Sunday 6 May 2012

The Greatest Gift is to be able to serve!!

I have always seen people say how the world has been very unfair to them and how they have to always face tiring circumstances.The world with its misery and problems is very essential for us to grow inward.Many saints ,philanthropist and other great souls,that have done great good to the world did not see it as they are doing some help to the world but thought that the world with its problems presents us an opportunity to grow and become better people and human beings and restore peace inside us and in the world outside.There is aa famous story of Joh D Rockfeller the worlds richest man meeting with a eastern monk.

In the late 1800s, Swami Vivekananda went to Chicago to attend the Parliament of Religions. He became an ardent and outspoken advocate of human values. One of the people he met in Chicago was John D Rockefeller, who had made a great fortune in the booming oil business at the time. Rockefeller was introduced to the Swami by a friend. Madame Emma Calve, a French lady disciple narrated this episode to Madame Drinette Verdier, who has written about their meeting in her diary. That is my source.

Rockefeller probably came for a lark, meaning that he wasn’t really interested in meeting Swami Vivekananda; he had been told that a saffron-clad monk was electrifying the people of Chicago, and it is possible that he went out of curiosity. Swamiji didn’t even look up from his desk when Rockefeller entered. He continued to do his work. After a while, he looked up at Rockefeller, who was not really used to being treated like a commoner. Rockefeller took a seat and conversation ensued.

It became apparent to Swamiji that Rockefeller had lots of wealth and Swamiji posed him a question, “If you have that much more money than other people, do you think that much smarter than other people?” Rockefeller replied, “Of course.” If he wasn’t a hundred times smarter, he wouldn’t have a hundred times the money, would he? 

Swamiji left him with the thought that he may not be one hundred times smarter, he maybe just three times smarter. If he had made a hundred times more money by being three times smarter, then perhaps he was merely an instrument through which this money has to go back to somebody else. “Why don’t you think about it? And why don’t you consider leaving some of your money for other people?”

This sounded absolutely ridiculous to Rockefeller, and he departed with the polite statement that he had worked really hard to make his money, and he had absolutely no intention of leaving it to other people. But curiously, three weeks later, he came back to see Swami Vivekananda, this time of his own accord. He threw on his table a piece of paper, by which he endowed a certain sum of money — I forget how much it was, but it was small by Rockefeller’s standards — for some noble purpose. "Well, there you are", he said. "You must be satisfied now, and you can thank me for it."
Swamiji didn't even lift his eyes, did not move. Then taking the paper, he quietly read it, saying: "It is for you to thank me". That was all. This was Rockefeller's first large donation to the public welfare.

It took another 15 years after this episode, that Rockefeller set up the Rockefeller Foundation in 1913, which has gone on to do an enormous amount of good work in society over the last several decades. The story illustrates the point of trusteeship. When you have earned a lot of money, whose money is it? Did that money come to you entirely because of yourself or is it possible that you are merely an instrument through which you should canalise it back to society? It is a very interesting question to ponder. I narrate this story, because the element of trusteeship comes out so clearly in the conversation between Swami Vivekananda and John D Rockefeller.

Sunday 5 February 2012

DESIRE

Is desire bad or good .
Lord Buddha said Desire is the root of all suffering .It is important to conquer desires but how is the question of every truth seeker.
Not all desires that u get in your mind are meant to be fulfilled.Its important to choose which one of them are important to conquer and which ones are not.the greatest power that humans have so far is the power to discriminate .Using Discrimination that has its origin in the soul of a man every human being decides which desire is worthy to strive for and which is not.its important to identify a righteous desire.Whenever if you are faced with this dilemma in life.It helps questioning yourself if the desire you want to achieve is a righteous one or not.
“The desires of the righteous shall be granted” (Proverbs 10:24).