Memory Spots : June 2016

Bringing together

"Transport of the mails,
transport of the human voice,
transport of flickering pictures -- in this century, as in others, our highest accomplishments still have the single aim of bringing men together."
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (29 Jun 1900-1944)

Written Goals

Write it down.
Written goals have a way of transforming wishes into wants;
cant's into cans;
dreams into plans;
and plans into reality.
Don't just think it… ..ink it!
-Unknown

Greater than kindness

"What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?"
-Jean Jacques Rousseau, philosopher and author (28 Jun 1712-1778)

Nothing can...

"Nothing can stop the person with the right mental attitude from achieving the goal and nothing on earth can help the person with the wrong mental attitude."
– Thomas Jefferson

Aims & Purposes

"There is no greater fallacy than the belief that aims and purposes are one thing, while methods and tactics are another."
-Emma Goldman, social activist (27 Jun 1869-1940)

Usage

"A word has its use, / Or, like a man, it will soon have a grave."
-Edwin Arlington Robinson, poet (1869-1935)

plan & no plan

Your life can't go according to plan if you have no plan.

-Unknown

Grandest possible. ..

"Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe."
--Oprah Winfrey

Haiku - by Sujatha

சுஜாதாவின் ஹைகூ கவிதைகள். 🙏

வாடவில்லை.
மேசையில்
கடதாசிப்பூக்கள்

*
விதைக்காமல்
பழுத்தது
நிலவு
*
தினம் புலம்பெயர்வால்
முகவரி தேடுகிறது
மேகம்
*
நாய்கள் குரைக்கவில்லை.
பாதையில்
இராணுவம்
*
சாயம் போகாமல்
நனைந்தது
வானவில்
*
ஏன் உடல் இளைத்தாய்?
வயதான
கருவாடே!
*
எதிரிக்கு வாழ்த்து அட்டை.
ஒட்டவில்லை
முத்திரை

*
முத்தமிட்டாள் காதலி.
எழும்பவேயில்லை
பிணம்
*
பச்சைக் குழந்தை போல்
உள்ளாடை அணிவதில்லை
வெங்காயம்
*
என் மனத்திரையில்
உன் நினைவலைகளாக
காதல்
*
ஒரு காலை வேளை
பல் துலக்கப்பட்டது
சீப்பு
*
சுதந்திரதின விழாவில்
வழங்கப்பட்டது
கூண்டிலடைத்த வெண்புறா
*
சீக்கிரம் எழுந்து கொள்.
இன்றுனக்கு
தூக்கு.
*
உலக வர்த்தக மையம் முன்னால்
என்னைக் கைது செய்தது
உன் புன்னகை
*
இடுப்பைப் பிடிக்கையில்
சிலிர்க்காதே
வெண்டிக்காயே!
*
சட்டெனக் குதித்தது
நதிக்குள்
நீர் வீழ்ச்சி
*
விபச்சாரி விரும்பவில்லை
பல நிறங்களில்
ரோஜாச் செடியை.
*
கிணற்றைப்போல்
தொட்டிக்குள்ளும்
நிலவு.
*
ஓ நயாகரா!
என்னை நனைத்தது
கண்ணீர்.

Islands in a...

"I feel we are all islands -- in a common sea."
-Anne Morrow Lindbergh, writer (22 Jun 1906-2001)

International Yoga Day ( 21st Jun) !

