What is the source of happiness?

This story is about a beautiful, expensively dressed lady who complained to her psychiatrist that she felt that her whole life was empty, it had no meaning. So, the lady went to visit a counselor to seek out happiness. The counselor called over the old lady who cleaned the office floors. The counselor then said to the rich lady"I'm going to ask Mary here to tell you how she found happiness. All I want you to do is listen to her."

So the old lady put down her broom and sat on a chair and told her story: "Well, my husband died of malaria and three months later my only son was killed by a car. I had nobody... I had nothing left. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, I never smiled at anyone, I even thought of taking my own life. Then one evening a little kitten followed me home from work. Somehow I felt sorry for that kitten. It was cold outside, so I decided to let the kitten in. I got it some milk, and the kitten licked the plate clean. Then it purred and rubbed against my leg and for the first time in months, I smiled.

Then I stopped to think, if helping a little kitten could make me smile, maybe doing something for people could make me happy. So the next day I baked some biscuits and took them to a neighbor who was sick in bed. Every day I tried to do something nice for someone. It made me so happy to see them happy.

Today, I don't know of anybody who sleeps and eats better than I do. I've found happiness, by giving it to others."

When she heard that the rich lady cried. She had everything that money could buy, but she had lost the things which money cannot buy.

JUDGE YOURSELF

Once upon a time there was a painter who had just completed his course. He took 3 days and painted beautiful scenery. He wanted people’s opinion about his caliber and painting skills. He put his creation at a busy street-crossing. And just down below aboard which read - “I have painted this piece. Since I’m new to this profession I might have committed some mistakes in my strokes etc. Please put a cross wherever you see a mistake.” While he came back in the evening to collect his painting he was completely shattered to see that whole canvass was filled with Xs(crosses) and some people had even written their comments on the painting. Disheartened and broken completely he ran to his master’s place and burst into tears. This young artist was breathing heavily and master heard him saying “I’m useless and if this is what I have learnt to paint I’m not worth becoming a painter. People have rejected me completely. I feel like dying” Master smiled and suggested “My Son, I will prove that you are a great artist and have learnt a flawless painting. Do as I say without questioning it. It WILL work.” Young artist reluctantly agreed and two days later early morning he presented a replica of his earlier painting to his master. Master took that gracefully and smiled. “Come with me.” master said. They reached the same street-square early morning and displayed the same painting exactly at the same place. Now master took out another board which read - “Gentlemen, I have painted this piece. Since I’m new to this profession I might have committed some mistakes in my strokesetc. I have put a box with colors and brushes just below. Please do a favor. If you see a mistake, kindly pick up the brush and correct it.” Master and disciple walked back home. They both visited the place same evening. Young painter was surprised to see that actually there was not a single correction done so far. Next day again they visited and found painting remained untouched. They say the painting was kept there for a month for no correction came in! Moral of the story : It is easier to criticize, but DIFFICULT TO IMPROVE! So don’t get carried away or judge yourself by someone else’s criticism and feel depressed… JUDGE YOURSELF! YOU ARE YOUR BEST JUDGE!!!

