Monday Motivation from Scriptures (MMFS-3): With love you can win, even the Lord

Hi,
According to Hindu scriptures the Hindu calendar, we are presently going through the month of kartika masam (Oct 24^th – Nov 22^nd Nov 2014), which is very auspicious. It is especially dear to Lord Krishna. This month is also called the month of Damodara, one of the many names of Krishna. Devotees of Lord Krishna celebrate this holy month practicing austerities and performing rituals in praise of Lord Krishna. Do you know why Krishna is called Damodara? What is that we could learn from this aspect of Krishna? Read the story….

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With love you can win, even the Lord

Lord Krishna’s childhood was spent in the home of his foster parents, Yashoda and Nanda in the village of Gokul. He spent his time there happily playing with his friends, gopis, and cows, and also roaming in the beautiful forests of Vrndavana. He was a very naughty and mischievous child. He was also very fond of eating butter. One day, he broke a pot of butter in his home and started eating the butter and also feeding it to the monkeys. His mother Yashoda saw the broken pot and thought that it must be His work. Fed up with this and also all the complaints received from her neighbors about Krishna’s pranks time and again, Yashoda decided to tie him up so that he would not be able to move around and indulge in His misdeeds. But how could she chase Him and tie Him up, when He is not an ordinary child as Yashoda was thinking? But it became possible for her. How? Feeling the love of His mother, He became compassionate and allowed Himself to be caught and tied to a wooden grinding mortar. As a result of this, Krishna is referred to as Damodara. The word "Damodara" comes from the words, "dama" (cord or rope) and "udara" (stomach), which means the one who is tied around the stomach (or waist region) with a rope. 

According to Srimad-Bhagavatam, Radha Rani, knowing this mood of Krishna’s surrender in agreeing to be bound by His mother Yasoda's love, longed to have similar kind of experience with Krishna. She desired to express such intense love for Krishna that He would also agree to be bound by Her love.  Once in the auspicious month of Kartika masam, Krishna came late for a rendezvous with Radha Rani. In loving anger, she took the opportunity to tie Krishna with a rope around Sri Krishna's belly to punish Him for not showing up as promised. It was again possible, because she was allowed by Krishna. Radha Rani's desire to bind Krishna with Her love was thus fulfilled.

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Krishna is the supreme giver of all kinds of liberation to His devotees, but the benediction which He bestowed upon mother Yashoda and Radha Rani was of the highest order. It was possible because of their pure love for Him. We, the human beings, are not alien to love. Every one loves to be loved. It is the love that makes the people live with harmony and happiness – be it in a family or a factory, an organization or a nation. You can win the hearts of the people you care for with love, as love alone can pierce into their hearts of the people and melt them, and nothing else.

With love and regards,

Siva

value4value@gmail.com

Unstoppable Updates (18) Happy Deepavali!

Hi,

Happy Deepavali! While there are many stories associated with Diwali and its festive celebrations, I would like to share with you today the one that is associated with the emperor Bali and Diwali.

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According to Indian scriptures, Emperor Bali was one of the greatest kings. He was the grandson of the great Vishnu-bhakt ‘Prahlad.’ Having been guided and tutored by his own grandfather, Bali became a strong devotee of Lord Vishnu. His rule was characterized by peace, prosperity, truth, and righteousness. He became very powerful with time. He expanded his empire to all the worlds conquering even the heaven and the netherworlds. Devas including their king Indra who lost the heaven to Bali went to Vishnu and requested him to restore their lordship over heaven.

Lord Vishnu then took the avatara of ‘vaamana’ a little boy, a dwarf, and approached Bali at a time he was engaged with his own spiritual rites. Seeing the vaamana, Bali offered him to choose what he wanted. Vaamana promptly requested for land that he could cover with 3 paces. Bali thinking that it was the easiest of the boons that he could fulfill granted it. His guru Sukracharya, suspecting a wrong motive behind such a request, tried persuading Bali to retract from delivering the promise. He also told Bali who Vaamana actually was. However, Bali did not agree to break his word. In fact he said, "What great punyaas have I done that my lord Vishnu himself came to me asking for my help, and that I got an opportunity to give him what he wants. I will not loose this chance of giving Him, even if I loose my entire kingdom.” Vaaamana grew in size so much that he covered the heavens and the entire universe with his 1st pace, and the entire netherworld, the paatala with the 2nd, and asked Bali where he could get place 3^rd pace. Bali, finding no other space but his own head left uncovered, showed his head to Vishnu, and Vishnu placed his 3rd step on his head and pushed Bali into the netherworld.

