER ACCORDING TO OUR OWN KARMIC DEEDS OR MISDEEDS.

Life is easier for those who take good and bad situations with equanimity. That is the one who see challenges in ‘bad’ situations and endeavours to challenge those challenges and ultimately comes out successful. He is at ease and peace with himself and others around him. Even destiny favours him. Alternatively, a person who does not see opportunity in failure and does not show guts and tenacity in a challenging situation just puts cart in front of a horse. He is neither here nor there in the scheme of things. For him even the easiest task seems tougher and would like to avoid things at the slightest opportunity. Consequently that person remains dejected, cannot attract others hence remains aloof, others do not bank on him for anything and finally he loses his self esteem. Such people are drag not only for themselves but also for the society in which they are living.

SELF CONFIDENCE EARNED OVER A PERIOD OF TIME’S SINCERE EFFORTS

While we determine to perform our tasks with self belief got from personal experience over the years of sincere effort, we get rewarded because in that self confidence grace of our Lord is always there. When we put in our genuine efforts on a task in hand, the task will surely get fructified even if there may be some hiccups in the initial stages. Fact remains, failure gives us experence to traverse on the familiar track, gives us freedom to avoid those steps which became cause of our failure. It is not that we have to adopt fasttrack course for our success, it could be slow and steady but sure course. The fable of hare and tortoise could be the best example for this; where hare failed because of its over-confidence and an attitude bordering on insensitive or careless of the feelings of others. Hare made fun of slow speed of tortoise. When crunch time of competition came, the complacent attitude of hare proved its failing ultimately thus proving the adage; slow and steady wins the race. This is also true of the individuals with resilience and enterprise.

TWO TRACK MENTALITY – FREEDOM OF CONTROL OUR ACTION AND NO FREEDOM OF ACTION OVER OUR ACTIONS

Firstly, when we are performing something ordinary – a task within our freedom of control, we come across less hindrances in performing that work at hand. There are more chances of getting through with ease. In other words, we need not work so hard in getting successful since everything is in our own hands – finance, expertise, space and time etc. Alternatively, in extraordinary aspect of life and living, when the work is not within our freedom of control, we are overwhelmed with the desire to succeed and fear of failure. There our chances of success becoming more difficult to be attained. Suppose we’re working in an organization and working on a project with various responsibilities assigned for various units of project. Here the controlling head has to ensure that all the units/aspects of project are running smoothly till it gets fructifies. Even a small bit of non-performance will impact the whole work at hand. Thus it could be construed that when a single person’s job is involved then there is no difficulty because there is a freedom of action vested with a single person but when more people are involved then job is out of the individual purview/control. Here the performance would be based on sum total of input.

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR OWN ACTIONS AND LIFE

We can make or break our life by our own individual actions or inactions. But while transacting our actions, our tenacity, keenness to act, resourcefulness, the way we handle different situations (both failures and success), economic factor besides circumstances under which we’re placed etc are the factors which we’re constrained to take care judiciously. How best we can handle a given situation determines our success story.

If sometimes, despite our best efforts, we fail to meet with success then how we react counts much. We must have seen people breaking themselves physically and mentally and even committing suicides after their failures. It may be in business or in academics. Everybody can traverse a smooth path when all the factors are in our favourable but when the path is curved and full of hurdles then our inner potential and resolve comes into play. Success is sweeter when it is acquired though our dogged determination and inner resilience.

IN FACT WE ARE THE MAKER OF OUR OWN DESTINY IN A WAY. TYPES OF PEOPLE WE MUST HAVE COME ACROSS:-

PEOPLE BORN WITH SILVER SPOONS IN THEIR MOUTH. There are the people who are born with rich background. They have only to keep their business afloat through hiring good experts in the field which they can conveniently do because of power and pelf. We have many examples for this. For instance owning a hospital by hiring expert doctors; with owner not having no qualification of a doctor. Then owning a group of educational institutions with little or no educational qualification except money to attract more money.

PEOPLE WHO WORK HARD AND GROWTH RICH. We have the history of people who, with their grit and determination rose from rags to riches. They dream and aspire to make concerted efforts in making those dreams real. There is no work impossible in their dictionary. These people possess emotional resilience and mentally strong. They work nonchalantly, failure hardly stop them from tying once again. For them success story comes with a price – that price is hard work despite hurdles. Examples are there not only in the world at large but also in india. Some of the examples in India are; though their list is ever increasing:-

Dhirubhai Ambani, who started his brainchild Reliance Industries with a very small capital which his sons are running now are the riches ones in India.
Patricia Narayan. She was divorced in early 20s, started her own business of selling homemade pickles etc. Due to her persistent hard work and perseverance coupled with her enterprise owns a chain of restaurants named SANDEEPA (her daughter) and earns more than two lacs a day!
Narayana Murthy. He is the father of Infosys – a global leader in IT has more than 190,000 innovators to cater to the requirements of their clients in more than 50 countries. Narayana Murthy used to work in one of the less known computer company before he started this it Company which is global IT giant.
Nitin Shaw who took a loan of Rs. 500/0 from his friend, worked as a garage and subsequently started a fire protection company. Now his earnings has crossed Rs. 1000 mark.

