~Wear Sunscreen~

- Live in Northern CA once - Move out before it makes you too Soft !
- Enjoy power of Beauty before it fades......
- Do one thing that scares you !
- Keep Old Love letters :)
- Remember the Compliments received :)
- Don't feel Guilty about anything !
- Don't worry about future bcoz Real Troubles come without a Knock !
- Don't over Congratulate- "Your Choices are half chance" !!!
- Race is long.. enjoy the journey of life...
- DANCE -> Ecstasy & Bliss !!!!! :)
- Enjoy your Body - Best Instrument given by God
- Stretch -> Yoga . . .
- Be Nice to your Bro/Sis
- Live in NY once but leave before it makes you too hard....
- TRAVEL :)
- Respect elders & others around you
- Be ready to Support yourself forever...
- Take advice from others but be patient in applying it !

In this Sunny California .... This is reminder to me- "Don't forget the Sunscreen" !!!!!!!!!!!!

World Lives on Hope !!

While driving on the roads of San Jose for the first time, I came across this street 'Hope Drive'. One friend of mine says - "World Lives on Hope"... And everytime he says this, it reminds me of "Hope Dr"...

I drove to 'Hope Dr' today.. wondering to find The World around there. I am sure if people say World Lives on Hope then there must be a reason to it... In this practical life where "Seeing is Believing", where emotions hold less value, where attitude of everyone around is so materialistic.. I, obviously, didn't want to think 'Hope' as some form of feeling / emotion. Hope to me at this moment was 'Hope Dr' , which is here, in the heart of San Jose city...

How do you define world ? Is it diversity of culture, people, religions, dialects, food ? Or it is the unity of mankind ? Feeling of society and oneness ?
For someone in Love, that one Special person would mean the World to him / her. For a soldier returning to his home after a long 3 year war could mean the World to him. For a mother, 85 years old, seeing her son after 20 years could mean the world. For geeks, world could be World Wide Web (www) or for a politician world could be his territory. For a poet, world could be residing in his dreams.......

I trust my friend who says 'World lives on Hope'.... I am sure he means what he says.. I am sure he found his world out there.... but I didn't find my kind of World on Hope Drive.. Or, May be I should just 'Shut-up & Drive' !

Kites and us !

Have you ever noticed the similarity between Kites and us (Humans)? It was on the 60th Independence Day of India that we ventured to some kite flying... with all the enthusiasm my cousins began the kite-flying spree. I stood still there, observing how the Kites match up with Human behavior.

The sky was filled with hundreds of kites.. different shapes, color and size.
Every Kite wanted to rise up in the sky. But, some of them while rising up , tried to cut all the other kites who came on their way. These kites were extremely aggressive and Goal oriented.
There were others who were the nasty ones who didn't aspire great heights but they couldn't let others go up. As soon as they find another kite going up they come and mess up with it. Either of them survived.. "Survival of the fittest" !
Also, there were some kites who reacted to the other kites around them only when provoked. These were very defensive and slowly paced with the direction of the wind. Neither proactive nor aggressive... They were quite simple and patient.
I observed different behaviors among kites, ranging from practicality to excitement to cheesy.

When our kite reached up in the sky, I was given a chance to hold it... but the poor kite just dipped down... Kites also need special care, attention and support. With my cousins help our kite again kept soaring high in the sky.

The thread of the kite sustains the life support system and when this life force energy is cut down... Kite gets free from all the desires to soar high in the sky... It just sweeps away free in the sky like a free soul away , away and far away !!!

Does that really Matter ?

We all at some point in Life felt that it was Destiny.. we have consoled our soul saying "It was destined to happen"... Those are the times the only way we keep hope is by blaming it all on the Destiny... And if it is Destiny that controls our life then the Choices we make shouldn't matter..

Does that really matter what path you chose, what decisions you made? You might take a longer route or a different path but you would again stand at the same place....
Would that really help to put efforts into something that is destined to fail... I know you would say, "we can make our destiny by hardwork".. But, Do you believe in it ?? Tell me why is it that one person doesn't get rewards for his extreme hardwork while the other perosn is born with a silver-spoon in his mouth... Isn't it destiny ? Or, Magic of Stars ?

We raise our hands up and fall down to his feet, we pray and request and sometimes we weep... But does it really matter?? How would it change our Destiny which is "Meant to be" ?

Purpose of Life !!

We always desire a lot from Life.. Everyone is searching for happiness without realizing the actual source of happiness.. We keep running after materialist things throughout our life..

Most of us don't even know the 'Purpose of Life'.. They take the Life as a journey and continue to explore it... Some people just live to eat and sleep. Some are just too rigid and can't be flexible, adaptive. Some are too emotional and sensitive to break down in any situation...

It hurts to see that people can't live peacefully on this beautiful earth. We fight over small, petty things instead of loving everyone around us. We don't know what might happen to us at the very next moment... a calamity,death,disease, anything horrid can strike. Just yesterday, I heard one of my acquintances is detected with a deadly- 'blood cancer'. Isn't it touching that we keep fighting to satify our egos, not knowing how precious our life is? How beautiful life could be if we could forget these petty things and live the happy moments in life..

We keep remembering the bad things in past instead of relishing the good times that came along with it.

Someone has said it so well : "We keep rememebering our worst enemy all the times and don't think about God as much." Had it been the other way round.. We would have no enemies... But, the reason we don't think on those lines is because we don't know the purpose of Life.

The ultimate truth is that everyone seeks happiness.. be it in family, richness, adventure, work, materialistic, emotions ,etc.. A person might appear contended but his heart is also searching that happiness. Well, Does that mean we all are selfish beings ?

Vedanta has segragated humbeings in 5 broad categories based on their behaviour, mind-set towards life. These categories are : Stone , Vegetation, Animal , Human, and God-like ,which further have 7 subsets each, creating 35 levels.

When we take birth on earth we start at one of the above categories.. But, all of us are not at the same level since our past Karmas decide the start point of our re-birth. This is called the Karma Theory. Again, its in our hands to be stagnant, fall down or rise from one level to another.

We all tend to cling to things - person/place/emotions/possessions... Do we know that we came alone in this world and have nothing permanent here. Nothing goes with you when you die, no emotions, no relations, nothing.. forget about the money! Only thing that goes with you is your Karmas and your development.

Then why do we feel isolated and lonely ? Why can't we trust and love everyone around us? Why do we worry and why do we Expect? Why do we cheat others? So many unanswered questions...

The Stairway to Heaven is like a Soapy, slippey stairwcase - when you take one step upwards, you tend to fall down 2 steps.. You can't buy the Stairway to Heaven with the enormous Gold you might have accumulated, you have to have the patience, courage , belief to walk on it !!!

Its solely in our hands whether we lead this Life as a mere Journey on Earth or Achieve our Ultimate Goal !

~ OM Shanti !!