Wisdom from Masai

The Taj hotel group had invited Mr. Masai Imai from Japan to hold a workshop for its staff. The staff were very skeptical- the hotel is doing excellent business, this person from Japan has no exposure to hotel industry- what exactly is he going to teach? But everybody as planned gathered for the workshop in the conference hall sharp at 9 am. Mr. Masai was introduced to them- a not so impressive personality, nor the English all that good; spoke as if he was first formulating each sentence in Japanese and then translating it into rather clumsy English. "Good morning! Let's start work. I am told this is a workshop; but I see neither work nor shop. So let's proceed where work is happening. Let's start with the first room on the first floor." Mr. Masai, followed by the senior management, the participants, the video camera crew trouped out of the conference room and proceeded to the destination. That happened to be the laundry room of the hotel. Mr. Masai entered the room and stood at the window, "beautiful view!" he said. The staff knew it; they need not invite a Japanese consultant to tell them this! "A room with such a beautiful view is being wasted as a laundry room. Shift the laundry to the basement and convert this into a guest room." Aa Haa! Now nobody had ever thought about that! The manager said, "Yes, it can be done." "Then let's do it.", Mr. Masai said. "Yes sir, I will make a note of this and we will include it in the report on the workshop that will be prepared." Manager "Excuse me, but there is nothing to note down in this. Let's just do it, just now." Mr. Masai. "Just now?" Manager "Yes, decide on a room on the ground floor/basement and shift the stuff out of this room right away. It should take a couple of hours, right?" Mr. Masai. "Yes." Manager. "Let's come back here just before lunch. By then all this stuff will have got shifted out and the room must be ready with the carpets, furniture etc and from today you can start earning the few thousand that you charge your customers for a room night." "Ok, Sir." The manager had no option. The next destination was the pantry. The group entered. At the entrance were two huge sinks full of plates to be washed. Mr. Masai removed his jacket and started washing the plates. "Sir, Please, what are you doing?" the manager didn't know what to say and what to do. "Why, I am washing the plates", Mr. Masai. "But sir, there is staff here to do that." Manager Mr. Masai continued washing, "I think sink is for washing plates, there are stands here to keep the plates and the plates should go into the stands." All the officials wondered - did they require a consultant to tell them this? After finishing the job, Mr. Masai asked, "how many plates do you have?' "Plenty, so that there should never be any shortage." Manager. Mr. Masai said, "We have a word in Japanese-'Muda'. Muda means delay, muda means unnecessary spending. One lesson to be learned in this workshop is to avoid both. If you have plenty of plates, there will be delay in cleaning them up. The first step to correct this situation is to remove all the excess plates." "Yes, we will say this in the report." Manager. "No, wasting our time in writing the report is again an instance of 'muda'. We must pack the extra plates in a box right away and send these to whichever other section of Taj require these. Throughout the workshop now we will find out where all we find this 'muda' hidden." And then at every spot and session, the staff eagerly awaited to find out muda and learn how to avoid it. On the last day, Mr. Masai told a story. "A Japanese and an American, both fond of hunting, entered a jungle with guns. In the pursuit of game they entered deep jungle and suddenly realized that they had run out of bullets. Just then they heard a lion roaring. Both started running. But the Japanese took a short break to put on his sports shoes. The American said, "What are you doing? We must first get to the car." The Japanese said, "No. I only have to ensure that I remain ahead of you." All the participants engrossed in listening to the story, realized suddenly that the lion would stop after getting his victim! "The lesson is competition in today's world is so fierce, that it is important to stay ahead of other even by just a couple of steps. And you have such a huge and naturally well-endowed country. If you remember to curtail your production expenditure and give the best quality always, you will be miles ahead as compared to so many other countries in the world.", Mr. Masai.

Are you a gentleman?

A pompous young man lost his silk handkerchief and accused his neighbor of stealing it. After some confusion the man found the handkerchief in his own pocket and apologized for having accused his neighbor. ‘Never mind at all’ said the latter and further said: “You thought I was a thief and I thought you were a gentleman, and we were both mistaken.’ MORAL: To be considered a gentleman, we need to speak gently and kindly, have an attractive and magnetic personality, refrain from evil, be unselfish and always ready to serve,slow to judge and quick to forgive

Gramophone and Vedas

Gramophone was invented by Thomas Alva Edison in the 19th century. Edison, who had invented many other gadgets like electric light and the motion picture camera, had become a legend even in his own time. When He invented the gramophone record, which could record human voice for posterity, he wanted to record the voice of an eminent scholar on his first piece. For that he chose Prof. Max Muller of Germany, another great personality of the 19th century. He wrote to Max Muller saying, "I want to meet you and record your voice. When should I come?" Max Muller who had great respect for Edison asked him to come on a suitable time when most of the scholars of the Europe would be gathering in England. Accordingly, Edison took a ship and went to England.

He was introduced to the audience. All cheered Edison’s presence. Later at the request of Edison, Max Muller came on the stage and spoke in front of the instrument. Then Edison went back to his laboratory and by afternoon came back with a disc. He played the gramophone disc from his instrument. The audience was thrilled to hear the voice of Max Muller from the instrument. They were glad that voices of great persons like Max Muller could be stored for the benefit of posterity.

