Story - The Circus Lion

The Circus Lion

Once there was a tamed lion in a circus who could jump through rings of fire and walk on hind legs. He could waggle his tail at his ring master and play along with clowns. He even climbed over the motor cycle and danced with the circus elephants. He was a very happy and proud lion.

One day while performing, he walked on hind legs holding in his mouth a ball the master had tossed to him and he saw the look of wonder in the little boy’s eyes who sat with a gaped mouth. All of a sudden the little boy exclaimed to his mother,

“Look how the King of the forest is afraid of a man!” 

The lion caught the dialogue and pondered on what the child had said. He asked the old circus monkey about it and it said,

“Yes my dear, that’s true. Lion is the King of the Forest. You are a King and not a slave. It’s a pity we can’t escape from here”, the old monkey sighed.

“King Of The Forest!”, he thought to himself and decided that he would run away soon. Before long the lion managed to escape from the circus and reached a forest.

“Now how will the animals know that I am the King?” he wondered.

Soon there came a rabbit and before the lion could say “hello”, the rabbit ran away. Then he saw a deer and wanted to say that he is their new King but the deer ran for its life. Time lapsed and no one waited for the lion to finish his sentence and he sat worried under a tree. Meanwhile, a fox came sneaking and scared the life out of his skin.

“So you are the new animal here, aren’t you?”, asked the fox.

“Yes I came to be King”, said the lion with an enthusiasm in his voice.

“But there is a King already”, the fox said with a twinkling eye.

“Who?” the lion asked with a drooping shoulder.

“Me” said the fox, “I heard that there was a pathetic creature wandering around in the forest scaring animals out of wits trying to say that he is the King. So I came to check who it was. You better leave because here I am the King”, the fox stated.

As soon he had finished there was a crunching sound and recognizing the odor, the fox ran away. Not realizing what was approaching the lion stayed under the tree too afraid to move. And then from the clearing a tusker stepped out, looking angry like always. Seeing the lion looking pathetic and helpless he charged towards the lion. The lion never saw an angry elephant as all the elephants at the circus were pleasant looking and friendly and in utter fear he gave out an agonizing cry.

The elephant stopped astounded, the cry had become a roar that thundered through the entire forest. Every animal ran to hide themselves and the fox was never to be seen.  The elephant turned around and raced away into the trees. 

“Now you are a true King”, commented an old monkey from a tree branch. The lion realized that to become a King was not in mere words but in actions and understood his true potentials. That was his first roar, and the sheer power that pulsated through his veins forced him to give out one more thundering roar more powerful than the first and he knew within that he had truly become a King.

           

           

Every being hides in itself an innate potential, a unique power. No matter how hard the people around us try to suppress our potentials they will surely spring out at one time or the other. The secret is to hold on to our potentials once we realize what they are. To know oneself and to accept one’s talents and powers is the key role to success. 

Inferiority complex - The Enemy Is YOU

"Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people"

Carl Jung

Who doesn't have an inferiority complex? Everyone does, but if others believe that you have an inferiority complex it just means that you have a slightly higher degree of this feeling than others. And, this is not a disease. Inferiority complex is simply your way of identifying what you lack. This is also your failure in understanding what you can and have. 

Think of an “ideal you”, now genuinely evaluate what and who you are, and very simply subtract the “real you” from the “ideal you”, this gap is the cause of an inferiority complex. When your concept of the ideal you is reduced from fantasies and starts to coincide with reality, your inferiority complex will thin out just as quick. The problem is that “you rate yourself far too low”. 

The very first step to reducing your inferiority complex is to identify and accept your limitations. Knowing your limitations will either let you realize that everything is not meant for you or else will force you to improve yourself, in both ways you can reduce your expectation of yourself. After all, no one can be that larger than life superhero you see in the movies.

The next step is to know what reality is and to think practically. Think about your dream of the “ideal man”. It must be a millionaire, who is a saint, very helpful and has super human strength, lives on the top of a mountain and always helps people, who’ll have a super hot wife and super cute kids. That ideal man would go to work every day, come back home early, go to parties, is the center of attention, he paints, sings, dances well and so on. Now just think how many of these are self-contradictory! A saintly person abhors wealth and money and especially family and so opposite from what a millionaire is. If you live in the mountains how will you always get to the city to work and save people? If you get home early how will you ever be in parties where you can be the center of attention? Most of them are paradoxes. So the easy way is to strike off almost half of them. It is childish to wanting to be everything and to do everything.

