Seeds Never Die

I was a seed; a small one and dark brown in color. I was deformed in shape, bending to myself. I was not handsome. I bore wrinkles on my body. I was hard and looked lifeless.

I preferred loneliness. I talked to none, beckoned not any one for an evening coffee. In fact I stopped eating and drinking after I became a seed. I had distaste for life. I bend and bend and squeezed myself into a deformed shape which men call a ‘nut shape’. I had no clothing except a thin skin in dark brown color. That was enough to protect me for I had no zeal for life.

Once I was a part of a promising stalk of grain, green in color which on maturity became golden yellow. It was such a beauty that all those who walk by stopped and envied us. There in the sun and water we grew and matured.

Maturity is a big problem. My bad days started as I began to grow and ripen. You are cared and appreciated as long as you remain unripe in green color.

Unique with a Unique Purpose

You are Unique with a Unique purpose.

I am aware that this is not the first time you hear that You are Unique. Still I want to tell it once again at your face, looking deep into your eyes, that You are Unique. There is absolutely no one else like you.

You are remarkable, and a miraculous thing. None, no power in the universe can duplicate you. Of all the people who have come and gone on the earth, since the beginning of time, not One of them is like You!

No one who has ever lived or is to come has had your combination of abilities, talents, appearance, friends, acquaintances, burdens, sorrows and opportunities. No one’s hair grows exactly the way yours does. No one’s finger prints are like yours. No one laugh or sneeze the way you do. No one prays about exactly the same concerns as you do. No one is loved by the same combination of people that love you!

No one before, no one to come.

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY UNIQUE!

Conquering Depression

What is Depression?

There are normal ups and downs in life.

Everyone feels sad or has "the blues" from time to time.

Sadness or downswings in mood are normal reactions to life’s struggles, setbacks, and disappointments.

Depression is much more than just sadness.

If emptiness and despair have taken hold of your life and won't go away, you may have depression.

Depression makes it tough to function and enjoy life like you once did.

Just getting through the day can be overwhelming.

Some people describe depression as “living in a black hole” or having a feeling of impending doom.

Importance of Individual Resource Management

Poverty is bad resource management

Introduction

This study is about the importance of individual resource management.
Collective resource management, as in a corporate office, is not discussed here.
Every individual has resources sufficient for reaching the summit of success.
It is our choice to manage the resources well and succeed or neglect and fail.

For illustrating my argument I am using reference from history as cited in the Bible, a parable of Jesus and the famous quote about the African gazelle and the lion.

The study is secular and no theological argument is intended.

The story of a watchman

The watchman I speak of is the night watchman of the ancient days. He is called watchman because he keeps watch, keeps awake, throughout the night guarding the town with its people, livestock and wealth.

Time, during those days were divided into first watch, second watch etc.
Thus the modern wrist watch we use got its name which was later abbreviated to watch.

Watchman is the guard of the town, it's people and all precious things in the town during the night. He never sleeps.

He is an image for one who waits hopefully and patiently for the dawn of success in his life.

The other side of the river

Those who stand on the other side of the river will never comprehend your thoughts however cleverly you utter it.

Think about such a situation.
Two persons are standing on the opposite sides of a river. They talk the same language. They follow same gestures. They wear identical dresses. Their race is the same. They belong to the same gender. There is no plausible reason against a reasonable communication between them.
Still they always fail to communicate.

Communication is not just talking. It is not just showing gestures. It is reaching the other person with your thoughts. It is a meeting of thoughts and understanding.
Communication has a second part also. It is comprehending what is passed on to us. It is a sending and receiving process. One part of the process is incomplete without the other part.

Lessons from a farmer

A farmer indeed is a wise person. He is the bread provider of the world. Without him the world would go hungry and waste. Hence he may be called the wisest person in the world.

He is wise because he knows the secret to success. He brings out success from the cursed land. He successfully uses his knowledge and skill to feed the world.

He is an entrepreneur whose success is shared with the world. His success is life to the world; his failure is the death of the world.

He proclaims excellent lessons for success.

Life is a horrible dream

Life is a horrible dream to rise to a beautiful reality.

I believe in afterlife. I am not scientifically sure of afterlife. If there is no such thing I lose nothing by believing in it. If there will be an afterlife, my hope won’t be at loss.

The expectation of a more blessed and glorious life after this fretful life is a consolation. Man lives on such consolations. Every dream of a better tomorrow is an uncertainty and an abstract platform on which we live today.