 After several rounds of applause and congratulations to Thomas Alva Edison, Max Muller came to the stage and addressed the scholars and asked them, "You heard my original voice in the morning. Then you heard the same voice coming out from this instrument in the afternoon. Did you understand what I said in the morning or what you heard this afternoon?" The audience fell silent because they could not understand the language in which Max Muller had spoken. It was `Greek and Latin' to them as they say. But had it been Greek or Latin, they would have definitely understood because they were from various parts of Europe. It was in a language which the European scholars had never heard. Max Muller then explained what he had spoken. He said that the language he spoke was Sanskrit and it was the first sloka of Rig Veda, which says "Agni Meele Purohitam." This was the first recorded public version on the gramophone plate. Why did Max Muller choose this? Addressing the audience he said, "Vedas are the oldest text of the human race. And Agni Meele Purohitam is the first verse of Rig Veda. In the most primordial time, when the people did not know how even to cover their bodies and lived by hunting and housed in caves, Indians had attained high civilization and they gave the world universal philosophies in the form of the Vedas.” Such is the illustrious legacy of our country! When “Agni Meele Purohitam” was replayed the entire audience stood up in silence as a mark of respect for the ancient Hindu sages. This verse means: "Oh Agni, You who gleam in the darkness, To You we come day by day, with devotion and bearing homage. So be of easy access to us, Agni, as a father to his son, abide with us for our well being.

Rama Or Krishna?

Narada had the power to travel through space and time. One day, he

decided to pay a visit to Ayodhya , the city of the rule-following Ram

and to Vrindavan, the village of the rule-breaking Krishna. At

Ayodhya, he told the story of Krishna; the residents did not

appreciate the rakish, mischievous cowherd at all.

He is not serious at all, they said. At Vrindavan, he told the story

of Ram; the residents did not appreciate the upright and rather

serious king at all. He is no fun, they said. Narada then went to

Hanuman, the mighty monkey, and asked him who he preferred : Ram or

Krishna? And Hanuman said, "What is the difference? Both are Vishnu to

me; Lakshmi follows him, whether he is Ram or Krishna."

So what is the difference between Ram and Krishna? Both belong to two

different contexts: Ram lives in Treta yuga and Krishna in Dvapara

yuga. One context demands Vishnu to be the upright rule-following Ram

and the other context demands Vishnu to be the lovable rule-breaking

Krishna. Both are same, but different. Both are upholding social

order, dharma; one by keeping the rules and the other by breaking

them!

In corporations, we seek people who comply and frown upon people who

do not. But people love breaking rules. Often being in a senior

position is an excuse to break rules. Being in the creative profession

is seen as a chance to be undisciplined. But being Ram or Krishna is

not about whether rules are upheld or broken; it is about the reason

why rules are upheld or broken. Few pay attention to that.

Ankita is the chief operating officer of a large design studio. She

has a staff of designers , colourists, architects and painters. It

annoys her a great deal that they never come to office on time, never

keep deadlines , never stick to timelines, and plan things only when

compelled to. How can she run the company like this? The staff argued

, they are all creative artists who cannot function with rigid rules.

It hampers their innovative spirit.

One day, the following month, salaries did not reach people on time.

Ankita took a vacation that day and was not reachable on phone. When

she returned to office on the following Monday, after a long weekend,

she saw an angry mob of employees demanding an explanation . "Surely ,

I have the right to be creative too and not keep deadlines and

commitments," she said. The staff was not amused, but the message was

passed loud and clear. It was a risk Ankita took and it paid off.

We all want to be Krishnas and want others to be like Ram, without

really understanding what it means to be either. To be Ram or Krishna,

we have to be Vishnu and to be Vishnu, we have to ensure there is

social order that brings Lakshmi our way.

The author is the Chief Belief Officer of the Future Group.

As appeared in the Economic Times.

Honor is how you perceive it

"If you could win an Olympic medal, which would you prefer the silver or the bronze?

A study of Olympic medal winners produced some unexpected results. Most people would assume the silver medal winners would be happier than the bronze medalists since they received a higher honor, but that wasn’t the case. The bronze medalists, who came in third place, were found to be happier than the silver medalists, who finished in second place.

The former Olympians explained how they felt about their medals. The third-place winners were thrilled just to have won a medal. The silver medalists, on the other hand, felt like losers because they didn’t come in first.

What happens to you is not nearly as important (in your eyes) as how you perceive what happens to you."

