Monday Motivation From Scriptures (MMFS-12): Bhishma Pratigya ­ Your Promise to Yourself is an Oath You Have to Keep

Hi

The New Year is round the corner. It’s time to look forward to what we desire to achieve in the coming year. It’s time for New Year RESOLUTIONS. The story of Bhishma from The Mahabharata is very inspiring in this context.

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Bhishma Pratigya – Your Promise to Yourself is a Oath You Have to Keep

As the epic goes, Devavratha was the son of King Shantanu and his wife Ganga, who left the king for her own reasons after Devavratha’s birth. As Devavratha grew up, he became an excellent warrior and highly skilled at political sciences with all the qualities fit to be an excellent king.  However, he never became a king. Why?

On one of his outings, the king Shantanu saw a beautiful fisherwoman Satyavathi, fell in love with her instantly, and wanted to marry her. But Satyavathi's father refused it on the grounds that his daughter's children would never be rulers as there was Prince Devavratha already. This made Shantanu very sad.  Upon discovering the reason for his father's sorrow, Devavratha promised Satyavathi’s father that he would never stake a claim to the throne, and that the child born to Shantanu and Satyavathi would only become the ruler after Shantanu. At this, Satyavathi's father retorted, “Okay, you would give up the throne, what is the guarantee that your children would not claim it?” Devavratha then took the vow of lifelong celibacy. He never married and kept his vow. 

Thus Devavratha came to be known as Bhishma, which means a man of terrible oath.

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Bhishma made an oath and kept it by all means. In order to get what we want, we have to set SMART goals, identify right actions, and make right New Year RESOLUTIONS saying, "Come what may, I WILL DO THESE THINGS in the New Year, as I know they are important for me." Having made such resolutions, it is important to treat them as an OATH made to oneself and do every bit to keep them up. HAPPY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.

With love and regards,

Siva

Monday Motivation From Scriptures (MMFS-11): Forgiveness – The Best Gift You Could Give to Yourself

Hi

Christmas celebrations are on, and people are in joyful moods everywhere. Merry Christmas! A few months ago, I watched a movie “Amazing Love” that depicted the story of Hosea and Gomer from The Bible. This story is very powerful with a key revelation – an understanding that would enable anyone to forgive anyone for any kind of mistakes.

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Forgiveness – The Best Gift You Could Give to Yourself

Hosea was a budding young preacher in the kingdom of Israel. He, going by the word of God, married Gomer, a woman of bad character. While Hosea had deep unselfish love for Gomer, she was never happy with him. Her desire for riches and lavish life was not satisfied with him. She deserted Hosea and the children and walked away from home to stay with her rich lover.

After a while, one day when her lover was annoyed with her behavior and lost interest in her, he got her beaten up, and put her up for auction. Hosea came to know about it, but was in a dilemma whether to save her and bring her home or not. He looked heavenwards and asked, “God, tell me how could you still forgive us despite all the betrayal and the sins we committed?” And it occurred to him like a flash and said, “God, I know now. Your love for us does not depend on us.” He went to the auction, bought her, and brought her back saying to her, “I love you. You will never be for another man.”

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"To err is human, to forgive, divine." Everyone does a mistake or many at sometime or the other. Yet, it becomes difficult to forgive others for their mistakes. Hosea could forgive Gomer because of his unconditional love for her that emanated from his faith in God and his understanding of the need to forgive.  In fact, when you forgive, you gain more than the forgiven as your pain and feelings of betrayal are offloaded. With forgiveness, you become more relieved and peaceful.

With love and regards,

Siva

Monday Motivation From Scriptures (MMFS-10): The Golden Rule

Hi

It’s Christmas time. Let’s take a look at another story from The Holy Bible. It is about the Golden Rule, “Do unto others what you want others would have unto you.” Treat others in the same way you want them to treat you. Do not behave in any way that you don't want others to behave with you. The story of David and Goliath shows the way….

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The Golden Rule

Goliath was a huge giant of about 10 feet height troubling King Saul, his army, and his people. They were all terrified of him. No body dared fighting Goliath. But David, having faith in the God, fought and killed Goliath. But, he never expected anything in return. However, King Saul was jealous of David as people were liking David more than they like him. He tried to kill David several times, but David escaped. One time, David had an opportunity to take Saul’s life. But he did not kill him. He had no intention of harming him. He did not seek any revenge. He did not like to be unkind just because Saul was unkind to him. He rather wanted to be kind to Saul as he wanted Saul to be kind to him too. 

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Whenever you are kind and caring for others, you are living the Golden rule.  It is being good not for any rewards, but for just goodness sake.  All acts of kindness and gestures of goodness at home and office would mean that we are willing to accept the responsibility to act in a kind way. The Golden Rule can be a great crosscheck for anyone to ask oneself before doing anything – Is this what I would like others also do to me, say to me, treat me, behave with me?

With love and regards,

Siva

value4value@gmail.com

Monday Motivation From Scriptures (MMFS-9): The Parable of the Good Samaritan

Hi

A friend in need is a friend indeed! We have neighbors at home and office. How much do we really take care of them when they are in times of trouble? There are some who understand that ‘loving your neighbor as much as yourself is the way to god.’ Let us look at “The “Parable of the Good Samaritan” (Luke 10:25-37) from The Holy Bible this week.

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The Parable of the Good Samaritan

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.  A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. “Look after him,” he said, “and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.”

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“Serving a man, especially the one in need, is serving God.” It could be offering some food, aiding with alms, saying a comforting word, or giving a helping hand, at least to the extent we can, though there may be a bit of selfishness in it. After all, we can’t be happy with unhappy neighbors.

With love and regards,

Siva

B Sivaprasad

Corporate Trainer and Motivational Speaker

eMail: sivaprasad.bandarupalli@gmail.com

Monday Motivation From Scriptures (MMFS-8): With love, even a denial is welcome

Hi

Have you anytime said an ‘yes’ when you actually wanted to say a no? It is easier to say an ‘yes’ than a no. But saying yes when no is the right response might lead to unwanted troubles. It is an art and a skill to say a no and deny a request but do it in such a way that the person denied does not feel bad about it. Let us take a look at an episode in the Ramayana that could give us an insight in this regard.

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With love, even a denial is welcome

To fulfill a promise of his father Dasaradha, Rama agreed to leave the kingdom and live in the forest for the next 14 years. On his journey to the forest, he came across the river Sarayu, where he sought the help of a boatman to take him to the other side of the river. The boatman, who knew of the extraordinary qualities of Rama, wanted to take that as an opportunity to touch his feet and get his blessings. But, he was not sure whether Rama would allow him to touch his feet. So, he devised a plan to achieve his goal.

He told Rama, “Good sir, I have heard that by the touch of the dust of your feet, a stone turned into a woman. I am worried if you step into my boat, what it would turn out to be. I am a poor man and this boat is the only source of my livelihood. Hence, I cannot allow you to enter my boat as such. However, if you permit me to wash your feet and be sure that there is no dust on your feet, I shall allow you to enter my boat and take you to the other side of the river.” Rama, who knew the good intentions of the boatman, smilingly accepted the condition laid by him.

When Sita offered the boatman a golden ring as a payment after crossing the river, he refused to accept it saying that washing Rama’s feet was enough of a reward in itself.

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The boatman said “no’ to Rama and even laid a condition to be met to give him an ‘yes.’ But, who would not take such a ‘no’ that has a good intention in it? And, look at the way he put it. Often, it is not WHAT is denied but HOW (the way) it is denied matters a lot. The choice of words, the tone, and the intention with which the ‘NO’ is said make a lot of difference.

 With love and regards,

Siva

Monday Motivation From Scriptures (MMFS-7): Mend it... EARLY.

Hi,

Offering unconditional love is the best the parents could do to their children. But does that mean they turn a blind eye to anything and everything they do? Should they ignore when they go off the track, especially during their formative years of infancy and adolescence? Let us look at the Mahabharata and take a message from it.

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Mend it... EARLY.

Pandavas and Kauravas were cousins, but always competed with each other. While they were children, Kauravas- the 100 sons of Dhritarashtra – indulged in several attempts of killing and troubling the 5 Pandavas. When Vidura brought it to the notice of Dhritarashtra, he paid no attention to it and preferred to ignore it out of his love for his children.

Later as they grew up and continued their misdeeds, he would excuse himself saying, “What can I do now? I cannot control my sons. They are too big now to listen to me.” He didn’t even try to stop them when they dragged Draupadi to his court and attempted to disrobe her. This led to the series of events that culminated in the great battle of Kurukshetra in which all of his sons got killed. Though he wept over their death and repented his earlier choices of inaction as a parent, it was too late.

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Parents have a role and responsibility in grooming their children, especially when it comes to teaching them the ethics and moral values early in their life. It is important to correct them and help them nip the issues in the bud. The challenge however is to be able to draw a line and differentiate pampering from the unconditional love while parenting.

With love and regards,

Siva

value4value@gmail.com

Monday Motivation From Scriptures (MMFS-6): Your FAITH is Paramount

Hi,

It has been said, “Faith moves mountains.” But most people still lack faith in others as well as themselves in getting what they want to get. Let us recollect a story from the Mahabharata so as to reinforce our understanding of the need for having FAITH in order to take big risks and go for what we want.

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Your FAITH is Paramount

Once King Yudhishtira, the eldest of the Panadavas was performing a ‘Rajasuya Yagya’ that would install him as the supreme emperor of the region. But the biggest obstacle for that Yagya was the king Jarasandha ruling the kingdom of Magadha at that time who was very powerful and almost invincible with the boons he received from Lord Shiva.  When Lord Krishna advised Yudhishtira to send his younger brothers Bhima and Arjuna to fight with Jarasandha, he became worried about the safety of his brothers and hesitant to send them to the fight.

However, when Krishna told him of the powers of his brothers and gave him confidence that they were capable of destroying Jarasandha, he developed FAITH in Krishna’s words and accepted to send them with him. In a hard-fought duel with Jarasandha, Bhima killed him and paved the way for the success of the yagya.

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Lack of faith in oneself and others causes a lot of stress – a feeling of emotion that you do not have what it takes to get what you want to get.  While gaining FAITH in ourselves and others is the first step to remove the stress, it is also equally important for us to help others, be it our co-workers or family members, develop that faith in us through our words and deeds that are in unison.

With love and regards,

Siva

Value4value@gmail.com

Monday Motivation From Scriptures (MMFS-5): Focused Mind is Key to SUCCESS

Hi,

The mind is the most powerful weapon for achieving your goals, however high they might be. We have a tendency to get attracted to everything, and in the process lose sight of what we truly want. The story from 'Mahabharata' is a reminder for all of us in today’s life.

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Focused Mind is Key to SUCCESS

Once while practicing archery lessons from their Guru Dronacharya, the hundred Kaurava brothers and the five Pandava brothers were told to shoot the eye of a toy bird kept on a tree. While aiming, when asked by the Guru, what they could see in front of them, all the brothers except Arjun said, they saw the tree, the branches, the leaves, bird and so on. However when Arjun was asked, he replied that he could see ONLY the eye of the bird, which he had to shoot. Arjun went on to become the greatest archer ever.

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Thus is the power of the focused mind, which can only see its goal to achieve it. People proved it time and again that once they chose a goal and worked on it with single-minded focus, they achieved it, irrespective of their age and stage in life. Though the earlier the better it is, it is never too late. With so many distractions all around nowadays, it is a bit of challenge to stay focused. But FOCUS is the key to success.

With love and regards,

Siva

value4value@gmail.com