Interesting trivia

In the 1400's a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have 'the rule ofthumb'
Many years ago in Scotland , a new game was invented.. It was ruled'Gentlemen Only..Ladies Forbidden'.. .and thus the word GOLF entered into theEnglish language.
The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska
The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%
The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
The average number of people airborne over the U.S. in any given hour:61,000
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades - King David Hearts - Charlemagne Clubs -Alexander, the Great Diamonds - Julius Caesar
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987, 654,321
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
Q. Most boat owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat name requested?
A. Obsession
In Shakespeare' s time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase...... ... 'goodnight, sleep tight.'
It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.
In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts... So in old England ,when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them 'Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down.' It's where we get the phrase 'mind your P's and Q's' [And I thought it was to do with learning to write and not mistaking 'p' and'q' in lower case, fascinating trivia]
Many years ago in England , pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. 'Wet your whistle' is the phrase inspiredby this practice.

Don't delete this just because it looks weird. Believe it or not, you can read it.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. Thephaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at CmabrigdeUinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, theolny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghitpclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit aporbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the humna mnid deos not raed ervey lteter byistlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

The Illusion of Self

You do not exist. That is the truth. That sense of “I and you”, the sense of separateness, is an illusion. It does not really exist. For example, as you are listening to me, you are seeing me but you are not hearing me, and when you hear me, you are not seeing me. But that is happening so fast, that you have this illusion that you are seeing and hearing. The two senses have got coordinated, like in a movie, unless you have those 16 shotsmoving per second you will not see the hand movement, in the movie theatre. If the projector is slowed down it becomes only like a slide. Similarly, here the senses are coordinating at a particular speed whereby you are feeling that you are seeing , touching as though all these things are going on at the same time. It is this illusion that creates the sense of “Me” and “I”. If this is slowed down, you all just vanish! So, now you are there. If I wereto slow down your senses, if you would give me permission, you would just disappear. You will go back home minus yourself ! But you will still be very functional, you will in fact be very efficient. The sense of separateness would completely be gone. What remains there is life or you may call it pure consciousness;the stuff from which this whole universe is made. What is there ultimately is consciousness and that has to only to be experienced. How can you see yourself ? There is no way to see consciousness, because you are that. Its true nature is Ananda and Love. It is a causeless Love. What you call love is not truly love. You either beg for love, asking somebody to give you love, or if you give love it is because somebody is big or famous or great or wealthy or you have something to gain from that. You love your wife or husband because he or she means something to you. You possess somebody, you are attached to somebody. That is not the love we are talking about. This love is a causeless love. It is just there. This can happen only if the “I” the “self” disappears. It’s a very simple thing - the senses have to be slowed down a little bit… and behold; You are not there! What is there is only life. You will feel you are one with the universe, completely one. It is not a mystical experience. A mystical experience comes when the kundalini rises to the chakras, but when it comes down… the experience is lost. We are not talking about that. We are talking of a very robust state of 24 hours irreversible consciousness. You are completely gone.To attain this state you must qualify.The qualification is, you must set right your relationship.It takes only 7 minutes for me to give you that state you perceive everything without the “Me” or the “I” . For example: when I look at you people, I don’t feel you are outside of me. Its as though all of you are inside of my belly, I can never see anything as separate.It’s a fact and reality for me, and this is how all these 320 people who have got the state are experiencing. You can experience it.Somebody is not outside of you. Strangely the boundaries of the body cease. You no more can see it as your hand or your body, Its gone. The whole thing has become your body, it is a part of you. It is then that you have this true love, because it is a part of you.There is no cause, and there is no question of the mind slipping into the past or worrying about the past or projecting into the future or thinking about the future. It lives in the moment. Every moment it lives and you start really living. Right now, what ishappening is, you are merely existing. You live because you areafraid of dying. Otherwise you see no reason, why you shouldcontinue with your mediocre life. You get up in the morning, go to the toilet, brush your teeth, have your breakfast, pack up your lunch, go to office or do some business, come back, have a quarrel with your wife, have a fight with your child… again come back watch your TV… day in day out…this routine, mediocre , meaningless, purposeless. You create of course some meaning.You say “I’m doing some social work…helping man….” and all kinds of things because you have to invent these things. There is no meaning, because deep inside, there is only sorrow inside you.You don’t know what to do with your lives. You’ve got into this mechanical trap created by self, by the “Me”. So, you have builtup various escape systems, mechanisms and you continue with thiskind of life and the only reason you are not sick is because, I can probably say, you are afraid of dying …. You have had no moments of ecstasy or bliss or joy. It is what really life is all about. You’ve certainly missed out on all that. So, sometimes I marvel how people are able to live. It really baffles me. To me, giving enlightenment is not a big problem at all. To me the problem is, I wonder how people continue to live, how many escape systems can they build !They have TV systems, computers, sky diving… and what else….somehow you must manage your lives. You are managing your sorrow, you are escaping from your sorrow, doing all these things but fundamentally that pain is there inside; that ache,what’s all this ? What is the meaning of life? Where are we going ? We are getting older, and seem to have achievednothing and what is the purpose of all this….?That is the meaning of the word ‘Dukha’. There is no translation for it in English. We use the word ‘suffering’, which is not the true meaning of the word ‘dukha’. It is a very abstract and notclearly definable ache you have, the ache which Buddha had. He had everything in life yet that pain was there, that sense of “what’s all this about”. That is what we mean by the word ‘dukha’. So, this has to go, That’s the reason for the Mukthi Yagna.But you must first feel that pain. That’s the 1st qualification.If you don’t feel the pain and say “OK! I’m managing my suffering and I’m happy with it” then I have no business with you.I can help you only if it is going to really trouble you. The second thing is, your relationships. That’s very important. Then you are ready for receiving my grace of Mukti. Only then you’ll know what true love is, what compassion is, what it is to share your life with others, what all this talk of oneness is. All the scriptures will start revealing themselves to you. Nobody needs to teach you. You are your own guru you can see it for yourself.

