Life An Odyssey

Prologue
1. It Is Because One Antelope Will Blow Dust From Another’s Eye That Two Antelopes Walk Together
2. Who Looks Outwards, Sleeps; Who Looks Inwards, Awakes
3. Teach Me To Live, That I May Dread The Grave As Little As My Bed
4. Forgiveness Is The Fragrance The Flower Gives, Upon The Heel That Crushes It
5. In Dying To Self, We Experience The Miracle Of Life
6. If Our Dreams Were To Become Reality,They Would Actually Be Nightmares
7. When You Finally Trust Yourself, You Will Know How To Live
8. A Man Who Fears Suffering Is Already Suffering From What He Fears
9. Grace Is Receiving What We Do Not Deserve; Mercy Is Not Receiving What We Do Deserve
10. The True Meaning Of Life Is To Plant Trees Under Whose Shade You Do Not Expect To Sit
11. That Alone Is Living By Which Many Others Live
12. Life Without A Mission Is Omission
13. Even If I Know That Tomorrow The World Would Go To Pieces, I Would Still Plant My Apple Tree
14. I Am Time Who Destroys Man’s World. I Am Time That Is Now Ripe. Even Without You, All These Warriors, Drawn Up For Battle Will Cease To Exist
15. When A Father Helps His Son To Walk, Both Laugh, When A Son Helps His Father To Walk, Both Cry
16. Do Not Grieve That Rose Bushes Have Thorns, Rather Rejoice That Thorny Bushes Have Roses
17. If You Want A Rainbow, You Have To Put Up With The Rain
18. To Bring Anything In Your Life, Imagine It Is Already There
19. Happiness Is The Ultimate Goal— It Is The Goal Of All Other Goals
20. The Search For Happiness Is One Of The Chief Sources Of Unhappiness
21. To Love Is To Place Our Happiness In The Happiness Of Another
22. Happiness Is The End For Which Human Beings Are Designed
23. Some Feel The Rain, Some Just Get Wet
24. One Meets His Destiny, Often On The Road He Takes To Avoid It
25. Happiness Achieved Is Materialistic, Happiness Felt Is Divine
26. Not All Men Are Born Equal, Some Are Born To Win
27. Any Man’s Death Diminishes Me, Because I Am Involved In Mankind; And Therefore Never Tend To Know For Whom The Bell Tolls, It Tolls For Thee
28. And Think Not You Can Direct The Course Of Love For Love If It Finds You Worthy, Directs Your Course
29. If You Want A Place In The Sun, You Have Got To Put Up With A Few Blisters
30. A Bus That Was Bumping Along A Back Road
31. Tomorrow Is A Mystery, Yesterday Was A History, And The Only Gift That Is With Us Is Today; Therefore It Is Called The Present
32. We Make A Living By What We Get; We Make A Life By What We Give
33. Life—An Experiment
34. A True Story
35. If Therefore Thine Eye Be Single, Thy Body Shall Be Full Of Light
Epilogue
Praise For Life—An Odyssey

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The True Meaning of Life Is To Plant Trees Under Whose Shade You Do Not Expect To Sit

