Lessons of the Square Watermelon

Japanese grocery stores had a problem. They are much smaller than shops in other countries and therefore don’t have room to waste. Watermelons, big and round, wasted a lot of space. Most people would simply tell the grocery stores that the watermelons grow round and there is nothing that can be done about it.

That is how majority of people would respond. But some Japanese farmers took a different approach. If the supermarkets wanted a square watermelon, they asked themselves, ‘How can we provide one?’ It wasn’t long before they invented the square watermelon
The solution to the problem of round watermelons was not to solve as the farmers did no assume it was impossible – and simply asked how it could be done.

They found out that if you put the watermelon in a square box when they are growing, the watermelon will take on to the shape of the box- and grow into a square fruit.

This made the grocery stores happy and had the added benefit that it was much easier and cost effective to ship the watermelons. Consumers also loved them because they took less space in their refrigerators which are much smaller then those in other countries, meaning that the grower could charge a premium price for them.


What does this have to do with anything in life or at our job? There are a few Lessons that can you can take away from this story which helps you,

Don’t assume; The major problem was that most people had always seen round watermelons so they automatically assumed that square watermelons were impossible before even thinking about the question. Things that you have been doing a certain way your entire life have taken on the aura of the round watermelon and you likely don’t even take the time to consider if there is another way to do it. Breaking yourself from assuming this way can greatly improve your overall life as you are constantly looking for new and better ways to do things.

Question habits : The best way to tackle these assumptions is to question your habits. If you can make an effort to question the way you do things on a consistent basis, you will find that you can continually improve the way that you work. Forming habits when they have been well thought out is usually a positive thing, but most of us have adopted our habits from various people and places without even thinking about them.

Be Creative: When faced with a problem, be creative in looking for a solution. This often requires thinking outside the box. Most people who viewed this question likely thought they were being asked how they could genetically alter watermelons to grow square which would be a much more difficult process to accomplish. By looking at the question from an alternative perspective, however, the solution was quite simple. Being creative and looking at things in different ways in all portions of your live will help you find solutions to many problems where others can’t see them.

Look for a better way: The square watermelon question was simply seeking a better and more convenient way to do something. The stores had flagged a problem they were having and asked if a solution was possible. It’s impossible to finds a better way if you are never asking the question in the first place. Get into the habit of asking yourself, “Is there a better way I could be doing this ?” and you will find there often is.

Impossibilities often aren’t : If you begin with the notion that something is impossible, then it obviously will be for you. If, on the other hand, you decide to see if something is possible or not, you will find out through trail and error. Take away the lessons from the square watermelons and apply them to all areas in Your life (work, finances, relationships etc) and you will find out that by consistently applying them, you will constantly be improving all aspects of your life.

I AM SURE WE CAN BRING ABOUT CHANGE IF WE REALLY WANT TO.

My Dear Friends Open your mind,

I use to suffer whenever I try to use only my past experiences and close my mind to it.  I believe that the following write up will help me to come out of this.

Limiting Ourselves In Comfort Zones

We are basically unlimited beings. But we limit ourselves in many comfort zones. We have a lot of conditionings which, in reality, are mental.

Some mosquitoes were put in a box and they kept jumping a lot. The box was covered from the top and each time they jumped they hit the top of the box, and when they jumped too close to the right or the left they hit the sides of the box. Slowly, to avoid harming themselves, they learned to jump just under the cover and without reaching the sides of the box. One day all the four sides of the box were opened. The mosquitoes were free, but they kept on jumping as far as the limit they had learned. The physical limits were no longer there. But they had become conditioned mentally.

The same thing happens to us. We have to open the sides of the box and take off the top, or we can continue to live inside the box created by our own mind.

Given below are some conditionings under which we work, because of which we do not experience complete freedom.

* Beliefs, acquired since our childhood, which limit us.  (Including the Religious One according to our level of our understandings) because all the religious teachings are expressed only to achieve the highest goal.

 * The negative images of low self esteem that we have created of ourselves.

 * The damaging thoughts of doubt, which does not let the highway of trust to build up inside ourselves and does not allow the creative energy of positivity to flow from inside us to the outside.

 * The fear of failure or not being too able to succeed completely.