And this great interaction between Vishnu and his devotee Bali is said to have happened during Diwali, usually on the 3^rd day of the festival and celebrated as Balipadyami, falling on 24^th Oct this year.

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Bali was a Vishnu-bhakt. He was a pious king who governed his people with truth and righteousness. He gave his word, and kept it even after knowing the difficulty involved in it.  Perhaps that was how Vishnu blessed him with moksha.  He was also given the boon that he will be allowed to rule the entire universe for one day, which is the Balipadyami day.  

With love and regards,

Siva

value4value@gmail.com

Monday Motivation From Scriptures (MMFS-2): Freedom to decide is empowering

Hi,

Who should possess the decision-making power? Only the team leader? Or every member of the team? Or is it that everyone is a leader in his own position whatever it may be? And whether depriving the team members of decision-making ability inhibits the team’s performance? Let us take a look at the story of Lord Rama and his greatest devotee Hanuman from the epic Ramayana.

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Freedom to decide is empowering

Sita, wife of Rama, was abducted by the demon King, Ravana. Rama, knowing the enormous powers of Hanuman, asked him to find where Sita was taken. Hanuman went to Lanka in search of Sita, found her there, identified himself by giving her Rama’s ring, and comforted her that Rama would soon come to save her and take her back. Then he set afire the city of Lanka on his way back. Though Rama was pleased with Hanuman as he located the whereabouts of Sita, he was displeased with Hanuman’s decision of burning the city. Recognizing his master’s unhappiness for taking a decision without consulting him, Hanuman decided not to take any more decisions on his own, and do only when and what he was directed to do by his master.

However, during the ultimate battle of Ramayana between Rama and Ravana, the brother of Ravana, Mahiravana, secretly carried away Rama and his brother Lakshmana to the patala, the netherworld with an idea to sacrifice the life of the two divine brothers at the altar of his chosen deity. Only Hanuman had the strength to find and rescue them. But there was no Rama around him to instruct him what to do.  So what to do but to feel compelled to change his mind and take the decision on his own to jump into action. Hanuman went to patala, fought with Mahiravana and his army, killed Mahiravana, and rescued both Rama and Lakshmana.

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Imagine what would have happened if Hanuman had not taken the decision of going on the rescue mission waiting for his master’s instructions to do. Perhaps that was the way Rama had corrected his earlier mistake of inhibiting Hanuman with his displeasure at Hanuman’s actions done without his consent, and helped Hanuman rise up to the occasion and develop his own decision-making qualities. Each of us is a leader in some way or the other. We work at home and office on different projects. How do we want our team members to behave, especially when it comes to decision-making? Should they do only by what and when we instruct? Or do we encourage them to take decisions, learn from mistakes, and move forward? Freedom to decide is empowering. And that “freedom” is not just only given but also very much taken.

With love and regards,

Siva

Monday Motivation From Scriptures (MMFS-1): Face your fears - Face what you must face

Hi,

This is Siva coming to you with a new post "Monday Motivation From Scriptures" through which I would like to share with you short stories from the scriptures and holy books regularly. I hope you will find them interesting, inspiring, and worth reading. Here is the first one…

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Face your Fears - Face what you must face

This is a small story from Mahabharata. Once Krishna and Balarama were walking through a forest. They were in the middle of the forest, when the night fell and it became dark. As it was a dangerous forest, Krishna suggested to Balarama, "You keep watch until midnight while I sleep, and  I will be on watch from midnight till morning." Krishna went to sleep, while Balarama was in the role of guard. Night was getting deeper. All of a sudden, Balarama saw a monster coming towards him. As the monster approached him and screamed, Balarama got terrified. The moment Balarama felt the fear within,  the size of monster became bigger. The monster screamed one more time, Balarama became more fearful, and the monster grew still bigger. Scared with the fear of the monster, Balarama screamed "Krishna… Krishna" and fainted. Hearing the Balarama's call, Krishna woke up.  While Krishna was guarding, the same monster appeared; saw a new person this time; and screamed again. Krishna, instead of being perturbed, looked at the monster and asked him, “What do you want?” The courage of Krishna made the monster shrank in its size. Krishna went closer to the monster and asked him again, “What do you want?” The size of monster further reduced. The size of the monster reduced to such an extent that Krishna took him in his palm and tied him in his dhoti/cloth. 

Next morning, as they resumed their journey through the forest, Balarama told, ""Krishna, you don't know what a terrible thing happened while you were asleep. There was a huge monster trying to kill us both. I don't know how we survived, the last thing I remember is that I fainted." Then, Krishna took the monster out of his dhoti, showed him to Balarama and asked , “Are you talking about this?” Balarama immediately asked, “Yes, but when I saw he was so big. How come he became so small now?” Krishna calmly replied, “Every time I faced him and questioned him, he shrunk in size, finally he became this."

