When bitter words hurt you.

The pace of our lives is faster than ever before. There is no time for people to assemble together and talk. Conversation often occurs in not more than a couple of sentences between people. Yet, people can still make scathing remarks, ridicule and hurt others by what they say. For some, such words spoil their day.For some they linger on for months, years or for a lifetime.
How can you remain unperturbed by the wounding words?
Once a saint and his shisyas went on the streets of a village. Some people offered them food. The saint and his followers accepted some food that they wanted to eat and thanked them. There was an atheist who was irritated by the group of saint and followers. He confronted them and started abusing them. They tried to ignore him but he followed them and continued to threaten and abuse them. At a point he started throwing stones at them.
One by one , the shisyas started losing their cool. They wanted to shout back at him or beat him up. But the saint was as calm as ever. He turned to the person throwing stones, looked in to his eyes and smiled at him. This intimidated the angry man , he turned back and went away.
The shisyas were surprised at how the Guru can keep his cool. They asked him how he could smile at someone who hurt him? The Guru told the shisyas , 'What did we do when some people offered us food?' . They replied ' we accepted the food and thanked them'. 'Yes', said the Guru 'We accepted the food and hence we thanked them. But when the angry man abused us, I did not accept his abuses. When I did not accept the abuses, they belong to him, not us.'
The shisyas were enlightened. When somebody offers us something we have the right to accept them or reject them. What we accept belong to us, what we refuse to accept does not belong to us. No words can hurt you if you refuse to accept them.
Such is the power of vedas that teach us not only philosophies of ageless and timeless values but little ways of life. Lets worship the lotus feet of God Almighty to give us peace and happiness.

Focus on self or divinity?

There is a recent trend in the last few decades. The shift of responsibility- for both success and failure, fortune and misfortune from Divinity to self. Men claim to have been able to 'attract' money, fame and fortune. This  theory claims that desire can make things happen. People are thrilled to have this magic potion in life which will bring them anything they want.
Hinduism has the ultimate explanation for this. Two simple words- Karma and Dharma. Karma is what follows people in to samsara -the endless cycles of birth and death. Every action he makes and every thought he thinks adds to his Karma. Moksha is the ultimate salvation. Dharma helps in attaining Moksha. The timeless values that Hinduism teaches has been the magic potion that helps people attaing Moksha. Karma follows from birth to birth. That is why the Karma- Dharma principle seems perplexing for some. It is considered in the timeless sense of eternity. The basic Karma principle is to do the task and not look for results- this itself has unfathomable meaning that I want you to consider. The values and principles are more concrete than desire which is illusional.
The timeless principles of Dharma and Karma has guided and will guide the human civilization as Hinduism will emerge stronger than before. 

What the little ant can teach you..

This is the age of hardships and misery, treachery and dishonesty- the Kaliyuga. Does it mean that evil would triumph over Goodness? Temporarily, it appears so. But the name Kali yuga itself has a meaning that its the age of Kali, the destructor of evil. Evilness flourishes to teach humans the temptation, yielding and suffering and finally God eliminates Evil and emerges as Bramathma- victorious, imposing and guiding. He accepts and purifies the humble men who worship His lotus feet.
Once upon a time lived a Guru with his Shisyas. One of his shisyas wanted to know the secret of success, of how God enables some people to achieve tremendous success. He repeatedly asked his Guru the explanation of why some people can do it and others cant? The Guru maintained silence. Once as they walked along a forest they came across a line of ants carrying a grain to the top of an ant hill on a mountain. The Guru pointed it to his shisya and asked him to observe how a little ant can climb a mountain. The guru then told him to askhis question to the ant and then come back to him. The shisya asked the ant how it was able to climb a mountain. The puzzled ant asked him, 'which mountain? I just see this little grain I carry and I see the one step forward I ought to take'. The humbled shisya went back to his Guru and related the ant's answers.
The Guru smiled and told him that the grain is our responsibility in our lives- as a parent, child, employer or employee. The faith in God shows you the first step. This is all you need to reach the top, nothing more'. The shisya was satisfied with his response.