The most crucial method to reduce your inferiority complex is to appreciate what you are. Because then the desires of wanting more subsides by many fold. When you can excel in one task rather than doing ok in ten other tasks, you have to appreciate yourself for doing at least one thing in the best possible way and excelling everyone else in it. After all what good are you to the world or yourself if you don’t love yourself.

If you feel that you are not good at something, find and alternate quality in which you can outshine others. Shakespeare wanted to be an actor, but when he couldn't be what he wanted to, he simply wrote and have never been excelled in the field eversince. We often notice that a child who fails in mathematics will be extra ordinary in languages or sports or in arts. It always helps hence to develop a quality that can efficiently eclipse your limitations. Nobody can be good in everything and everyone can’t be good in nothing.

Just remember the fact; if you have a bad case of negative complex, the enemy is YOU who is depreciating yourself. Give away the dreams and step into the reality, know yourself and believe in yourself. No fantasy can and will replace you; or else, atleast try to improve.

Story - The “Violin” Lessons

The “Violin” Lessons

Once an old man was journeying through a forest and he came upon an unbearable noise. He followed it to its source and discovered a small boy playing with a stringed instrument. He was vigorously rubbing a bow onto the strings of the instrument which caused the penetratingly irritating noise. 

“What is that with which you are making this noise?” inquired the old man. 

“It’s a violin”, replied the boy and bent over his instrument again. 

“Such an irksome instrument!” thought the old man. 

Progressing further he reached a village and there a sweet music wafted into his ears mesmerizing him. He eagerly sought out its source and found a person playing a violin. “It sounds so different”, noticed he, “this time the instrument is producing such sweet music, how lovable and soothing and how different from that irritating scraping noise the child made with a similar instrument”.

 He noted how the varied handling of the same instrument by two different people caused an immense change in the result. He had long to traverse and so after enjoying a few while the sweet music, he set off pondering on the revelation. Approaching a town he happened to hear a concert. He was charmed and entered the hall. The music was enthralling and the effect was all the more intoxicating. On examining he was able to distinguish among the many instruments of the orchestra two or three rows of violin players. 

The day’s experiences have already had an impact on his thoughts and this was effecting to an epiphany. “How strange yet true”, he realized, “The same instrument made different sounds based on the handling and approach of people and now many such instruments, different from each other by many folds, under better handling and proper guidance harmonizes perfectly to effect a symphony! 

“A person’s approach to a task greatly defines its outcome. Here in all the three cases the main aim was to produce sound or music. The boy, either because of inexperience or due to sheer neglect does not understand the use or potential of his possession. The second person understands its potential and use very well and takes pains to achieve the best outcome that he can deliver by himself. In the third case the gamut is larger. Many such instruments perform together, but under strict guidance and expert handling. They each contribute their best performances there by producing a result much overwhelming than any of the cases of the solitary performances. A team can always perform better than individual, but only if the talents are rightly found and put to use and through the right approach. If this is not done, even an individual performance would result nothing but failure.

Togetherness alone is not the key, but a common goal, proper understanding of each one’s capacity and proper guidance to unify the diverse into a single whole is essential to capacitate a matchless performance.

Nutshell:   Lessons for life are always acquired from the most unexpected person, place or thing. Here is one such lesson that a VIOLIN taught on proper approach and effective team work. 

Article - Guru

Guru

The life of every child in India begins with the constant reiteration of the chant, “Maatha Pitha Guru Daivam”, where the mother ranks first, father the second, guru or teacher the third and God commands only the lowest rung of this hierarchy. Such is the position presented to the teacher in Indian culture. In ancient India the lion’s share of the childhood was spent at the abode of the guru, learning from him day and night; the Gurukula system ensured the best and maximum opportunities for the child to learn from. Education was then considered in a perspective of divinity and as an essential factor of shaping a child very unlike the profit-centered mindset that we breed in, and towards, such institutions in the present day. This degradation of merit and quality of education has drastically affected the quality and merits the guru himself. Only a countable few are left unaffected by the altering styles of the society. But how can an able guru be segregated from the rest? Indian systems have aptly listed particulars to evaluate or rather to enlighten us on the prospect. The Shadgunas are carefully listed aspects of the mind that in unison defines a guru. These are:-

Smriti     (Memory) – literally “that which is remembered”.  In ancient India, knowledge was compiled in the form of Vedas and Upanashids which numbered over two-hundred. It was essential for the Guru to precisely recollect all the texts as such for there was only oral transmission of these valuable information and no records or copies to aid the memory. Hence Smriti was considered one of the essential qualities for a guru. In the physiology, Smriti is represented by all the memory systems and reflex arcs, which allow action and perception to occur without the need for lengthy processing and analysis. This happens on the basis of complete knowledge, or memory, of what should be the appropriate response to any situation, as well as the appropriate response to more complex adjustments of social and traditional behavior in the presence of changing circumstances or environmental needs.

Medha   (Intellect) – Medha refers to any ability connected with intellectual activity.  Medha prevents an individual from indulging into Prajnaparadha (Failure of wisdom or intelligence).  The word ‘Medha’  has been used mainly in 2 ways viz.  Grahana Shakti  (grasping power) and Dharana Shakti  (retention power). The word Medha is used to denote high intellect. Medha can be understood as the faculty of Buddhi which has the power to retain the experiences or knowledge and when needed it recalls that retained knowledge and it prevents an individual from indulging into Prajnaparadha.

Apoha   (Determination)-  this is essential for a guru because only a determined guru can make a difference. The difference will begin from oneself and gradually will effect into changing others with their powerful influence. When a person is to train the upcoming generation without determination every attempt would be nothing but failure. A guru has to be determined to effect change into even the most brute and even the most subtle to make them capable for the world.

Shishyanishpadana  (Ability to Bring Out a Good Disciple) – The prime goal of a guru is to mold into perfection any distorted individual he gets. This greatly uses up every bit of knowledge and every last bit of energy and and talent a guru has. This is the ultimate goal of a guru.

Mati   (Knowledge)  - Mati is sensuous knowledge which is ordinary cognition is due to the normal functioning of sense perception. According to ancient texts Mati is synonymous with intelligence and it includes remembrance, recognition and inductive as well as deductive reasoning. Mati is sometimes distinguished into three kinds: (upalabdhi) perception, (bhaavana) memory and (upyoga) understanding.

Uha    (Reasonableness)- is that quality or ability that assists the cognitive criterion.  It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, mathematics, and art, and is normally considered to be a definitive characteristic of human nature. The concept of reason is sometimes referred to as rationality and sometimes as discursive reason, in opposition to intuitive reason.

But these qualities of the intellect go unvalued if the character itself is defective. As a person who handles and molds the growing individuals, the mentor needs to be in person and temperament primarily lenient to desirable and acceptable moral fiber. This beseech to certain additional qualifications from the teacher known as the “ Guru Lakshanam” which are:-

• Belief in God
• Systematic knowledge
• Satvika life
• Possession of good habits like avoidance of smoking, drinking and cheap behaviour
• Proper attitude to the female disciples as if they are daughters
• Knowledge of scriptures and mythology to be able to explain the themes properly to the disciple
• Willingness to accept intelligent disciples even of poor background
• Considerate, kind and caring, patient towards the disciples` attitude
• Stern and strict to them to discern the good from the bad.

In the opinion of Dr. Jebamalai Vinanchiarachi, Former Principal Adviser to the Director General, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, (UNIDO), Guru or teacher is of three types:-

Aggressive achievers – Mainly young teachers who are prisoners to the beginner’s inferiority complex. They do not let us ask any questions and reminds us of a ruthless dictator.

Logical thinkers – Voracious readers and ardent thinkers who literally live on thoughts and breathe on books. They are exceptionally intelligent but “are inefficient teachers and hence their knowledge remain accumulated and stagnant”. They have more skill in acquiring knowledge than imparting it.

Gentle helpers- They have very poor teaching as well as knowledge and hence rectify the gap by trying to be very popular and helpful. But after a short while the first impressions wane away and “the popularity is temporary”.

“A good teacher is a perfect blend of all three”, notes Dr Jebamalai, “a thirty per cent each of the first two and a forty per cent of the last is essential to form a good teacher.” “It takes more than five years of experience to inculcate this unique blend”, he adds.