- Sri Bhagavan

power of thought

There are many karmic principles which govern our internal world; sharing a couple of them with great effects ...

When we plant a seed of mango, we get mango fruit, we do not get chikoo. also a single seed of mango gives rise to a 1000 fruit.

So it is with our thoughts....

If we send out a positive thought of goodwill, appreciation, blessing etc to others, it returns to us manifold.conversely, if we send out a negative thought of judgement, criticism, condemnation , censure etc it comes back manifold to us.

Success depends more on our state and less on our skills...I hvae met many a skilled person with hardly any degree of success in his/her life. Close observance has some intersting revelations.

- inspirations from Sri Bhagavan

Pearls of wisdom...

The mind of man is dense and deep, with layers of ancient debris. You never question, you never explore what the mind is.Do you ever look to see how thought is generated?, why and from where it springs?

Is thought a valid instrument, an intelligent expression?

You choose between two thoughts. Who is making the choice?

Yet another thought, the third one?

Is the third one trying to choose between the first two?

do you ever stop to think that all three may be stupid?

yet you select and act.

You never seem to question this sort of thinking.

though the source and logic of thought are questionable....

- Dada

excellence - a parameter of quality

A giant ship engine failed. The ship's owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure but how to fix the engine.
Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a young. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.
Two of the ship's owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed!
A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars.
"What?!" the owners exclaimed. "He hardly did anything!"
So they wrote the old man a note saying, "Please send us an itemized bill."
The man sent a bill that read:
Tapping with a hammer....................... $ 2.00
Knowing where to tap.......................... $ 9,998.00
Moral: Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort makes all the difference!

Grace ...

Recently had an occasion to experience live GRACE ....

last week, was on my way from thane to chembur in a rick which was travelling at breakneck speed on the eastern express highway.

a car suddenly cut across from the right and hit our rick.The driver and his asst ( sometimes 2 guys sit in front) were thrown out of the rick while the rick turned on it's side.I was left squatting on the ground with the rick around me and was dragged alongwith the rick a few metres by the car. The car jerked us off and went on it's way.

The inner silenec that I have been experiencing did not desert me at the moment nor did my awareness. the rick came to a halt and people rushed to lift it from above me.I was able to climb to my feet and my clothes were badly torn and my right side of the body in great pain as I was dragged against the tar road.

A young college student drove me to a Dr near my house and miraculously i had suffered no fractures etc. A few bruises were there but they are manageable.My goggles, mobile phone, watch etc were unscathed.

Looking back, i cannot believe that I could get off so easily in a bad accident right in the middle of the expressway where vehicles coming behind me could have easily knocked me off.

Grace had made it's presence felt and a feeling of gratitude overpowered me.....

awe..the essence of living...

"If you can live in wonder, you will be capable of celebration. Don't live in knowledge, live in wonder. Life is surprising; everywhere, it is a continuous surprise.Live it as a surprise, an unpredictable phenomenon: every moment is new.Just give it a try! You will not lose anything yet you may gain everything. Look if you are addicted to misery. You cling to your misery as if it is something very precious.Look at your own clinging."

~ Osho

Knowledge is beautiful but can often lead to dryness.the quest for knowledge should also be from the perspective of an explorer, joyously going through discoveries and learnings in life.

Happy Janmashtami....

Krishna...one of my all time fav characters for the sheer variety of his persona...has played a vital role in de-mystifying Godhead for me.

and what about radha.....between them , i think they account for more than 50% creative expression in the indian ethos. Take song, dance and poetry and the link is unmistakable....

a beautiful expression from a poet:

Radha Na Hoti tho

Brindavan Na Hota....

Radha Ke payal na bajti tho Mohan aisi na raas rachate...

Radha ke naina na rote tho Jamuna itni kaali na hoti...

Prem ki bhasha jaanta na koi, kanhaiya ko yogi maanta na koi,

bina parinay ke woh prem ki pujaran kanha ki patrani ho gayi....

Have a great Janmashtami!!!!

the world changeth!!!!

When we were young kids growing up in America, we were told to eat our vegetables at dinner and not to leave them. Mothers said, "Think of the starving children in India and finish the dinner."

And now I tell my children: "Finish your maths homework. Think of the children in India who would make you starve, if you don't."

-Thomas Friedman in "The World Is Flat"

oshospeak....

"Falling in love you remain a child; rising in love you mature. By and by love becomes not a relationship, it becomes a state of your being.Not that you are in love - now you are love.Millions of people are suffering: they want to be loved but they don't know how to love. And love cannot exist as a monologue; it is a dialogue, a very harmonious dialogue."

~Osho