A lot of times the fear exists due to past experiences of failure or not having succeeded as much as you would have liked.

We need to become aware of what our pattern of thoughts is, which brings us under the negative influence of mental conditionings. When that happens, we will be able to become free of these conditioning's. While we do not become aware, we will continue to remain under its influence.

Why is there so much misery in life in spite of all the material comforts available to us?

Why does man suffer endlessly? The enlightened sages have a simple answer to this different question: “look at the river: unconcerned With whatsoever is happening all around, it flows on in deep tranquillity, in deep calmness, undistracted, by what is happening on the banks. Undistracted, it moves on. It remains tuned to its own nature; it never goes out of its nature. It remains true to itself. Nothing distracts it; nothing calls it away, away from itself. Whatsoever happens in the world around, to the river goes on being a river- true to itself, it goes on moving. Even if a war is going on, even if bombs are being dropped, whatsoever is happening, good or bad, the river remains true to itself. It goes on moving.”

Movement is its intrinsic nature. And tranquillity is a shadow when we are true to our self.” Why is it so different to be authentic and true to one when the whole existence is comfortable to be so? Man wants to dominate others and become Alexander the Great. Nature does not suffer from such crazy ideas. An enlightened man follows the nature and lives in choice less awareness. He drops all crazy ideas of conquering the world and dominating others. He becomes master of his own self.

Happiness and harmony are possible to the original and natural. Just watch the flowers on the trees. The trees are true to themselves. No flower is trying in any way to imitate any other flower. There is no imitation, no competition and no jealousy. The red flower is just red, and tremendously happy in being red. It has never thought about being somebody else. Where has man been missing?

“Man misses his true nature because of desire, imitation, jealously, competition. Man is the only beings on earth that is not true to himself, whose river is not in tune with itself; who is always moving somewhere else, who is always looking at somebody else; who always trying to be somebody else, the calamity. You can be only yourself. There is no other possibility, it simply does not exist. The sooner you understand it, the better. You cannot be a Buddha, you cannot be a Ram, and there is no need. You can be only yourself.”

Going to the ocean, a fisherman will be happy with a big catch, with which he can obtain money. Some other may go in for pearls and someone may dive deep to get more precious items. Some may try to strike oil and become rich. All of them seek only wealth.

Material progress alone will not give real happiness or even peace. The happiness, a person enjoys in a tasty dish or witnessing a charming person can be attributed to the soul within the body. If this soul goes away from a person others will hesitate even to utter his name. They will categorize it as dead and will be anxious to get rid of it at the earlier hour.

The man who has loved his wife so much and was deeply attached to her, will not want to sit near her, once the live element soul departed her. This does not prove that taste nor look, touch, sound nor smell will give pleasure but only the soul inside the human frame. To realize this soul is the purpose, of this birth.

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. After that we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire.

The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now.

If not now, when?

Our life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to our self and decide to be happy anyway.

"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life। But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, and a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life".

This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.

So, treasure every moment that we have। And treasure it more because we shared it with someone special, special enough to spend our time and remember that time waits for no one

So stop waiting until we finish school, until we go back to school, until we lose some money, until you gain some money, until we have kids, until our kids leave the house, until we start work, until we retire, until we get a girlfriend, until we get married, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until we get a new car or home, until home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until we are off welfare, until the first or fifteenth, until we've had a drink, until we die, until we are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy.

He who is happy himself has the capability of making other human beings happy. Happiness comes from within. It is a state of mind and, of course, it is the mind. That guides the body. And pray. What is it that guides both mind and body! Well, it is the Atama. It is the soul that gives an individual his or her permanent identity.

The body gives only a temporary identity for one life. The soul is there as your own identity in life after life. It is the soul that enriches itself through action; Soul may impoverish itself though a different set of karma.

Karma is the most important and essential aspect of advancement or backwardness of a soul. What is it that guides a soul on the path of progress to enable it to achieve its aim? The Veda or the divine knowledge- celestial jyana- to guide all souls in there journeys though this mundane world.

Problems in life arise mainly due to lack of discipline. Our words should be measured. Our food habits clean and our senses kept under control. Some people question the statement of saints and the wise that life, which is the precious gift of God, ought to be utilized only to realize God. Their argument, based on the Hinduism is that life should be enjoyed to the brim and one should not close his eyes to worldly activities. These people do not realize that the pleasure they dream of are but purely fleeting in nature leading to misery. Their mind will be filled with filthy and base thoughts. But one who is ever vigilant, keeping the mind pure and impervious to evil thoughts can experience real happiness.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Work like we don't need money, Love like we've never been hurt, and dance like no one's watching.

GURU NANAK DEV Ji

GURU NANAK whose 545th birth anniversary is being celebrated by Sikhs all Over the world today, was born in Nankana sahib, now in Pakistan, in 1469 AD. He went to his heavenly abode at Kartarpur, also now in Pakistan, in 1539 AD. Guru Nanak lived during the most turbulent period in India’s history. Punjab had become the gateway to India for Muslim invaders, right from the time Mahmud of Ghazni invaded in the 11^th century to Zaman shah in the 18^th century.

Ibrahim Lodi was ruling India when Babur invaded and defeated him at the Battle of Panipat in 1526 AD. Guru Nanak describes Babur’s invasion the following words: “With evil as his best man, bringing a crowd of sins as his bridal procession, like a bridegroom Babur hath has tined from Kabul, to seize by force as his bride, O lallo, the wealth of Hindustan.”

Guru Nanak said: “This age is like a drawn sword, the kings are butchers, and goodness has taken wings and flown.” The religion, which Guru Nanak advocated, had no place for rituals.

Even at the young age of nine when Guru Nanak was being initiated into the sacred thread ceremony, he did not recognize the sanctity of ceremony. He told the priest: “make mercy thy cotton, contentment thy thread, continence it’s known, truth its twist that would make a janeu for the soul. If thou have it, O ! Brahmin then put it on me.” How precocious he was as a child!

Guru Nanak believed and was convinced of the unity of God, as is laid down by Prophet Muhammad. He also believed in the doctrine of transmigration. Just as he praised Muhammad, he also praised the Hindu Gods and Goddesses of the Hindus.

To study Guru Nanak’s religion, one has to begin at his concept of God, which is expressed in the Mulmantra of japji sahib. It is as follows: “there is one God, his name is truth, he is the creator, he is without fear, he is beyond time, his spirit pervades the universe, he is not born nor does he die to be born again. He is self-existent, by the Guru’s grace, thou salt worship him.” His monotheism has a distinctive feature of its own: it combines the transcendent aspects of God.

Guru Nanak’s God is ever merciful, unlike the Semitic God who is sometimes wrathful. Though he lived and preached in the medieval times, his teachings have still not lost any relevance. He said: “religion consists not in words, he who looketh on all men as equal is religious.”    

 

How to develop Gratitude?

If you look around the world, you will realize that the design of nature is so perfect. Everything functions meticulously in your favour and yet, you complain when you lack minor things. This craving for what you do not have is ingratitude.

Think about the number of years you have been arrogating various provisions. If you were to pay for these provisions, it would add up to several digits. The law of gravity is maintained perfectly. The Ozone layer in the ionosphere is designed to prevent ultraviolet rays. Oxygen is heavier than all other gases so it remains on the ground for us to breathe, and all other poisonous gases rise into the atmosphere. Who is responsible for this? There seems to be an unseen benefactor. You need to be grateful to the unseen provider!

Further, imagine if you were to set up a family on the moon, do you realize the number of things you would have to take care of like water, the atmospheric condition, and millions of other designs of nature?

We take many things for granted because they are already taken care of, and yet, we are ungrateful for all the provisions.

If you examine your life within you, you find so many things that can go wrong, but they are maintained ingeniously. Therefore, when your mind desires something that you do not have, count the blessings and focus on those things that you already have.

You have to be aware of your provisions and your provider. Thereafter, you develop an attitude of gratitude. Devotion to GOD is essence in this attitude of gratitude. Marcus Aurelius recommended the technique to think of what you have rather than what you lack. Of the things you have, select the best and then reflect how eagerly you would have sought them, if you did not have them

Always learn to enjoy the GOD Gifted short life, before we realize that it was too late!

The Tulsi Plant

Tulsa Maharani Namo Namaha! There is an interesting story about chaturmas, or the four months of monsoon, linked to Vishnu. During these four months, beginning from Devshayani Eka-dashi, 11th lunar day of the Shukla Paksha, or bright fortnight in the month of Ashadha (it was June 30 this year), Vishnu sleeps.

Anyone who assumes a form will naturally sleep and wake up. And the body has three states of consciousness: jagrat or waking, svapna or dreaming, and sushupti or deep sleep. Unlike our sleep, Vishnu sleeps with a trace of deep awareness.

When Vishnu sleeps, all other devas, or gods also go off to sleep. As a result, on earth, all ceremonies come to a halt since Vishnu is not present to bless the occasion. The period is reserved for penance, austerities, fasting and bathing in holy rivers. The chaturmas begins and ends with Vishnu’s sleep. The day Vishnu wakes up is called Devprabodhini Ekadashi. Along with Vishnu, all other gods also wake up and human beings get ready to welcome the festive season.

Divine Properties

When Vishnu wakes up, his marriage to Tulsi is celebrated — November 24 this year — before invitations are extended to him for other weddings.

The word ‘tulsi’ in Sanskrit means ‘incomparable’. The tulsi plant with blackish leaves is referred to as Krishna or Shyama Tulsi and the one with green leaves is called Rama Tulsi.

Both are valued for their physical and spiritual properties and, tulsi is, therefore, perceived as a plant with divine attributes.

Before plucking its leaves, a person chants mantras and takes tulsi’s permission. Food offerings to Vishnu include a few sprigs of the tulsi since Bin Tulsa, Hari ek naa mane, — ‘without Tulsi, Hari does not take even a bite’.  Vishnu prefers a tulsi garland to one made of any other flower.

Another tulsi story is related to the Saligram, a dark stone found in the Gandaki River that represents Vishnu, in Nepal. A story in Kartika Mahatmya says that Vrinda, the wife of demon Jalandhara, cursed Vishnu to become a stone.

Vrinda’s Power

The story goes that the devas once complained to Shiva about Jalandhara’s atrocities. Shiva tried to kill him but the demon had become immensely powerful due his wife Vrinda’s chastity. The wicked demon took the form of Shiva and appeared before Parvati to capture her. But Parvati, who is none other than Maya, the divine power of illusion, the serpent energy of kundalini, disappeared. Maya is a mirage, which Shakti uses to create the world and makes real appear as unreal and unreal as real.

Parvati indicated to Vishnu that Jalandhara had shown the way to get killed. Vishnu sent monkey messengers to tell Vrinda that Jalandhara had been killed.

The demon’s torso and head were presented to her as proof. The grieving Vrinda saw a sadhu — Vishnu in disguise — and requested him to bring her husband back to life. Vishnu created an illusion, made the body whole and himself came before her as Jalandhara. Vrinda embraced him but soon realised that she had been tricked. She lost the power of purity, paving the way for the real Jalandhara to be killed.

A distraught Vrinda’s curse led to Vishnu’s avatar as Rama who suffered separation from his wife. Vrinda’s devotion to her husband impressed Vishnu — hence Vrindavan (named after Vrinda) is full of tulsi plants.

Without tulsi, no daan or charity is considered complete. During a wedding ceremony, tulsi leaves are placed in the bride’s hands to symbolise that the ritual of daan is being included and this pleases the gods.

Once, Narada convinced Satyabama to give away Krishna to the gods as then she would get Krishna as husband in future births. She did so, but when she wanted Krishna back, Narada asked for a gift equal to Krishna’s weight. All the jewels of the palace could not equal Krishna’s weight. Rukmini placed one tulsi leaf and the scale tilted. Such was the power of the humble tulsi that is packed with cherished properties.

Tulsi appeared during the samudra manthan or churning of the ocean. Since Lakshmi, too, emerged from the ocean in the same way, Tulsi is regarded as the younger sister of Lakshmi. Tulsi, too, wanted to marry Vishnu but Lakshmi cursed her to become a plant and tulsi the plant was born. However, Vishnu fulfilled her desire to marry him on account of her intense devotion and purity of thought. Hence, the Tulsi Vivaha.

WHY DO people go to a temple?

The answer is obvious: to find peace, to sit and meditate and to feel energy of those who have meditated there earlier. The sun Light is present all over the earth atmosphere, but when we use the Double convex lens the light is concentrated and the intensity of the heat is so much it will have a burning effect.

But today, most of the traditional temples have become centres of trade and politics. Regular prayers may be offered here, but these prayers are formal and out of a fear of God. There’s no innocence in these prayers. In such an atmosphere polluted with materialism and politics, meditation is not possible. If we are really interested in meditation and prayer, we need to look for a different kind of temple and one that is not man-made.

The good news is that such unpolluted temple of love still exists. You will find them in nature. Go and sit under a tree, breathe and meditate and you will be filled with love and prayer. The tree always gives life-energy. it will  never ask you about your religion or caste. You can hug a tree and you will feel its heartbeat. And at the same time. You will also feel your own heartbeat.

But when you hug fellow human beings because nobody nowadays hugs anyone unconditionally. The tree is a temple of love, as it always gives. Go to mountains or the sea and sit in the open space. While you listen to the sound of mountain streams, you will automatically start meditating. Mountains need a certain kind of an atmosphere, a space for the soul, where it can fly high in the Sky. And that’s possible only in nature. 

Knowledge is divided between phenomenology, science of the changeable and ontology, science of the unchangeable, ontology is the realm of beings and phenomenology that of becoming. To explain it to the laity, Christianity uses the word ‘father’ for ontology and ‘son’ for phenomenology. The Holy Spirit is individualised consciousness that mediates the two.

Phenomenology is the mixing and constant flux of the five elements: solid, liquid, gas, space and heat. The five elements are interdependent and are created from one another. For anything to be solid, it must have been liquid previously. For anything to be liquid, heat is required, for eons, the sun has Caused the earth to relive in a manner that H₂0 remains in liquid form in a narrow temperature range of zero to a hundred degrees. This is a feat of wondrous exactitude as temperatures in the cosmos range from negative to positive infinity. In order to have heat, some combustive gas is required. All this interplay occurs in space, which is the mother element. Matter occupies infinitely less than one zillionth of cosmic space, where the Leela of phenomenology takes place.

Science limits itself to this zillionth of cosmic space occupied by matter. Hence, it has been said that science is an incomplete philosophy, but philosophy is complete science oncologists posit that we are pure spirit, trying to learn how to be human.  At birth, we are pure; pure consciousness. The difficulty lies not in being pure consciousness, but in being human. Completely alien to our being, we are constantly trying to master manmade functions ranging from table mannered to law, family governance to human love. It’s a comedown; a ‘thud’ keeps us in febrile fever. Ontology is the science of the unchangeable, undivided, pure consciousness. Knowledge of pure consciousness makes us realise that the entire universe is nothing but consciousness. I Am That. I am the entire universe, and the functioning of the universe is my responsibility. The brain is incapable of grasping the essence of ontology – It can only categories, divide and choose, assuming separateness, that there are two to choose from. The higher the IQ, the more divisive the brain, since pure consciousness is one, the brain. Since pure consciousness is one, the brain cannot grasp it in a thousand lifetimes.

To know your being or virginal ontological being or virginal ontological state is to resolve, ‘I am a pure virgin’. A virgin is one who is untouched by man. Hence, no thought emanating from any man can touch you. No political, economic or scientific theism penetrates your pure state. The very concept of a universe is a creation of man; even the creator is a creation of man. If the universe and god do exist, they are a part of your pure consciousness. Once stabilsed in your virgin state, everything that emanates from you is pure. Thus, Christ emanates from the Virgin Mary. This is no mere historical phenomenon; it is happening moment to moment, even as you grasp this, as only your virgin purity can. If only Christ had said. “You are the Son of God”, instead of seeing purity only in himself…

What the world calls knowledge, ontologists define as ignorance. Armed with this ignorance, they can be billionaires, presidents or physicists. Even as they watch, their wealth will be surpassed, nations subjugated, scientific ideas bombed. They are at the feet of the masters of ontology, the masters of truth. Newton defined truth as ‘that which is invariant in all frames of reference ‘. All frames of reference lean on the inventive constructs of time and space. Ontologists would simply say that they are changeable an hence are untruths – even by Newton’s definition. Know the truth will set you free. The phenomenological world will be at your beck and call. Pity, you’ll have no use for it, having sublimated it…

The Real possessions that bind us are our memories, our inner possessions. Memory is an attachment, a holding on to an experience, an accumulation in which energy is trapped. Memory is a form of matter, a substance in the mind. It is the residue of an experience that has left a mark within us. The degree of our attachment to the past is the degree of our materialism. Our memories form the landscape of the world of illusion and sorrow, samsara, in which we are caught this world of memory is revealed during dream and fantasy. It underlies our waking consciousness and distorts our perception. Hence our fall into dream or fantasy is a fall into the inertia of our own minds. The more we are attached to the past, the heavier is the weight of our ignorance.

We can easily measure our spiritual ignorance in life: it is equal to the density of our thoughts, our habitual stream of memory based considerations. Similarly, the knowledge that we cline to through thought obstructs us from seeing the truth. We are not bound to the external world or to the matter outside us. It is the world inside us, the matter within our own minds that binds us. Only when we take the world inside ourselves through thought does it cause anxiety. If we let the world be, it takes care of itself in the natural harmony and freedom of existence.

Consciousness is immaterial and thought is mater. To fall into thought is to introduce a foreign substance (matter) into our unbounded consciousness and to weight it down. Our thoughts are our matter, through which we fall into the material world. To acquire things mentally through name, recognition and identification is to add to the ignorance within us. The mind emptied itself naturally – consciousness itself is emptiness, immateriality and boundless space-when we do not fill it with cares and anxieties.

The realisation that thought is a burden is the end of thought. All worry and care is useless weight that separates us from the beneficence of existence, drawing upon us the very disharmonies that we wish to avoid. When we release the burden of thought through the perception of its foreign nature, we transcend the entire world.

Is our life worth living? Are we really living or pretend to be living? Are we really conscious of what we are doing? Unfortunately, the way we live is nothing but just a mechanical process. We have become a robot no intelligence, no thought, no awareness, no awakening. Every moment we are living unconsciousness, which mars our happiness. But why are we doing this?

कुछ तो लोग  कहेंगे।....

इस कहानी को बचपन मे मेरी  माँ ने तब सुनाया था , जब मुझे किसी सहपाठी  की कोई बात बहुत बुरी लग गयी थी । कोमल मन एकदम से बहुत उदास हो गया, तो माँ ने कहा कि बेटा किसी के कहने का इतना बुरा नहीं मानते। लोगों ने तो भगवान को भी नहीं छोड़ा, फिर हम इंसान  तो गल्ती के पुतले होते ही हैं ! इसलिए लोगों की बातों को यूँ दिल से न लगाओ, बल्कि उनका सार ग्रहण करो ।

बचपन मे सुनी कहानियाँ जब पुनः आँखों के सामने आती हैं तो बहुत अच्छा लगता है –विडम्बना यही है कि ज़िंदगी की दौड़ मे ये शिक्षाप्रद कथाएँ कहीं पीछे छूट चुकी हैं ।

वो भी क्या जमाना था, माँ के पास जाना था, और कहानी सुनते सुनते सो जाना था ! और आज क्या जमाना है, बस टीवी देखते देखते सो जाना है ! मां अपने तरीके से शिक्षा अभी भी देती है और देना चाहती है, लेकिन हमारा जी वन कुछ ऐसे ढर्रे पर चल निकला है कि बच्चे के दुनिया मां के आंचल से निकल बाहरी साधनों की ओर बहुत जल्दी बढ जाती है । पांच, छः साल तक घर के आंगन मे मां के पीछे पीछे घूमना कहां सम्भव रह गया है बच्चे के लिये । दो, ढाई साल की उम्र मे प्ले -स्कूल का रास्ता दिखा दिया जाता है, कहानी टी.वी. के कार्टून चैनल सुनाते हैं । और फ़िर बेचारी मांये भी कहां सब घर पर रह पाती हैं । यह जो अधाधुंध भागते रहने वाला जीवन जी रहे हैं हम, उसमे कहां समय है कि मां बच्चे के कोमल मन मे नैतिकता के बीज रोपे ।

तो प्रस्तुत है फिर कुछ तो लोग कहेंगे......

कुछ तो लोग  कहेंगे।....लोगों का काम है कहना, छोड़ो बेकार की बातों मे,  मूड खराब नहीं करना  ..... कुछ तो लोग  कहेंगे।....

बड़े दिनों पुरानी बात है, भगवान शिव और पार्वती माता कैलाश पर्वत पर बड़े सुख से रहते थे । एक दिन पार्वती जी ने जिद पकड़ ली कि उन्हें भू लोक अर्थात पृथ्वी का भ्रमण करना है ! शिव जी ने बहुत समझाया कि पृथ्वी पर दुख ही दुख है एवं इसका मूल कारण है कि लोगों से दूसरों का सुख नहीं देखा जाता, अतएव वहाँ जाने से दिल ही दुखेगा । परंतु पार्वती जी हठ करने लगीं तो हारकर शिवजी ने कहा कि तुम नहीं मानतीं तो फिर चलते हैं, परंतु धरती वासियों की बातों से व्यथित न होना ।

यूँ समझाकर, शिवजी पार्वती जी सहित अपनी सवारी नंदी के साथ पृथ्वी भ्रमण के लिए निकल पड़े । कुछ दूर तक का सफर तो बड़े आराम से निकल गया, लेकिन जैसे जैसे वो बस्ती के नजदीक पहुँचने लगे, लोगों की आवाजाही शुरू हो गयी । शुरू मे तो लोगों ने उनकी तरफ ज्यादा ध्यान नहीं दिया, परंतु थोड़ा और आगे चलने पर ज्यादा लोगों की निगाह उन पर पड़ी ! उनमे से किसी ने कहा, देखो देखो एक बेचारे जानवर पर कितने हृष्ट-पुष्ट दंपत्ति चले जा रहे हैं । लगता है इन्हें अपने आराम के आगे बेचारे जानवर की कोई चिंता नहीं है । अब पार्वती जी को बुरा तो लगना ही था, तो उन्होने शिवजी से कहा कि स्वामी आप बैठें, मैं थोड़ा पैदल चलूँगी ! शिवजी ने कुछ न कहा बस मंद मंद मुस्कुरा भर दिये; परंतु थोड़ी दूर आगे चले होंगे कि  फिर किसी ने कहा कि देखो कैसा मरद है बेचारी पत्नी पीछे पीछे चल रही है और ये बैल पे सवार होकर ठाठ से चला जा रहा है । शिवजी जन मत का सम्मान करते हुये चुपचाप उतर गए और पार्वती जी को अपनी जगह बिठा दिया । .....थोड़ा ही आगे बड़े थे कि किसी ने फिर से कह दिया कि  देखो कितनी बेशरम पत्नी है, बेचारा पति पैदल चल रहा है लेकिन ये आराम से बैठ कर जा रही है । स्वाभाविक था कि पार्वती जी ने कहा कि अब हम पैदल ही चलते हैं । परंतु जैसे ही थोड़ा सा आगे बड़े तो किसी ने कहा देखो देखो कितने बेवकूफ लोग हैं; सवारी होते हुये भी पैदल चले जा रहे हैं । अब तो पार्वती जी पूरी तरह से दुखी हो गईं और वहीं पड़े एक पत्थर पर बैठ गईं । शिवजी उन्हें समझाने ही वाले थे कि फिर किसी ने बोला;  देखो कैसे लोग हैं घर मे मन नहीं लगता, सारा काम छोड़ छाड़कर यहाँ बैठे समय खराब कर रहे हैं ।

शिवजी ने बोला, पार्वती मै न कहता था कि तुम्हें पृथ्वी पर जाकर संताप ही होगा; क्योंकि चाहे अच्छा चाहे बुरा, लोगों के पास कुछ न कुछ कहने के लिए है । अतः अब आओ वापिस कैलाश पर चलते हैं ।लोगों की जितनी बातें सुनोगी, उतना ही विचलित हो जाओगी ।..........और यूँ इस तरह पार्वती जी को पृथ्वी भ्रमण लोगों की बातों की वजह से बीच मे ही अधूरा छोडना पड़ा।.........सच है, कुछ तो लोग कहेंगे और हर बात पे ही कहेंगे !!!