Habits come from home and from school. A guru’s example is something that will be and should be followed by the disciples and something that will stick to them as long as they live. Any undesirable conduct by the guru will also be absorbed by the pupil regardless of its merit and standard. There are social evils that can easily trap a person under addiction and a guru is no less a vulnerable human to these. But, as the guru burdens the duty of imparting education, intense care is to be assumed to avoid such subdual of character and morale. Hence restrictions are to be laid on aspects like:-

• Indulging in drinking, and immoral activities
• Qualities of vengeance
• Laziness
• Capability of stealing, fooling or criticising others or arguing on points on which he does not have knowledge
• Acting shy as far as training his disciple is concerned, over - concerned, over- confident about the disciple`s performance
• Short tempered in the process of teaching
• Boastful of his achievements and jealous of other`s achievements
• Teaching undeserving people who can lure him with money.

Let the good qualities of a guru prevail and dominate in every teacher today and tomorrow. Let the world learn from the good and let the good teach and preach. And let the good teacher be valued and adored accordingly.

Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu,

Guru Devo Maheshwara.

Guru Sakshath Parambrahma,

Tasmai Shri Gurave Namaha.

Article - Are They Engaged Properly?

Not many people feel good about work; there are the medium types, the lazy types and of course the workaholic types. We often find people who try to cobble up their work putting on an attractive façade but that’s always just a show off. Very different from all these is the engaged employee who exhibits exceptional services and complete dedication. Engaged employees tend to be highly enthusiastic about work and invest great amount of effort and care for the progress of the company. They genuinely try to bring about change and progress. For such a person work is not obsession but passion, very unlike others, and is true examples of what Jack Welch once said, “Never mistake activity for accomplishment”. Employee engagement is least related to macro-economic conditions, but is influenced greatly by the work experience.

As  you sow, so shall you reap. Everything depends on a give and take policy and an engaged employee cannot be taken for granted nor can any conditions produce an engaged employee. It is highly essential that an apt milieu be set up for high productivity and it is always up to the company to avail it to the staff.

There are basically 10 factors that affect the employee engagement or also called as 10 Cs of Employee Engagement:-

Connect:   A good connection is requisite between the employee and the employer and without it no pep ups can aid employees into performing at their best. The productivity and dedication of the employee is always directly proportional to their relationship and connectivity with the employer.

Career:   “Only the test of fire can make fine steel”; similarly only meaningful and challenging work opportunities can keep up the employee fit and competent. It is always up to the employer to challenge the employees with new tasks and also to keep the progress chart going up. Only this can boost up the confidence level as well as enthusiasm of the employee. Job rotation helps in stretching their perseverance to newer levels.

Clarity:  Clarity in communication is the key to good results. No desired results can be achieved from a broken or unclear communication. Clear instruction and a clear vision on the task ahead is the best way to keep things easy and simple.

Convey:  It is essential that the views and perspectives of the employer about the employee be conveyed as earliest as possible. The employee must be aware of what is expected of him/her. Providing feedbacks is the best option.

Congratulate:  Whenever a mistake is made there is never a delay in the feedback, it is common. But room has to be made for appreciations as well. The more an employee is appreciated, the more he/she feels important and worthy and gives them more confidence.

Contribute:  Only when a person contributes will they feel involved in what is happening. It is the employer’s duty to make sure everyone gets a chance to contribute and to bring forth their potentials by encouraging them to put in more ideas and efforts. This is a strategy to build up a connection between the employee and the job.

Collaborate:  Collaborating is a good way of building internal relationships between the employees as well as their relation with the employer. The work load remains equally shared and efficiency increases many fold compared o individual performances. This empowers the trust and cooperation between the employees and fosters a feeling of oneness among them.

Credibility:  The Company’s reputation and ethical standards greatly influences the performance and dedication as well as well their trust towards the organization. An unethical organization suffers greatly in productivity as well.

Control:  It is comfortable for a person to work only if he/she has a firm grip of the posts they are holding. In case of jobs that can easily slip away from hand the levels of productivity and dedication also wavers. Unless a person is in full control of their jobs nothing can be expected out of him/her. Providing opportunities to exhibit themselves and to make a firm grounding gives the emotional strength and control to an employee which will reflect in their work.

Confidence:  Opportunities and encouragement are key elements in boosting up confidence. Trusting the person and giving them space to express themselves also helps. The performance and ethics of the leaders also aids in kindling confidence of the team.

Employee engagement is very difficult to achieve without a firm grounding of the organization and a welcoming attitude. The employer plays a great role in creating such a milieu. Unless the employer cooperates, it is baseless to dream on such an end. Proper identification of engaged employees and to have a constant feedback of the level of engagement of all the employees will facilitate to proper use of skills. Leaders should probe into reasons for lack of employee engagement and make suitable rectifications. Employee engagement is a priority that every organization should concentrate on for the best productivity and output.

Remember, good employees are the backbone of an organization.

Story - Doing What We Preach

Often it happens that we say one thing and act something else. We are all great preachers but hesitate from doing what we preach. Let me explain with an instance. 

Once a boy was chosen to join a seminary and all his family joined them on the occasion. All the priests of the area were gathered and after the initiation ceremony the boy was educated on the basics of priesthood.

“You are to live in utter poverty with no lust for power and wealth. Your service is required by the people as well as God. Learn the great talent of sacrifice. He who sacrificed his life on the cross for the people will be your guide. Your entire life should be for the well-being of the people. Physical desires are never to be encouraged. They are guises of the devil. Celibacy is to be a strict practice.  So remember my child poverty and celibacy are the main practices of being a priest”. The priest concluded with prayers after a long speech.

A very sumptuous banquet was arranged and everyone feasted lavishly on the delicacies. Every luxury including wine was served on the table and the merry times were feasted on. But the boy’s father was found to have a troubled look and on enquiring exclaimed, 

“If this is your idea of poverty, I really don’t want to think on what celibacy would be!”

Moral:  Practice what you preach and do not preach what you cannot practice.

Story - Killing Free Thinkers

The world is an ordered whole which runs on set social norms and canons. Everyone is bound to walk on the same road and any deviation is intolerable. This has always been the main cause of the retardation world has been facing so long. Free thinkers are suppressed and brains are toned to believe only on what is the most considered.  There have been many instances in my life where these kinds of free thoughts were suppressed right from childhood. One of my friends’ little girl once had a curious idea. She ran to her father to clarify, 

“Father, what covers most of the Earth, land or water?”

“Of course its water dear, Earth has plenty of water than land”, he replied instantly without wanting a second thought.

“But, father”, she thought for a while and retorted, “how is that possible, isn’t there land even under the water; without it the water won’t stay right? Then how come water covers more part than land?”

The father squeezed out his brain to reply logically but failed and even I had the same amazement when this was presented to me. The little girl thought beyond her text books and dared to curiously traverse on a different path and thought differently.

I recall another such instance from my school days. I had my schooling from a convent school where the nuns spent hours advising little brats to mold them into the desired obedient “mama’s child”. 

Once one such episode was progressing in our class where the brat of class was made to stand up and the nun was on her usual routine. “Listen my child; you have to think more on God. It is not you who is doing all the naughty work, Satan is working through you. He is influencing you into making trouble. Don’t you want to be a good boy? Pray to the lord and he will protect you. Repent on your mistakes dear child and he shall hear you….” 

And so on went her preaching. When all her dialogues were said and prayers were made to God to look after the little lamb, this boy, silent all the while had a very confused look.

“What bothers you my child? Is the pang of repentance beginning to annoy you?”

“Sister, Isn’t God powerful than Satan?”, there was an innocent question made.

“Of course he is my child, why do you ask?”

“Then why doesn’t God kill Satan? If Satan dies then there will be no trouble in the world”.

The class was silent for a moment and slowly bursts of suppressed laughter hissed through the air.

“Oh but God can’t kill anyone!”, he exclaimed after a pause. “Wouldn’t that be a sin? Well in that case he can at least throw Satan in a prison can’t he? Then he would not have troubled children like me”, he said with at most innocence. The nun’s face grew pale first and reddened instantly in anger as the hissings grew into loud laughter.

The boy was innocently on a very logical plane like my friend’s daughter. They were thinking very reasonably and logically beyond the set ideas that we live on. It is such a pity that such free thinkers are always suppressed by the society. When we adults tried to press on to the girl the very scientific discoveries on Earth, the boy was subjected to a public mockery and warning when the next PTA meeting was called in the school where the nun claimed him to be blasphemous. 

Such a mockery of free thinkers and innovative brains! We are all guilty in this aspect trying to propel anyone who dares to deviate from that path claimed to be right by the majority with scientific proofs to aid us. This simply effects into the dearth of free thinkers and stagnancy of mankind. If only we were ready to accept…