Selfless People

The Pamban Bridge is situated in Tamil Nadu, India. At the entrance of the bridge you can see a picture of a weeping man holding some human body parts close to his chest.

This bridge was built during the British rule in India and it was constructed in such a way that the center portion of the bridge could be lifted with the help of huge wheels, so that ships could easily pass under the bridge. On the bridge, roads and rail tracks are laid for trains and other vehicles to pass...

A middle aged man was appointed to roll the wheels up and down when ships arrive. Once he saw a train slowly approaching, while he was pulling back the bridge after a ship quietly passed beneath. He had to pull back quickly or else there would be a fatal accident and thousands would have died.

At that time his 9 year old son came with lunch. When he saw his father struggling with the wheels, he kept the lunch box down and started helping him to roll the wheels to put the bridge back. Suddenly his son's finger got caught inside the wheel and he started crying out. At this time if the father tries to save his son, the bridge could not be put back on time. He had no other option but to ignore his son's cry. With all his strength he kept on rolling the wheels to down the bridge. As the wheels rolled on, his son slowly started slipping away into the huge machine.

Tears rolled down his father's cheeks, but he ignored his son's cry. If he tried to save him, the train will surely fall into the sea and thousands of people will die. Slowly the boy's whole body fell into the machine and his father could hear his bones breaking one by one, until with a loud sound, his head cracked.

The train with thousands of passengers slowly rolled on the rails, without knowing what had happened there.

Though this man performed his duty honestly he lost his only loving son. With extreme lamentation, he pulled out his son's body parts from the machine and held it close to his chest and cried bitterly.

British Government honored him greatly and in memory of this incident they placed the picture at the entrance of the bridge...

There are selfless people still, only thing is we need to identify them.

The Salt Of LIfe

He met her at a party. She was so outstanding, many guys chasing after her, while he was so normal, nobody paid attention to him.

At the end of the party, he invited her to have coffee with him, she was surprised but due to being polite, she promised. They sat in a nice coffee shop, he was too nervous to say anything, she felt uncomfortable, and she thought to herself, "Please, let me go home..."

Suddenly he asked the waiter, "Would you please give me some salt? I'd like to put it in my coffee." Everybody stared at him, so strange! His face turned red but still, he put the salt in his coffee and drank it. She asked him curiously, "Why you have this hobby?" He replied, "When I was a little boy, I lived near the sea, I liked playing in the sea, I could feel the taste of the sea, just like the taste of the salty coffee. Now every time I have the salty coffee, I always think of my childhood, think of my hometown, I miss my hometown so much, I miss my parents who are still living there." While saying that tears filled his eyes. She was deeply touched. That's his true feeling, from the bottom of his heart. A man who can tell out his homesickness, he must be a man who loves home, cares about home, has responsibility of home... Then she also started to speak, spoke about her faraway hometown, her childhood, her family.

That was a really nice talk, also a beautiful beginning of their story. They continued to date. She found that actually he was a man who meets all her demands; he had tolerance, was kind hearted, warm, careful. He was such a good person but she almost missed him! Thanks to his salty coffee! Then the story was just like every beautiful love story, the princess married to the prince, and then they were living the happy life... And, every time she made coffee for him, she put some salt in the coffee, as she knew that's the way he liked it.

After 40 years, he passed away, left her a letter which said, "My dearest, please forgive me, forgive my whole life's lie. This was the only lie I said to you---the salty coffee. Remember the first time we dated? I was so nervous at that time, actually I wanted some sugar, but I said salt. It was hard for me to change so I just went ahead. I never thought that could be the start of our communication! I tried to tell you the truth many times in my life, but I was too afraid to do that, as I have promised not to lie to you for anything... Now I'm dying, I afraid of nothing so I tell you the truth, I don't like the salty coffee, what a strange bad taste... But I have had the salty coffee for my whole life! Since I knew you, I never feel sorry for anything I do for you. Having you with me is my biggest happiness for my whole life. If I can live for the second time, still want to know you and have you for my whole life, even though I have to drink the salty coffee again."

Her tears made the letter totally wet. Someday, someone asked her, "What's the taste of salty coffee?" She replied, "It's sweet."

Pass this to everyone because love is not to forget but to forgive, not to see but understand, not to hear but to listen, not to let go but HOLD ON!! ♥♥♥