SADHANA TATTWA - THE SCIENCE OF SEVEN CULTURES FOR QUICK EVOLUTION OF THE HUMAN BEING
by Swami Sivananda
INTRODUCTION
An ounce of practice is better than tons of theory. Practice Yoga, Religion and Philosophy in daily life and attain Self-realization.
These thirty-two instructions give the essence of the Eternal Religion (Sanatana Dharma) in its purest form. They are suitable for modern busy householders with fixed hours of work. Modify them to suit your convenience and increase the period gradually.
In the beginning take only a few practicable resolves which form a small but definite advance over your present habits and character. In case of ill-health, pressure of work or unavoidable engagements replace your active Sadhana (spiritual practice) by frequent remembrance of God.
HEALTH CULTURE
Eat moderately. Take light and simple food. Offer it to God before you eat. Have a balanced diet.
Avoid spicy and hot foods, like chilies, garlic, onions, tamarind etc., as far as possible. Give up tea, coffee, smoking, betels, meat and wine entirely.
Fast on Ekadasi days or once in a fortnight. Take milk, fruits or roots only.
Practice Yoga Asana (Hatha Yoga exercises) or physical exercises for 15 to 30 minutes every day. Take a long walk or play some vigorous games daily.
ENERGY CULTURE
Observe silence (Mouna) for 2 hours daily and 4 to 8 hours on Sundays.
Observe celibacy according to your age and circumstances. Restrict the indulgence to once a month. Decrease it gradually to once a year. Finally take a vow of abstinence for whole life.
ETHICAL CULTURE
Speak the TRUTH. Speak little. Speak kindly. Speak sweetly.
Do not injure anyone in thought, word or deed. Be kind to all.
Be sincere, straightforward and open-hearted in your talks and dealings.
Be honest. Earn by the sweat of your brow. Do not accept any money, things or favour unless earned lawfully. Develop nobility and integrity.
Control fits of anger by serenity, patience, love, mercy and tolerance. Forget and forgive. Adapt yourself to men and events.
WILL CULTURE
Live without sugar for a week or month. Give up salt on Sundays.
Give up cards, novels, cinemas and clubs. Fly from evil company. Avoid discussions with materialists. Do not mix with persons who have no faith in God or who criticize your Sadhana (spiritual practices).
Curtail your wants. Reduce your possessions. Have plain living and high thinking.
HEART CULTURE
Doing good to others is the highest religion. Do some selfless service for a few hours every week, without egoism or expectation of reward. Do your worldly duties in the same spirit. Work is worship. Dedicate it to God.
Give 2 to 10 percent of your income in charity every month. Share what you have with others. Let the world be your family. Remove selfishness.
Be humble and prostrate yourself to all beings mentally. Feel the Divine Presence everywhere. Give up vanity, pride and hypocrisy.
Have unwavering faith in God, the Bhagavad-Gita and your Guru. Make a total self-surrender to God and pray: "Thy Will be done; I want nothing." Submit to the Divine Will in all events and happenings with equanimity.
See God in all beings and love them as your own Self. Do not hate anyone.
Remember God at all times or, at least, on rising from bed, during a pause in work and before going to bed. Keep a Mala(rosary) in your pocket.
PSYCHIC CULTURE
Study one chapter or ten to twenty-five verses of the Gita or your scriptures with meaning, daily. Learn the original language of your scripture, at least sufficient to understand it in original.
Memorize important and inspiring portions of your sacred scripture according to your capacity. Memorize also any inspiring quotations from other spiritual books. Keep a pocket version your scripture with you at all times.
Read the Ramayana, the Bible, the Quran, the Bhagavata, the Upanishads, the Yogavasishtha or other religious books daily without fail. Study more during holidays.
Attend religious meetings and seek Satsanga (company) with saints at every opportunity. If not, create opportunities. Listen to spiritual discourses from learned and holy people. If possible, organize such functions on Sundays or holidays.
Visit a temple or place of worship daily. Preferably before you leave and upon your return from work, even if only for 5 or 10 minutes.
Spend holidays and leave-periods, when possible, in the company of saints or practice Sadhana at holy places in seclusion.
SPIRITUAL CULTURE
Go to bed early. Get up at four o'clock. Answer calls of nature, clean your mouth and take a bath.
Recite some prayers and Kirtan Dhvanis (devotional songs). Practice Pranayama (breathing exercises), Japa (repetition of the Divine Name of God) and meditation in the early morning. Sit on Padma, Siddha, or Sukha Asana throughout, without movement, by gradual practice. While you meditate, forget the outside world totally. Gradually increase the period of meditation.
Perform the daily prayers of your religion. Do not fail to fulfil your obligatory duties.
Write your favourite Mantra or Name of God in a notebook for ten to thirty minutes, daily.
Sing the Names of God (Kirtan) and pray for half to one hour at night with family and friends.
Make annual resolves on the above lines. Regularity, tenacity and fixity are essential. Record your Sadhana in a spiritual diary daily. Review it every month and correct your failures.

Sunshine and shadows

"Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you."
- Walt Whitman

Pre-pay Vs. Investment

"I would not pre-pay. I would invest instead and let the investments cover it."
- Dave Ramsey

Life must be...

"Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life."
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Background of Philosophy

"Every philosophy is tinged with the coloring of some secret imaginative background, which never emerges explicitly into its train of reasoning."
- Alfred North Whitehead

Spiritual Deadness

"Every time you don't follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness." -Shakti Gawain

Life is a Geyser

Life leaps like a geyser for those who drill through the rock of inertia.
-Alexis Carrel

First idea

"The first idea the child must acquire is that of the difference between good and evil."
- Maria Montessori

Keep moving

"If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking."
-Buddhistic proverb

Defeat(s)

"Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat."
-F. Scott Fitzgerald

I'mPossible

"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I am possible'"
- Audrey Hepburn

With others & with self

"Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry."
-William Butler Yeats, writer, Nobel laureate (13 Jun 1865-1939)

...what may never happen

"Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight."
-Horace

Real Soldiers

Ethics, decency, and morality are the real soldiers.
-Kiran Bedi, police officer and social activist (b. 9 Jun 1949)

...to the end

"Know what you want to do, then do it. Make straight for your goal and go undefeated in spirit to the end."
-Ernestine Schumann-Heink

Refuse to quit

"Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit."
- Napoleon Hill

Heed to

"It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure."
- Bill Gates

Appreciate...

"The significance is hiding in the insignificant. Appreciate everything."
- Eckhart Tolle

Birthplace

"The true birthplace is that wherein for the first time one looks intelligently upon oneself; my first homelands have been books, and to a lesser degree schools."
-Marguerite Yourcenar, novelist (8 Jun 1903-1987)

Herd mentality

"When a hundred men stand together, each of them loses his mind and gets another one."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

It's not asking...

"There is always something to do. There are hungry people to feed, naked people to clothe, sick people to comfort and make well. And while I don't expect you to save the world, I do think it's not asking too much for you to love those with whom you sleep, share the happiness of those whom you call friend, engage those among you who are visionary, and remove from your life those who offer you depression, despair, and disrespect."
-Nikki Giovanni, poet and professor (b. 7 Jun 1943)

Memory Spots

For this Day: