Power of silence

There once was a farmer who discovered that he had lost his watch in the barn. It was no ordinary watch because it had sentimental value for him.

After searching high and low among the hay for a long while; he gave up and enlisted the help of a group of children playing outside the barn.

He promised them that the person who found it would be rewarded.

Hearing this, the children hurried inside the barn, went through and around the entire stack of hay but still could not find the watch. Just when the farmer was about to give up looking for his watch, a little boy went up to him and asked to be given another chance.

The farmer looked at him and thought, “Why not? After all, this kid looks sincere enough.”

So the farmer sent the little boy back in the barn. After a while the little boy came out with the watch in his hand! The farmer was both happy and surprised and so he asked the boy how he succeeded where the rest had failed.

The boy replied, “I did nothing but sit on the ground and listen. In the silence, I heard the ticking of the watch and just looked for it in that direction.”

A peaceful mind can think better than a worked up mind. Allow a few minutes of silence to your mind every day, and see, how sharply it helps you to set your life the way you expect it to be!

Triple filter test

Socrates was the great philosopher in ancient Greece and was held in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, “Do you know what I just heard about your friend?”

“Hold on a minute”, Socrates replied. “Before telling me anything I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”

“That’s right”, Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say. That’s why I call it the triple filter test.

The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?” “No,”,the man said, “Actually I just heard about it and …” “All right”, said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not.

Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?” “No, on the contrary.”
“So”, Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain it’s true.

You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?” “No, not really.”

“Well”, concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”

Imperatrix Mundi (Empress of the World)

O Fortuna (O Fortune)

velut luna (like the moon)

statu variabilis (you are changeable)

semper crescis (ever waxing)

aut decrescis; (and waning;)

vita detestabilis (hateful life)

nunc obdurat (first oppresses)

et tunc curat (and then soothes)

ludo mentis aciem, (as fancy takes it)

egestatem, (poverty)

potestatem (and power)

dissolvit ut glaciem. (it melts them like ice.)

Sors immanis (Fate – monstrous)

et inanis, (and empty)

rota tu volubilis, (you whirling wheel)

status malus, (you are malevolent)

vana salus (well-being is vain)

semper dissolubilis, (and always fades to nothing)

obumbrata (shadowed)

et velata (and veiled)

mihi quoque niteris; (you plague me too;)

nunc per ludum (now through the game)

dorsum nudum (I bring my bare back)

fero tui sceleris. (to your villainy.)

Sors salutis (Fate is against me)

et virtutis (in health)

michi nunc contraria, (and virtue)

est affectus (driven on)

et defectus (and weighted down)

semper in angaria. (always enslaved.)

Hac in hora (So at this hour)

sine mora (without delay)

corde pulsum tangite; (pluck the vibrating strings;)

quod per sortem (since Fate)

sternit fortem, (strikes down the strong)

mecum omnes plangite! (everyone weep with me!)

Put Mind at Ease

One day, Buddha was walking from one town to another with a few of his followers.

While they were traveling, they happened to pass by a lake. They stopped to rest there and Buddha asked one of his disciples to get him some water from the lake.

A disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake.

As a result, the water became very muddy. The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!”

So he came back and told Buddha, ”The water in the lake is very muddy. I don’t think it is suitable to drink.”

After a while, Buddha again asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water.

The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time he found that the mud had settled down and the water was clean so he collected some in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water then looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be and the mud settled down on its own. It is also the same with your mind. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time and it will settle down on its own.”