A powerful statement on life, just simplified... The quest for the meaning of life has been on since times immemorial. Many questions arise in our mind about life and the answers we try to search. We search them outside and that's where the problem lies. The answers are so simple, we tend to overlook. As they say, sometimes the simplest things are the most complex to comprehend. We often search for the answers outside ourselves when the key lies inside our self. In the very You. Just get to know yourself. Knowing your true self will answer most of your queries. And mistake not life for the illusion that is around you. The illusion created by your self-perceptions, the family and the society. Do not fall in the trap of living up to somebody's expectations. For expectations are just that and can never ever be fulfilled. But knowing yourself will fill you with tremendous satisfaction which you often find missing in life. Maybe you are trying to satisfy somebody else's expectations and may be they are not same as yours. It may take some time but then you are not really that far away from yourself. Are you? You are the one, You are searching for. One simple way to know yourself is to get out of your body. Then see yourself. Know that the body you are seeing is nothing more than a vehicle. A vehicle to take you through the journey of life. Once you can consciously achieve this, then your life and its meaning, and your true self will be clear as the image you see of yourself in the mirror. That very mirror, which is made of sand in which you cannot see yourself. This processing to get out of your body will make you see that self you are seeking, that's the power! You will soon start experiencing the joie de vivre. That Utopian world, that perfect world you are seeking will soon be within you. You need not seek it outside. Of course, all cannot achieve this but then sometimes it is more important to discover what one cannot do than what one can do! Then I often have experienced which you too must have, and that is to know whatever happens in life, happens for good. It makes for a richer experience. This concept, propounded in the Gita makes me recall a story which will exemplify. A poor farmer found a beautiful black horse in his farm. The king heard about this wonderful horse and offered a huge sum of money for it. The farmer humbly rejected the offer. The villagers told him that he was stupid in rejecting the offer from the king. The farmer answered, “Maybe”. After few days the horse was found to be missing. The villagers once again told the farmer, "Do you realize you were unwise?" The farmer answered again, “Maybe”. After a few more days the horse came back with another twenty horses. The villagers now told the farmer, "You were really wise to not sell that horse." The farmer again answered, “Maybe”. Life—An Odyssey ??71 The farmer's only son fell down while training the horses and broke his leg. Meanwhile, a war took place and all youngsters had to go to war except the farmer's son, as he was not fit. The villagers once again said, "You are lucky. Your only son is saved." The farmer yet again simply said, “Maybe”. Of course, no one is better than you, but you are no better than anyone else unless you do something to prove it. Be daring, be different, if need be, be impractical. Be anything that will assert an integrity of purpose and an imaginative vision against the play-it-safes, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary. Needless to say you do require tremendous motivation to carry out whatever you thought you want to achieve out of this precious life. Here’s a story I want to share with you. A dog startled a rabbit, but after a long run, gave up the chase. A passerby seeing him stop, mocked him, saying, "The little one is the best runner of the two." The dog replied, "You do not see the difference between us. I was only running for a dinner, but he for his life." As they say, motivation is everything. Just don't worry about what's ahead, just go as far as you can go, from there you can see farther. Benjamin Franklin has said, "Work as if you were to live for hundred years. Pray as if you were to die tomorrow." Always be conscious of how you spend your time. Time is the coin you have and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you will let other people spend it for you. The world is made of stairs and there are those which go up and those which go down. Know your way. Ordinarily we take the easy way out and climb down. That's what happens when you enter the 'Bhool-Bhulaiya' in Lucknow. You tend to go down the stairs, but the way out is the way up. And that's the only way. But also be conscious that what goes up has to come down. Life is a full circle. Vivekananda has extorted us not to live a life of worms. Ordinarily we can be misled to believe that the life we are leading is right. Make sure that your life makes a difference, rather a difference to the world. If not in entirety, even a difference to one person will do. And not necessarily for your own kith and kin. That is ordinary thinking, everyone does, and even animals care for their own. All live for themselves, when you live for others that will be a real life lived. Whenever you see everyone rushing in one direction, know that it's times to move the other way. That way you will make a mark. When situations are worrisome, be aware that there are no hopeless situations only people who are hopeless about them. The wise adapt themselves to circumstances as water moulds itself to a vessel. Never forget you can only stumble if you are running. But then need always teaches plan. One more aspect which I wish to mention is our constant need to judge—to judge oneself or more often, judge others. But when we judge others, we ourselves get judged. He that would like to live in peace must not speak all he knows, nor judge all he sees. And if at all, you get the urge to judge, then judge not by the eye but by the heart. Know that he who rides the tiger can never dismount! Finally to key down the secret to happiness in this life is to have a good health and bad memory. Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of cancer cells. Do goodness and remember not what you have done. That will give you that peace you miss in life. For, what we get, we can make a living, what we give however makes a life!

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