PEOPLE WHO CURSE THEIR DESTINY WITHOUT MUCH WORK. Then there are the people who have no willingness to work. They are the people who prefer to easy going lifestyle. They remain cursing their fate their plight and in the long run they come to grief for their inaction. They are the people who want to seek escape route for not taking responsibility but are always look out for seeking for their rights.

PEOPLE WHO GET RICH WITH QUIRK OF LUCK. Though there are the people who get rich by the quirk of luck. It may be winning a lottery or getting a windfall profit from the deal long forgotten to be dead.

PEOPLE FACING HARD TIMES DUE TO ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN IN GENERAL OR DUE TO SUDDEN HEALTH PROBLEMS. There are the people who although are enterprising but have fallen in hardtimes due to economic slowdown owing to conditions not in his control. This could be global economic slow down, slowdown particular to a country or due to shortfall in the production of person’s enterprise. But a country with its enterprising populace can weather all storms and come out unscathed. This is also true of individuals.

BECOMING RICH BY FOLLOWING CORRUPT PRACTICES. This category of people are the bane of any society. They want to get rich by following corrupt practices without caring much for others. Their only dharma is getting power and pelf by adopting any method imaginable under the sun.

Conclusively, we can say with certainty that those who have self belief, acquired over a period of time coupled with belief in our Creator remain resilient both in good and bad times. They are positively oriented in any given situation because of their compassionate and positive attitude towards others. Such people remain in ease and peace perpetually and when they leave this world, people remember them for their good deeds.

Vijayadashami or Dussehra or Dashahara (A Sanskrit word where Dasha means Sun will not rise and hara means defeat).

WISH YOU ALL HAPPY & PROSPEROUS VIJAYDASHAMI (ON 11TH OCTOBER 2016)

Vijayadashami or Dussehra or Dashahara (A Sanskrit word where Dasha means Sun will not rise and hara means defeat). This means setting the sun of the empire of Demon king Ravana at the hands of Lord Sri Rama for his evil actions. It also refers to killing of Mahishasura by Mata Dura. In other words, it is victory (Victory) of truth over evil – also referred to as Vijaydashmi.

In today scenario, the message given by Dussehra is still most relevant. The evil which pervades in any form or manifestation has to be nipped with an iron hand otherwise it will bring in its wake deaths and destruction. The violence by any community is condemnable. Civilized behavior is the need of the hour. Evil route is followed a few fringe groups but the society as a whole have to bear the brunt of it all. If the writ of the evil design in the form of Ravanas is not stopped then we all have to suffer the consequences. Letting the evil to have its own way means situation going awry. In that case Natural applies its own Law and has its own methods of curbing or stopping all these nefarious designs and its results are far reaching for us all.

Dussehra gives us a wonderful message that good always wins finally though it may take sometime yet it cannot go on indefinitely – ultimately truth prevails. Even now, those who follow the rules of jungle will have to meet their Waterloo one day.

After Nine Days of fasting and offering our prayers to MATA SHAKTI in its varied manifestations / forms which she represents; a day of reckoning dawns finally when She helps annihilates the evil from our midst and shows that Truth is the ultimate winner. The evil which demon kings Ravna or Meheshasura represented may have won for sometimes but it cannot go unchallenged; the evil designs cannot be allowed to last forever. The God in the Heaven cannot allow these evil forces to go on and let their reign of terror rule on the masses and disturb the order established by our Lord.

When we have observed nine days fast besides observance of other pious deeds, being kind and compassionate towards needy, cleansed our body of all the negativity – anger, ill-will, deceit, jealousy etc then it means that we have invested in higher pedestal in our life. In other words, we have attained victory over the evil in all its manifestations. Vijaydashami is the day of that victory – a decisive victory of goodness over evil.

Karma philosophy runs supreme for us all. If we resort to good deeds, results will be good and if we resort to bad deeds we can hardly expect good results. The life of gunas like Sattiva, Tamsic and Rajsvic and following these give us varied results, depending on the sincerity in which we undertake the same. The one who goes beyond these three gunas, get moksha – the complete liberation from births and deaths – merging with our Creator thenceforth for good and a complete liberation from the pangs of births and deaths.

The evil deeds of king Ravana resulted not only his defeat and ultimate death it also resulted in killing his brother Kumbkarna and Meghnath besides many of his demons – evil forces who disturbed the prayers of sadhus and also their rituals were defiled besides the common people at that period of time subjected to torments. It also shows that those who pride over their prowess, status and material possessions will end up losers, if possession of these things make them egotistic. Similar was the case with Meheshasura; who too felt music for his misdeeds at the hands of Mata Shakti.

