Lord Ganesha

Five lessons from Ganesh

Of all the multitudes of deities and gods that constitute the Hindu religion, Lord Ganesha is probably one of the most loved and revered of all, regardless of individual beliefs and customs. Considered the god of good beginnings and wisdom, it is in his name that new ventures are undertaken and important life decisions made.

While there are many spiritual lessons to be learned from the stories of Lord Ganesha, there are some lessons that find a place in our every-day professional and personal lives as well. We take a look at some of them:

Act in good faith

Whatever Lord Ganesha undertook, he undertook with conviction and self-belief. It was the belief that his actions were in his and his mother Parvati's best interests is what governed his thoughts and translated into challenging acts, feats that improved his abilities and honed his skills.

It is this that we need to inculcate in ourselves, in the way we work. Any job, if it is worth doing, is worth doing well. Whatever the task you are faced with, face it with courage and conviction and do it to the best of your ability. At the end of the day, even if your effort goes unrecognised, you have the satisfaction of knowing that you gave it your best shot

Depend on yourself

One of the other names Ganesha is known as is Vinayak, meaning master of oneself. This signifies independence in thought and action. Whether in one's professional or personal life, one must act on one's beliefs after due consideration of relevant factors. Take ownership and responsibility for your actions and their outcome. Just knowing that you alone are responsible will make you take the decision that much more seriously.

 

Every obstacle can be overcome

Lord Ganesha is also known as Vigneshwara, one who removes obstacles. It is for this reason that he is invoked in times of crisis by believers and also why business ventures are started with a puja (prayer ceremony) in his name. Removing obstacles is his religion.

To take this a step further, one must believe that every obstacle can be overcome. One must also make removing obstacles a dharma in one's own life. Whether in your professional or personal life, with the right attitude -- a never-say-die attitude -- even what seems like the most insurmountable difficulty can be handled without your world falling to pieces. All you need is faith in yourself.

Modesty

Lord Ganesha is considered one of the most powerful gods in Hinduism, unlike the other gods who choose bejeweled chariots, his vehicle is the modest mouse. The mouse is seen to signify darkness and, as the Lord's vehicle, is believed to signify the journey from darkness (or ignorance) to light or enlightenment.

Another interpretation is that Ganesha wins hearts through simple methods, and this too holds a lesson. A shiny car or extravagant lifestyle might impress, but to win hearts, the simplest way is through one's actions -- through simple gestures of affection and respect.

Seek knowledge

While Lord Ganesha has been attributed with many of the qualities proverbially credited to elephants, the most well-known are the ears and trunk -- which suggest curiosity, the quest for wisdom and knowledge. His large head and ears are said to indicate an open-minded attitude that helps him accrue wisdom.

These are qualities that we could do well to adopt to improve and grow as a person. Read, explore, listen and learn -- nothing is irrelevant and nothing insignificant. Only when one educates oneself and listens to all sides of an argument can one judge what one truly believes in, what one wants and how it can be achieved. that every obstacle can be overcome. One must also make removing obstacles a dharma in one's own life. Whether in your professional or personal life, with the right attitude -- a never-say-die attitude -- even what seems like the most insurmountable difficulty can be handled without your world falling to pieces. All you need is faith in yourself.

 

Three Parrots -Funny story!!

A man wanted to buy his son a parrot as a birthday present.The next day
he went to the pet shop and saw
three identical parrots in a cage.
He asked the clerk, "how much for the parrot on the right?
The owner said it was $250.
"$250", the man said. "Well what does he do?
"He knows how to use all of the functions of Microsoft Office 2000,
responds the clerk. "He can do all of your spreadsheets and type all of
your letters."
The man then asked what the second parrot cost.
The clerk replied, $500, but he not only knows Office 2000, but is an
expert computer programmer.
Finally, the man inquired about the cost of the last parrot.
The clerk replied, "$1,000."
Curious as to how a bird can cost $1,000, the man asked what this bird's
specialty was.
The clerk replies, "Well to be honest I haven't seen him do anything.
But the other two call him " Project Manager "

What is our natural condition?

The greatest disease is false pride. I will recite an example from the
Bible. Lord Jesus Christ was traveling through out Palestine Jerusalem
area spreading the pure message of love of God. His message was seeking
out the kingdom of God but the kingdom of God is within you. Ah. If you
do not understand the kingdom of God within you, you are a sick man
because you are in an unnatural condition. In Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna
says, "mamaivamso jiva-loke jiva-bhutah sanatanah". That every living
being is part of God. All the qualities of God is within you, you are
eternal, you are full of bliss you are eternally the servant of God. In
the Upanishads it is explained nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam that
there is one supreme eternal person and there are infinite subordinate
dependent eternal persons who are we, and we are constantly depending
and under the supreme command of that one Supreme God. So this is our
natural condition to know God and to love God.

Source H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj

THE HONEST WOOD CUTTER

Once upon a time in the olden days there lived a wood cutter in a
village in indian.His name was Gautham and he was very poor.One day he
went to the forest near by his village to cut wood.He started cutting
wood next to a river.As he started cutting the wood his axe which was
made up of iron slipped out of his hand and fell in the river.gautham
became verry sad as his only source of earning his livelihood is in
danger as he was too poor even to afford another axe.He started to
cry,upon hearing his cries the god of the river came up out of the river
and asks gautham th reason for his lamentation.Gautham narrates the
whole story-Now the god of the river tries to put him into test to see
whether he is honest or not.
The god of the river asks him not to cry and then vanishes into the
river and after some time bring out a golden axe and asks gautham
whether this is his axe or not-Gautham though surprised replied to god
that it was a golden axe and that his was made of iron.Now the god
vanishes into the river and after some time bring out a silver axe and
asks gautham whether this is his axe or not-again gautham remains
truthful.
The god of the river becomes very happy at his honesty and blesses
him-god gives him all the 3 axes and says to him that sell all the axes
in the maket and with that money live happily for the rest of your life.

MORAL-Honesty is the best policy

VARIOUS VARIETIES OF ITALIAN COFFEE

I live and work in Italy for the last one year, one of the most striking things that I found about Italians was that they are great lovers of coffee.In fact offering coffee is considered to be a sign of good will.Italians drink coffee in the morning, afternoon after the lunch and in the night after having dinner (officially)-they may be drinking more in between also.
In my company there are coffee machines in each and every floor of our 6 storied building-all people from a common labourer to the manager loves to drink coffee.I have a friend working in my company who worked for the Italian coffee machines maker Saeco some years back.
Italian coffee is different from Indian coffee and sometimes Indians may find it them too strong to drink-but Italians are used to these things anyway-even a friendly talk begins over a cup of coffee.I have a coffee making machine in my house-Italians call it Caffetierà(of the Moka company).The various types of coffee available in Italy are-
Caffè Espresso(Is a very strong coffee without milk), Caffè Lungo(more in quantity with milk), Caffè macchiato, Cappuccino(common nowadays in India also in big cities), Cappuccino con cioccolato(Cappuccino with chocolate),Moccaccino,Latte Macchiato(very similar to Indian coffee), Caffè Decaffeinato, Caffè Macchiato Decaffeinato,Cappuccino Decaffeinato, Caffè d'orzo(coffee with oats in it), Caffè d'orzo Macchiato,Cappuccino d'orzo(Cappuccino with oats-orzo in Italian means oats).
In my office there are many coffee vending machines and we can select anyone of these by using the coffee key(la chiavè per caffè).Apart from there there are places called "Bar" where they sell coffee at a much higher price.The most intriguing thing I found in Italy is that there is no 'Cold Coffee' available-I tried this first in India in Vijayawada in a Caffè Coffee day franchise.