That is why I believe in after life.

I have no intention of passing on a negative message to the readers by calling life on this earth ‘a horrible dream’. My intention is contrary to it. It is to encourage with a hope for a better tomorrow.

How to face challenges

Running away only increases the distance

Running away from a problem only increases the distance between you and the problem. It does not solve any problem.

I too agree with many present day motivators that perception and description can create a difference. How we perceive a situation and how we describe a situation is very important in overcoming or conquering the situation. The perception has a key role. The description continues the perception. You may solve, overcome and conquer the situation according to your perception and the description of that perception.

The ant and the mystery of the world

This is not a statement on any scientific truth; this is only a moral story.

Our story narrates one of the many strange experiences an ant goes through in his life. Some of them reveal the mystery of the world, while some others are everyday experience with no philosophical insights. In fact all experiences in our life are philosophical statements since everything speak about the mysterious thing called life.

One day the ant was roaming aimlessly. Its stomach was full. The air was calm and comfortable. Since the ant was not used to sit idle, it came out of the anthill hoping to have another look at the world. How far it traveled so far is unknown. The world is a pretty place for a tiny ant to experience.

Want to see stars?

All of us are afraid of darkness.

Animals are not afraid of darkness like men. Some animals and birds prey in the night. Some animals have better vision in the night.

But night always frightens human beings.

We are afraid of night because of the ferocious and poisonous animals that roam in the dark. Then poisonous snakes, scorpions, lions and such animals have no problem in attacking others during the day. These animals may be roaming in the night because night is calmer with fewer enemies. It may be easy for them to prey during the night than the day. No snake comes out of its hole with the sole intention of biting a human being. No lion wakes in the morning with a decision to kill a man. They kill for their food. So ferocious animals that prowl is only one reason for our fear of night.

Honor is death in war

“Die in harness” (death in harness) means to die with armor on; to die while actively engaged in work or duty.

This phrase is often used to refer to Government or Non government servants who die while in active service.

The phrase has roots in Roman culture and tradition.

In ancient Roman culture, all soldiers were dedicated as bridegrooms to the goddesses of war. They were not permitted to marry or have a family. They were 24x7 soldiers. Once they joined the military service, they discarded all ties with their family. All of them were unmarried young men.

The Blind Cat

There were two good friends. They were friends since their childhood. Never quarreled, never envied and never parted.

One of them was very intelligent and a multi facet talented fellow. He was nimble in action. He was pure white in color – white as snow. He had sharp eyesight, a brilliant brain and a sound physique. But he was always hungry and complained about it.

His friend was black in complexion. He was slow in action and has not exhibited any amazing talents. None so far has commented on his intellect since no incident had ever occurred worthy of comment. His physique, of course was not bad. But he always showed lethargy to involve in any adventurous attempts. All these characteristics had a sad backdrop. He was blind, could not see even an elephant in day or night.

Fear gives Power

This is a Moorish proverb: "He who is afraid of a thing gives it power over him." The Moors were the medieval Muslim inhabitants of Morocco, Western Algeria, Western Sahara, Mauritania, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta.

This is an old wisdom that a minority keeps in mind to resist fear. They are the successful minority.

Why do lions roar? The roaring sound of the lion sends a chill into the heart of weaker animals. The roar of lions announces their presence in and around. The bigger the sound nearer they are. The ancient Kings in war used this tactics to defeat their enemies even before the war actually begin. They scared the enemies by a show of their might.

Fear is the strongest emotion of 21 century.

What is fear?

Fear is an apprehension of sufferings and loss. Fear is an emotion over something unpleasant which may occur in future. Fear is an unwelcome anticipation of pain, hunger, sickness, torture, dishonor etc. We are afraid of loss of property, income, time, health, power, honour and life itself.

Fear is caused by the belief in the existence of other personalities or powers that is against our life.

These personalities and powers are evil people and evil supernatural powers. Fear may have its base in our past life/the life of other people.

Fear has positive side too. It effects self restraint on us. Since we are afraid of suffering and loss, we try to avoid thoughts, words and action that may cause suffering and loss to us.

Fear as a negative emotion always has an enemy on the other side. It tells us always that we will be proven impotent against the enemy at any time in our life.

So we try to keep away the fearsome suffering and loss.

HOW

1.       By trying to please the enemy/fear

2.       Entering into a compromise/treaty with the enemy

3.       By avoiding a confrontation with the enemy

4.       By joining hands with a more powerful personality

The first three methods are that are of a coward.