Every year effigies of Demon King Ravana, Kumbkaran and Meghnad are put to flames just to show to the world at large that everybody should introspect that consequence of evil deeds would be its annihilation in all its forms and dimensions. Good symbolised by Lord Rama wins finally. Victory to the Truth. Defeat to the evil. Injustices committed have to be wiped out for the good of humanity so that the principles of justice and time-honored policy of fair-play are established.

This is the message of VIJAYDASHMI. May people in general realise the import of this message and act accordingly. This is more relevant today than ever in the past because of the evil forces which are raising their heads. LET THERE BE VICTORY OF THE GOOD OVER THE EVIL.

DUSSEHRA/VIJAYDASHMI

Dussehra is the celebrated annually- a most sacred festival,

Devout rejoice this day as win of goodness over evil,

And take lesson for life that evil cannot have its sway forever,

It meets its end one day, however mighty be the perpetrator.

Lord Shri Ram the embodiment of righteousness

With most adorable traits with immense prowess

A reservoir of humility with simplicity in abundance

Tolerance, harmony and elderly reverence

That a son should have in abundance

For the adoring parents.

Lord Rama left for exile and leaving everything in Ayodhya,

When his father Shri Dashratha

Is constrained to act on the promises given in he past

To his wife Kakai – mother of Shri Bharata

And step mother of Lord Shri Rama,

Who had saved Shri Dashratha’s life once,

Consequently extracting a promise to be fulfilled in of her choice

To be redressed at a time most appropriate,

Manthra – the courtier of Kakai too showed her true color,

In making Kakai realize the promises,

Crown for her son Shri Bharata and exile for Shri Ramji,

Shri Ramji, as expected accepted exile for fourteen long years.

And that too without a demur,

He embraced the life simplest in the jungles,

Subsisting on the fruits and herbs,

That is the crux of a lesson for today’s children

Maa Sitaji too along with brother Lakshmana too accompanied Shri Ram

The Ravana, the king of Sri Lanka,

Representing design with evil intent,

With deception, abducted Sita Maa,

The loving consort of Shri Ram,

Kept her in his garden – Ashok Bhatika,

Exhorting her to marry him,

Sita Mata, an ideal wife,

Of an ideal husband,

Spurned his unethical wish with disdain at her command.

There was a battle so ferocious,

Between Lord Shri Ram and demon king Ravana,

Who despite his knowledge of Vedas and fond bhakata of Lord Shiva

Ruined his name and fame with his act of wickedness

An immorality of highest order – by all yardstick

Due to which Ravana lost his everything dear to him,

His nears and dears and his forces, he prided

Including himself ultimately.

There is eternal lesson for all of us from this epic,

Remove the evil from our midst,

Burn it out, the sooner it is done the better,

As we burn the effigies of Ravana along with Kumbkarna and Meghnad.

Being a religious and yearly ritual,

Vijaydashmi ought to establish a kingdom of love,

Overflowing with peace, full of tolerance, goodwill for all,

A kingdom of love for everybody, leaving none

For it is celebration of destruction of evil and a win for truth an ultimate one.

INNER SELF

INNER SELF

While externally we are attached with
The nitty-gritty of outside world
Attachment of which is temporary
Focused for the time being only

Based on our experiences which we undergo
And function according to the mind’s bidding
By the use of five senses, as required
Sometimes remaining attached

Other times detached

From the fruits of thoughts and actions
Thus remaining subjective to the extraneous influences.

But inner world of ours is a permanent one
Everything about this world is innocently and sacredly oriented
It is all encompassing in every respects
Suffused with conscious, semi-consciousness

And highest self – the non-conscious thoughts
Purpose is to expand our awareness related to heart and then beyond it all

Reflected in our own Chakra system of our own creation
A pathway between us and the outside world of Providence Creation
Thus establishing the highest frequency of consciousness
Depending on the sincerity we adopt in meditation
Besides positive thinking and creative passion
To realize the enormous potential
Of our inner potential and potencies
Come out due to our personal initiatives
Meaning our inner being is our personal connection
With our Omnipotent and Omniscient One
Thus we establish our connectivity with our Creator
Thus realize dormant and subtle energy
In the form of telepathy

Thus helping us in communicating with each other

While living apart from each other

Thence gain the internal power of intuition
So we’re able to reveal the past history of the objects with this acquired potencies
including the subtlest energies flowing from substances
This way getting eternal happiness from the true potentials

All these mystic powers are acquired by delving deep into our system
Through Meditation and Following Positive Life Path systematically
The more we listen to our inner voice through intuition

The more we cement our Lord’s relationship
Thus are able to get equanimity

At all the times and opportunity.