Interesting read

நான் ஒரு தமிழன் ஆக பிறக்க வேண்டும் ….சொன்னது மகாத்மா காந்தி !!!!!

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“ நான் அடுத்த பிறவியில் தமிழனாகப் பிறக்க வேண்டும் ” இப்படி சொன்னவர் யார் தெரியுமா…? நம் தேச தந்தை காந்தியடிகள்…!

மகாத்மா காந்தியடிகள், உலகப் புகழ்பெற்ற எழுத்தாளர் லியோ டால்ஸ்டாய்க்கு ஒரு கடிதம் எழுதினார். அக்கடிதத்தில் ‘தம்மைத் துன்புறுத்து வோரையும் தண்டிக்காது மன்னிக்கும் குணம் பற்றித் தாங்கள் கூறியிருக்கும் செய்தி, என்னை மிகவும் கவர்ந்தது’ என்று குறிப்பிட்டார்.

கடிதத்தைப் படித்த லியோ டால்ஸ்டாய் மிகுந்த தன்னடக்கத்தோடு, ‘இந்தப் பெருமையும், புகழும் எனக்கு உகந்ததல்ல. உங்கள் தேசத்தில், தமிழ்நாட்டில் பிறந்து, திருக்குறள் எனும் அற்புத நூலைப் படைத்த திருவள்ளு வரையே சாரும். இதோ, அப்பொருள் உணர்த்தும் குறள்’ என்று ஆங்கிலத்தில் மொழி பெயர்க்கப்பட்ட திருக்குறளைக் குறிப்பிட்டிருந்தார். அந்தக் குறள்…

இன்னா செய்தாரை ஒறுத்தல் அவர்
நாண நன்னயம் செய்து விடல்.

இந்நிகழ்வுக்குப் பின், ஆங்கிலத்தில் மொழி பெயர்க்கப்பட்ட திருக்குறளை காந்தி படித்தார். பின், ‘நான் அடுத்த பிறவியில் தமிழனாகப் பிறக்க வேண்டும். ஏன் தெரியுமா? ஆங்கிலத்தில் படிக்கும்போதே… இத்தனை சுவையாக இருக்கிற திருக்குறளின் மூலநூலை தமிழ்மொழியில் படிக்க வேண்டும். அதற்காகவே, நான் ஒரு தமிழனாகப் பிறக்க வேண்டும்’ என்றார்.

தமிழனாய் பிறந்ததில் பெருமை கொள்வோம்…! தமிழன் என்று சொல்லடா !!!!!தலை நிமிர்ந்து நில்லடா !!!!

source:::::input from a friend of mine…
Natarajan

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Let us Be Like Sea of Galilee…and Not Like Dead Sea !!!

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Sitting in the Geography class in school, I remember how fascinated I was when we were being taught all about the Dead Sea. As you probably recall, the Dead Sea is really a Lake, not a sea (and as my Geography teacher pointed out, if you understood that, it would guarantee 4 marks in the term paper!)
Its so high in salt content that the human body can float easily. You can almost lie down and read a book! The salt in the Dead Sea is as high as 35% – almost 10 times the normal ocean water. And all that saltiness has meant that there is no life at all in the Dead Sea. No fish. No vegetation. No sea animals. Nothing lives in the Dead sea.

And hence the name: Dead Sea.

While the Dead Sea has remained etched in my memory, I don’t seem to recall learning about the Sea of Galilee in my school Geography lesson. So when I heard about the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea and the tale of the two seas – I was intrigued. Turns out that the Sea of Galilee is just north of the Dead Sea. Both the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea receive their water from river Jordan. And yet, they are very, very different.

Unlike the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee is pretty, resplendent with rich, colourful marine life. There are lots of plants. And lots of fish too. In fact, the sea of Galilee is home to over twenty different types of fishes.

Same region, same source of water, and yet while one sea is full of life, the other is dead. How come?

Here apparently is why. The River Jordan flows into the Sea of Galilee and then flows out. The water simply passes through the Sea of Galilee in and then out – and that keeps the Sea healthy and vibrant, teeming with marine life.

But the Dead Sea is so far below the mean sea level, that it has no outlet. The water flows in from the river Jordan, but does not flow out. There are no outlet streams. It is estimated that over a million tons of water evaporate from the Dead Sea every day. Leaving it salty. Too full of minerals. And unfit for any marine life.

The Dead Sea takes water from the River Jordan, and holds it. It does not give. Result? No life at all.

Think about it.

Life is not just about getting. Its about giving. We all need to be a bit like the Sea of Galilee.

We are fortunate to get wealth, knowledge, love and respect. But if we don’t learn to give, we could all end up like the Dead Sea. The love and the respect, the wealth and the knowledge could all evaporate. Like the water in the Dead Sea.

If we get the Dead Sea mentality of merely taking in more water, more money, more everything the results can be disastrous. Good idea to make sure that in the sea of your own life, you have outlets. Many outlets. For love and wealth – and everything else that you get in your life. Make sure you don’t just get, you give too. Open the taps. And you’ll open the floodgates to happiness.

Make that a habit. To share. To give.

And experience life. Experience the magic!

source::::input from a friend of mine…
Natarajan

Message For The Weekend….Make the Intellect Master of Your Mind….

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A lame man and a blind man became friends and they moved from one place to another, with the lame man riding on the shoulder of the blind. One day, the lame man saw a field of yellow cucumber and suggested to the blind man that they pick a few and eat their fill. The blind man asked, “Brother, have they fenced the crop?” The lame man said, “No!” The blind man said, “Then let us move on, you know there are sweet and bitter varieties – if these vegetables are left unguarded – they must be bitter!” The blind man, by his intellect, was able to discover that they were bitter even without tasting them. He used the intelligence to perceive the truth faster and clearer. Make the intellect the Master of your mind and you will not fail; you will fail only when the senses establish mastery over the mind. Clarify your intelligence through spiritual discipline.

source::::: Excerpts from the discourse of Swami Satya Sai

Natarajan

Just For Laugh !!!!….A Lion”s Share of Joke!!!!!

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“Two lions escape from a zoo. One of the lions had been captured from the jungle, so he runs back to the jungle.
The other was born in the zoo itself – so is basically a city-slicker. He vanishes into the city.

Three days later the jungle-lion is recaptured – and returned to the zoo.

A month passes, then two, three….. but city-lion is not traceable!
Finally, after six months the city-lion is also recaptured and brought back to the zoo.

Jungle-lion is amazed to see his friend.

Jungle-lion: For God’s sake, how were you able to evade these guys for 6 whole months?!

City-lion: Kuchh nahi yaar! I just went to a government department, and hid behind a huge pile
of dusty files that they have there.

Jungle-lion: But what did you eat there?

City-lion: Arrey, there was an unlimited supply of government servants. Whenever I ate one,
they hired five more. Nobody did any work anyway, so nobody missed the ones I ate.

Jungle-lion: Wow! But, then how did you get caught?

City-lion: Galti kar gaya yaar…….
On the last day I ate the chai-walla. Now, everyone missed their chai-walla & their chai!
They launched a massive hunt. And I got caught!”
—
source:::::: input from a friend of mine ….
Natarajan

Message For the Day…Try to Understand Others….

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A renunciant couple were once proceeding through a thick jungle on a pilgrimage to an inaccessible shrine. The husband saw on the footpath a precious stone, shining brilliantly when the Sun’s rays fell upon it from between the leaves. He hastily threw some sand over it with the movement of his foot, so that his wife may not be tempted to pick it up and become a slave to the tinsel. The wife saw the gesture and chided the husband for still retaining in his mind, a distinction between sand and gold. For her, both were the same. This habit of judging and labelling others is a prevalent practice today. What can you know of the inner working of another’s mind?

 source::::: Swami Satya Sai”s Discourse… 

Natarajan

 

 

Divine Image For the Day….with a Story of Inspiration…..

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This is a beautiful story – it might inspire you!
What Good Does The Bhagavad Gita Do?
An old farmer lived on a farm in the mountains with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading his Bhagavath Gita. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could.
One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa! I try to read the Bhagavath Gita just like you but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bhagavath Gita do?”
The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, “Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water.”
The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house.
The grandfather laughed and said, “You’ll have to move a little faster next time,” and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again. This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home.
Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead.
The old man said, “I don’t want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You’re just not trying hard enough,” and he went out the door to watch the boy try again.
At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got back to the house. The boy again dipped the basket into river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty.
Out of breath, he said, “See Grandpa, it’s useless!” “So you think it is useless?” The old man said, “Look at the basket.”
The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basket was different. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out.
“Son, that’s what happens when you read the Bhagavath Gita. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be changed, inside and out. That is the work of Krishna in our lives!”   
source:::::input from A Sai Devotee..,
Natarajan

Message For The Day….Nearness to God is Won By Devotion only….

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You are as distant from the Lord, as you think you are; as near Him, as you feel you are. The distance from Me to you is the same as the distance from you to Me, is it not? You complain that I am far from you, though you are approaching nearer and nearer. How can that be? I am as near you, as you are near to Me! Nearness to the Lord is won by Devotion, which cannot be steady until you get rid of the feelings of ‘I’ and ‘Mine’. Look upon joy and grief as teachers of hard-work and balance. Grief is a friendly reminder, a good taskmaster, even a better teacher than joy. The Lord grants both protection and punishment – for, how can He be the Lord, if He does not insist on strict accounting and strict obedience?
– Divine Discourse of Swami Satya Sai…

Natarajan

Home Made Ventilator For Saving Their Son…..

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CHINA-HEALTH-TREATMENT

Wang Lanqin (L) compressing a PVC resuscitator pump to help her son Fu Xuepeng, so he can breathe and live on in their home in Taizhou, east China’s Zhejiang province. Source: AFP

WANG Lanqin sits by her child’s bed, her coarse hands gripping a plastic ventilator she pumped by hand for years to keep her injured son alive.

Wang and her husband Fu Minzu took turns for years pumping the device to help their son Fu Xuepeng breathe, as they could not afford the fees for him to be cared for in hospital after he was paralysed in a motorbike crash.

The couple’s hands became deformed from two years of pumping the device thousands of times a day, media reports said, but their load was lightened after they built a primitive mechanical ventilator with help from relatives.

Pictures show the rusty, oil-flecked machine, which incorporates a plastic milk bottle, standing on wooden tables held in place with slabs of rock and connected by tube to their son, who lies in bed wearing a red hat to protect him from the cold.

Even after building the machine, to avoid paying expensive electricity bills the couple kept up their hand-pumping routine during the day, as well as providing round the clock care for their son, who is paralysed but conscious.

After they were widely circulated in Chinese media, the images prompted a flurry of donations to the couple who are from a village in Huangyan district in the eastern province of Zhejiang.

These included cash and a modern ventilator sent by a Beijing company.

China has vastly expanded health insurance schemes in rural areas over the last decade, but payouts are still low, leaving severely or chronically ill patients dependent on family members to pay their medical bills.

The couple “never think of giving up, not for one second,” Fu Minzu told the China Daily newspaper. “No parents would give up on their child as long as there is a slight chance of living.”

source:::::news.com.au  and input from my cousin

Natarajan

Laugh With Tom and Jerry !!!!!

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TOM died and went to heaven. When he got to the pearly gate Saint Peter told him that new rules here in effect due to the advances in education on earth. In order to gain admittance a prospective heavenly soul must answer two questions:

1. Name two days of the week that begin with “T”.

2. How many seconds are there in a year?

Tom thought for a few minutes and answered…

1. The two days of the week that begin with “T” are Today and Tomorrow.

2. There are 12 seconds in a year. Saint Peter said, “OK, Ill buy the Today and Tomorrow answer, even though it’s not the answer I expected.

But how did you get 12 seconds in a year?” TOM replied, “Well, January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2nd, etc…” Saint Peter opens the gate without another word !!!!!!!!

TOM and JERRY both bought one horse each.
They wanted to make sure that they feed their own horse each morning. So TOM asked “how will we know which is your and which is mine?”
JERRY said “Its easy I will cut mine’s tail, and yours will be the one with tail.”
Some boys outside heard it and cut the tail of other horse too.
So the next morning confusion arose even more. TOM said. “Don’t worry, I will tie a bell around its neck, yours will be the one without the bell.”
The boys heard this too so they cut the bell.
The next day, TOM got frustrated and said
“OKAY!! Now the last criteria will be that:
WHITE HORSE will be yours and BLACK HORSE will be mine.”!!!!!!!!!!!!

Source::::: unknown….input from a friend of mine

Natarajan