We are acknowledging that you are afraid of the enemy.

We acknowledge:

His existence

His power to harm you

Your inability to stand against him.

By acknowledging the above three means we agree to remain subservient to fear.

That is what the Moorish proverb says. We are giving power and authority over us to fear. Hence fear rules over you.

Fear has many arrows in his quiver to keep us servile. Once we have subdued to him, it is difficult to escape. He is a relentless enemy who follows us to the grave. He will never bless us. He will try to ruin those who are disobedient to his authority.

He will try to convince us that:

We have no authority or no free will over our life

Everything in our life is controlled by fate or by some supernatural enemy power

Every happening is predestined and hence it will happen whatever we may do

The only way of escape is to live in fear of fear and subservient to fear.

The last option to escape fear of unexpected suffering and loss is to join a more powerful personality. People call Him GOD. God is almighty, omnipotent and omnipresent. Those who have joined hands with God have decided to fight against fear.

They believe that:

God is almighty – there none more powerful than God and hence more powerful than the enemy.

God is beneficent

God does not want us to live in subservience

With God we can overcome all enemies

Their decision is to:

Fight against fear

Defeat fear

Live a life of victory

The only option available to those who wish to live a life of victory is to fight and defeat fear.

Those who do not believe in the existence of God may try to depend on the power of their mind to defeat fear.

Let us conclude:

If you are afraid of fear, you live a defeated live, subservient to fear

Those who live a victorious life over fear live resisting, fighting, defeating and overcoming fear.

Professor Jacob Abraham

Fewer mistakes; fewer regrets

I do not decry mistakes. It is human to err.

Mistakes are synonymous with failures.

But failures are not always mistakes. Right decisions and right actions also may result in failures. So failures are not always the product of mistakes.

Mistakes are always failures. Rarely even a mistake may bring forth success. But that is never counted as success. That happens often in war. Very rarely mistakes committed by a sergeant or a military general may lead to victory. But in the ensuing analysis of the event, the action is always run down as fatal mistake and never rewarded. It is because a mistake is fatal in war whatever the accidental outcome is.

So mistakes are mistakes in spite of the nature of its outcome.

Mistakes are judged not by its outcome. Mistakes are defined by rules that govern the action. These rules are not written and not fixed. Every race has rules, every game has rules and every action has rules. Victory is not just the outcome but the successful outcome of an action completed according to its rules.

Mistakes are not always a purposeful action towards it. Many sincere attempts may also end as mistakes. Our life is not always our own life; it is the life of some others too. We cannot stand alone or without action on this great stage of life. We are born to this stage and from thence we are acting our role. There are some others always on the stage. We are to act with them and along with them.

Mistakes are harbingers of regrets. A mistake we commit is sure to lead us to failure. Every failure caused by a mistake takes us to regret.

Regrets are painful, discouraging and often disastrous. It murders our life force that helps us to move forward. It is a personal emotional crisis. It demands recoveries beyond our capability. Since time, money and health that are lost will never come back, causes incurable wounds.

I am afraid of regrets. I have had enough of it in my life. Nothing happened can be retrieved. Hence no wounds can be healed.

The only possible way to escape from regrets is to make fewer mistakes. I am not recommending a secluded life. Live the life in the midst of the crowd.

Life has given me certain lessons to help me to make fewer mistakes. They are personal. Every experience in life is personal and has a personal message to us. It leaves personal impressions on our mind that effect individual responses.

So what I have learned may remain very personal. Hence they are not general theories that can be applied to all and all problems I refrain from scribbling it here.

My only advice is to make fewer mistakes and less regrets.

Professor Jacob Abraham

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Reach out to the unprivileged

REACH OUT TO THE UNPRIVILEGED

This is a story that might have happened in a remote area, in a thick forest, in a rocky cave, in a pre historic era, in a dark continent.

Even if you feel that this story might never have happened, it makes no difference, because the message it conveys is true and eternal.

It is about reaching out to the unprivileged; to those who have never seen or heard of the warmth of light.

A family, under certain circumstance happened to live in a dark cave. The cave was large but dark everywhere. No ray of sun ever entered into the cave. In fact, the forest around the cave never let the sun to peep through. It was thick, dense, dark and cold. The whole area had no days and night; because it was always night. There were no seasonal changes; no spring and summer; no autumn and winter. It was always winter everywhere there.

