Whose approach u like more? Shivaji or franklin

Franklin was fighting the American war of independence. His own son 
was fighting against him and for the British. The son got caught and 
was exiled. After the independence he tried to reconcile with Franklin 
but Franklin did not Accept him.
There's one more similar story.
Shivaji was establishing his kingdom, independence grin the mughal  
when his son  sambhaji ran away turned against him and joined hands 
with mughals. later when he realises his mistake he comes back to 
Shivaji and Shivaji happily takes him back

Two totally different approaches?

Is it difference of the cultures where for Indians relationships are 
more important whereas for Americans are more objective?

Why won't Franklin reconcile with his own son even when the war was 
won? Why would Shivaji take back a person and make him a king who 
turned traitor for a woman a just because he was hits son?

The Silent Monk

Last week, a monk visited my place. In H.S.S. language, they are called Vistarak... someone who spends 100% of the time for the organization.
I was taking him to different places to meet various people. I noticed an interesting thing. Most of the people were busy in talking about activities that they were doing and how they are good at what they are doing and he was just patiently listening and just asking the right questions
Logically speaking If I meet a man who has been traveling around usa and talk to all levels and types of personalities, I would ask questions to know more and learn from his experience… Don’t you think… May be it is the silence that made him a monk. His that one habit taught me a great lesson. People say I talk a lot, I can be a little less chatty, I guess....

Being with him I also realized a very importing thing... I learnt what is karmayoga. Everybody works for money business power.... But a vistarak sacrifices his whole lives for the cause; always is on the road with just one bag with him...He doesn't have an immediate family near him... I mean like to look after him in case he get sick; no 401k and social security for when he gets old...
There are many sadhus / spiritual leaders who don't get any money etc but they get a lot of fame , a lot of following. A total contrast is a vistarak. He is supposed to be humble and can't hold any leadership or official seat in the organization.

I can’t even imagine myself serving without any absolutely any expectations, amazing isn’t it…

A Drawing Kid...

"If you are walking by a pond and you see a child drowning, do you save her? What if it means ruining a very fancy pair of Italian shoes?" 

Okay, if we assume the answer is yes, then why not spend the cost of those shoes to save 20 kids who are starving to death across town or the world? 

                                                 There's really no difference... is there?

Ekal Vidyalaya

Spirituality is a number Game!

Spirituality especially in Bharat is largely an individual effort focussed either inward or towards idol worship which means its not a social event. Everybody is engaged in meditation, spiritual books and chanting. Objective, to get liberation or Moksha. 

Ofcourse it is a prerequisite but i don't think that's enough. One definitely needs to reach out to other people and share the knowledge or the art to reaching the state of mind one is in. How many people are benefiting from that and to what extent is what really matters....
Let me give an example, Art Of Living practises really help you calm your mind and keep it steady and focussed. If it does not benefit anybody else... isn't it just selfishness? may be like a degree that gets only you promotion... there is nothing in it for your co-workers... 

Taking the concept to the bold step...  if your practises are just upto you...forget about the moksha or liberation.... to get liberated a lot of god-credit is required; much more than what just an individual can amass.  So only those who are benefiting max number of people will go up the ladder.
Spirituality cannot be individual concept.. it has to be a group concept...
Do I have an example to support this?
In the histry there have been so many people ... only a few people reached out to others and are considered great saints...

Mirabai ... was a great devotee of lord Krishna but I am sure many other were also equally devoted... what's the difference... I realized the difference when I was listening to one of bhajans she composed...
the Bhajans helps people not only of her times but all the generations followed remember krishna... Her god-credit also includes a part of spiritual god-credit of some of these people.

Of course these are just my personal views. Do you think Spirituality is totally or partly a number game... drop me a line or two of what you think.. All the readers would appreciate it. 

Socrates...

Here is a story quite similar to my earlier post on Kabir's Doha…-------------------------------------------
In ancient Greece, Socrates was a great philosopher and
widely acclaimed for his wisdom. One day, a friend ran up
to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know
what I just heard about one of your students called Plato?"
"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me anything,
I' would like you to answer a few test questions.
It's called the Triple Filter Test".
€ ¢⒠'µTriple filter?" asked the friend.
"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my
student, I am
going to ask you three questions€ ¢⒠'¶
The first Filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure
that what you are about to tell me is true?"
"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and..."
"All right," said Socrates. "So you are not sure if it's true or not.
Now let's try the second filter, the Filter of Goodness.
Is what you are about to tell me
about my student something good?
"No, on the contrary...€ ¢⒠'¶ said the man.
"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me
something bad about him, even though
you're not certain it's true?"
The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.
Socrates continued. "You may still pass the Triple Filter test though,
because there is
a third filter - the Filter of usefulness.
Is what you want to tell me about my student
going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really...€ ¢⒠'¶
"Well," concluded Socrates,
"if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good, nor
even Useful, why tell it to me at all?"
The man was defeated and ashamed.

Dalai Lama and Sri Sri say the same thing...

I was reading Art of Living famous Sri Sri's articles and then once I read this story of Dalai Lama. Both said exactly the same thing about forgiving...  How divine... spend a couple of minutes to think about it..

Excerpt from book : The wisdom of forgiveness (Page 47)
When I first met the Dalai Lama some three decades ago, he told me that he had for given the Chinese for what they have done to the Tibetans.At the time, I had been surprised. Now I wanted to learn more in the upcoming interview. As the Dalai Lama came into the audience hall and sat down across from me, I asked him without any preamble, "Your Holiness, I thought it natural that you'd harbor resentment toward the Chinese. Yet you've told me that this is not so. But do you, sometimes at least, experience deep feelings of animosity?""That almost never," the Dalai Lama replied. "I analyze like this: if I develop bad feelings toward those who make me suffer, this will only destroy my own peace of mind. But if I forgive, my mind becomes calm. Now, concerning our struggle for freedom, if we do it without anger, without hatred,but with true forgiveness, we can carry that struggle even more effectively. Struggle with calm mind, with compassion.Through analytical meditation, I now have full conviction that destructive emotions like hatred is no use. Nowadays,anger, hatred, they don't come. But little irritation some-times come."

Link to the book: http://www.scribd.com/doc/21051355/The-Wisdom-of-Forgiveness