Monday Musings 54

POWERFUL THOUGHTS

Our thoughts are very powerful. Our destiny gets shaped as per our thoughts. You will end up getting what you want for sure.  If your thoughts are always negative, you will get more and more frustrated in your life. If you strongly believe that your life is full of problems and all problems gang up to attack you, you will spend the rest of your life addressing problems only.

The belief that you are blessed in this life is a great positive thought. If you constantly think that you are blessed, you will continue to remain blessed ever.

That is what Lord Budha said “What you think you become”. The tamil proverb எண்ணம் போல் வாழ்க்கை conveys the same message ie “You will get a life as per your thoughts”.

Thiruvalluvar conveyed similar message in this Thirukkural

உள்ளுவ தெல்லாம் உயர்வுள்ளல் மற்றது

தள்ளினுந் தள்ளாமை நீர்த்து  Thirukkural 596

Translation : In all your thoughts, let your aim be loftly still

Even if you fail to achieve don’t stop thinking high.

All great men convey the same message. Great philosopher Lao Tzu said

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”

― Lao Tzu

You can elevate your life if your thoughts are positive and you will go down if most of your thoughts are negative. #ThinkPositive and #SpreadPositivity.  There are many stories in our literature to highlight the maxim “You will become what you think the most”.  One such story now:

#StoryOfJadaBaratha

Our country is known as India and Bharath and Bharath owes its name to an erstwhile king Bharatha and this is the story of King Bharatha from Srimad Bhagavatham.

Bharatha was the son of King Dushyanta & Shakuntala. There is an interesting story about his childhood and how he got united with his father, but that story is not important in the current context.

As a young man he was brought up by his father and taught in the Kshatriya dharma, Bharata ruled the land as per the ‘dharma’ he learnt. He ruled the vast corners of the land which later came to be known as the land of king Bharatha.

After fulfilling his duties as a king, he transferred all his duties to his children and moved to a forest to meditate with the ultimate purpose of attaining ‘moksham’, liberation from the cycle of birth and death.

He soared in realization; his meditation was getting better & better. He was spending last days of his life in search of the ultimate knowledge, brahmam.

Once Bharata was meditating peacefully on the banks of the river ‘Chakra’. A lonely pregnant doe was drinking water from the same river. The doe heard a sudden roar of a lion from a short distance and got frightened. Terrified doe jumped into the river. In its flight, It gave birth to a baby doe which fell into the river and the mother doe died hitting a rock on the other side.

Baby Doe was carried by the river current to where Bharatha was meditating. Overcome by the compassion for that little, hapless doe, sage Bharata took pity on the doe, got up from his meditation, saved the doe and took it to his place. He started taking due care of the doe out of empathy.

He would bring milk for the doe from other animals, he brought the sweetest of delicate grass for the doe to eat. The doe considered him to be its mother. As it grew, it filled his heart with joy, but it also made him stray from his spiritual practices. The doe would come and sit on his lap disturbing his meditation and he would start playing with the doe leaving his meditation.

The king’s spiritual practices had become irregular. Lot of his time was spent on the doe. A king who had left his entire kingdom, his children, wife and luxury of the palace was now attached deeply to a doe, such is the destiny.

One day he couldn’t find the doe anywhere near the cottage. He looked for it all day and couldn’t find it. He was overcome with intense pain. His old body couldn’t take the toll. Bharata died thinking of the doe.

King Bharata because of his attachment to the doe was reborn in the womb of a doe in his next birth. Though he was born a doe, he retained the memories of his previous birth. He lamented his fascination for the doe in his previous birth. The initial compassion for a young hapless creature is good but he should have sensed the danger when his attachment to the doe was stopping him from his pursuit of the ultimate knowledge.

The story of Jadabharathar continues but this much is enough for our current discussion theme.

Don’t you believe in the stories of rebirth? You don’t have to. What is important here is the message ‘You become what you think the most’. It need not wait for the rebirth, You would become what you think even in this birth. So, What are you waiting for?. “Think higher for the most and you will reach higher and higher”.

எண்ணங்களின் உயர்வு  ஏற்றங்களில் நிறைவு 

I would like to conclude this episode with the thoughts of the most successful and well-respected leader in the entire world, Mahatma Gandhiji, on his birth anniversary.

“A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks he becomes.”

Let us remember his good thoughts, noble thoughts on his birth anniversary.