This poor family happened to be living in that area in a dark rocky cave. The father had never heard of light and heat, the mother never heard of sun and fire. Their children had no other experience different from their parents. They were not sad, not happy, but content with their life. Everything present there were theirs and nothing that was not their posed a temptation.

Sri Buddha, the great Indian saint and philosopher, was enlightened on the cause of suffering. He realized that craving is the cause of suffering.

The cave family had nothing to crave for; hence they suffered not.

They never craved for sun light; they never knew of its existence. They never wished for heat; they never experienced fire and warmth. Their eyes could see in the dark, their body felt warm in the coldness of the cave. Their imagination flew in and around the cave; it had no larger wings to fly far.

Ignorance was comfort for them. Ignorance was warmth. Ignorance was life to them.

One day a man from the ‘outside’ civilized world lost his way and entered this dark forest. He could not see anything and felt freezing. He collected a bunch of dry sticks, bundled them together and lighted it. The torch spread light and heat. He felt warm and could see into the forest. Far in a corner of the forest he saw a rocky cave. He decided to move into it.

As he approached the cave, he heard shrieks of men, women and children and sound of running feet. He smelt human beings. He knew that there were men and women in the cave and felt happy. To find a fellow human being in this dark forest is really a great comfort and hope. So entered the dark cave with his torch made of the bundle of sticks. Their shrieks became louder and the running feet made heavier sound.

He stood inside the cave and waved his torch. At the far end corner of the cold cave he saw a small family, rolled into one, eyes closed, shivering with fear shrieking helplessly. The civilized man from the outside world understood that they were afraid of him, mistaking that he was an enemy. So he assured them that he is a friend and will never harm them. He continued to tell his story, how he lost his way in the forest and told them that he needed their help to return to his home.

They did not turn towards him and they did not open their eyes. In a trembling and horrified voice, they asked him to throw away the torch. They could not name it, for they never saw it before. Their little vocabulary had no name for the burning wonder. They knew only one thing; the burning thing with the man is a torture to them. The light and heat of the fire were pain to them. They could not open their eyes. They were afraid to go near, for they do not know what torment it may fling upon them. They stood far from the light, much far from the warm of it. They ran and hid themselves in another part of the dark cave. They were afraid the light may destroy their eyesight for ever.

The man was confused. He did not laugh at them. He understood the plight of the cave family. He started a conversation with the cave family. A conversation can always bring the ignorant to truth.

He told them that what he held was only a bunch of dry sticks picked from their own forest. The only thing he did was to ignite them. Fire is such a magnificent blessing to man from God. Fire produces light that can help people to see around. Light is knowledge. Light is life. Light will never damage their eye sight. In fact their eyes, like the eyes of all other human beings in this world, is created to function with the aid of light. Light is necessary to see with their eyes. Fire is warmth also. Fire produces heat. It chases away coldness of the cave. Fire is comfort.

After his short speech, like a Christian preacher who makes the alter call, he invited the cave family to come forward and experience the fire, the light and heat. They moved not. He repeated his arguments in favor of light and heat. He called them to come forward.

A small girl appeared in the far end. Her family members produced a shrill sound of shock. But she walked slowly and slowly towards the light. She hid her eyes with her fingers and walked carefully with small steps. As she was walking towards the fire, she cautiously removed one little finger from her eyes and then the next little finger. Her slow steps took her to the fire, the light and heat. She opened her eyes in amazement. She looked around to see the cave and everything inside the cave. The man asked her to look out at the trees around in the light. She could not believe that the surrounding had such beauty that she missed so long. She was happy, thrilled and jumped with joy.  She felt the heat, the warmth of the heat. The icy cold, the freezing air of the cave left her exposing her to the warmth of fire. She felt a new life passing through her little body.

She looked back and beckoned her parents and other family members to come forward and embrace the new knowledge and experience. But they refused in fear. Fear is the weapon of ignorance. Ignorance keeps its captives in slavery with fear. The cave family expressed their fear for the little child. No words of her or of the ‘outside’ man could move them. The little girl expressed her despair that they will never come forward to the light.

The man smiled. He lifted one burning stick out of the bunch of sticks and handed it to the little girl.

‘They may not come to us; they may not come to light; they may not come to the warmth of fire. But surely you can take the fire, the light and heat, to them. Go! It is your duty! Only you can do it. This is the purpose of your life.’

The little girl, held the burning stick in her hand, walked back to her family who were still living in the dark, cold corner of the cave. She was holding fire; she was taking light to them; she was carrying the truth.

Professor Jacob Abraham

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