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Every time we are afraid, our fears grow big, but every time we face them and question them, they become smaller and smaller. When we avoid what we must face in life, it becomes bigger than us and takes control over us. When we face what we must face, we become bigger than it and we take control of it. The monster referred in the story above is like all the challenges we face in life. If we keep avoiding to face what we must face, these challenges become monstrous, and they gain control over us. Instead if we face what you must face, we gain control over them. The very challenges and tough times of life are indeed opportunities to help us become what we can be…bigger and stronger, provided we face them with courage.

With love and regards,

Siva

value4value@gmail.com

Unstoppable Updates (17) Wishing you a Happy Vijayadasami today!

Hi,

HAPPY VIJAYADASAMI! On this auspicious DAY of the year, I would like to share with you yet another tale and the message that we could take from it.

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According to  the Hindu calendar, the 10th day of the Aswija month (also known as aswayuja, ashwayuja, asoj maas) during the Shukla Paksha (waxing phase of moon) is celebrated as VIJAYADASAMI, the victory of Shakti over Mahishasura, of Lord Rama over Ravana, and of Durga over demons like Mahishasura, Chanda-Munda and Shumbha- Nishumbha; that is victory of good over evil. As the legend goes, there is another important event associated with this day as described below for your kind perusal.

In Mahabharatha there is a mention of the Pandavas hiding their weapons on the jammi tree (also known as shami, sami) when they had to remain incognito during their year of exile. On this Vijayadasami day, they completed their period of incognito, came out of their exile openly, went to the jammi tree, collected their weapons hidden there and worshipped them. They performed what is called aayudha pooja - worship of weapons which demonstrated their respect for their weapons and the importance they attached to them. They went on to use them later in the Mahabharata battle of Kurukshetra in which they became victorious. 

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Thus, people celebrate the Vijayadasami day every year cleaning their tools, machines, and vehicles and performing pooja to them at home and office. That certainly helps clearing the rust, removing the dust, and making them more functional. But in today's modern world, that alone is not enough for one to achieve success. What is more important is to cleanse the tools that one possesses within oneself such as attitude, behavior, spirituality, conduct, character, and their soft skills. It is essential to be cognizant of these modern day weapons that one is endowed with and cleanse them, polish them, and utilize them in day-to-day's life at home and work for maximum success and happiness. It is time for it now – TODAY.

With love,

Siva

value4value@gmail.com

Unstoppable Updates (16) Wishing you a blessed NAVRATRI

Hi,

As we are going through the festival of Navratri now, I would like to share with you 3 tales from Devi Mahatyam depicting the power of the Goddess, Durga.

According to puranas, at the end of Kalpa when the entire universe was in a deep relaxation Lord Vishnu was lying on 'adi seshu' the bed of serpent in the state of Yoga Nidra (yogic sleep, deep slumber). At this time, two demons namely Madhu and Kaitabha stole Lord Brahma's vedas and attacked him. He went to seek Vishnu's help who was in a deep sleep. Brahma, knowing that it was due to influence of the great goddess who lives in the eyes of Lord Vishnu as Yoga Nidra, prayed to the goddess, who withdrew from Vishnu. As a result, Vishnu woke up and killed the demons. While Vishnu did the slaying, Devi enabled him. She is thus revered and worshipped not only for being an agent of restoration of the universe and the cosmic order but also helping the god in killing the demons. When the sleep of ignorance is awakened, the demons of ego could be overcome.

Another revelation comes from the narration of Goddess Durga slaying the most evil demon Mahishasura. Astride a lion, she fought with Mahishasura in a fierce battle, where he changed his form every time she was about to kill him. He took many different forms including that of a buffalo, but eventually, goddess Durga vanquished him and brought peace to the world. It is important to be persistent in the fight with the slippery-natured ego to be able to overcome it and win over the many manifestations of ignorance. 

The 3rd story of Devi Mahatyam reveals the enormous powers of the goddess. Once she encountered a demon called Raktabija who was empowered with a boon that every drop of blood he would shed would transform into another demon as it touched the earth. A unique strategy had to be devised to vanquish him. A fiery burst of energy emerging from Devi's third eye took the dark skeletal form of goddess Kali. With her huge mouth and enormous tongue she ferociously laps up Raktabija's blood, thus preventing the uprising of further demons and killing him eventually. Such a power of Kali is gained by her ability to convert the negative impulses of anger, vengeance, and violence into a positive force of balance and harmony. 

With love and regards,

Siva

value4value@gmail.com