MIND POWER FORUM

A young man decided to visit a country known for its uniquely gifted artists. Over the last few years a growing sense of feeling incomplete had stalked him, and the hope behind his journey was to find someone, something, to help him release the great, but still latent forces he knew lived in his heart.

After settling in at a small hostel, he went walking through an expansive outdoor bazaar where hundreds of artisans displayed their works. However, everything seemed commonplace; just another dead-end. What now?

He kept walking, leaving the noisy bazaar far behind him. And that’s when his ear caught a light tapping sound from the other side of an old wooden fence. Coming upon an open gate, he peered inside.

A young woman was seated in an open courtyard surrounded by various stone sculptures of wild animals. Although these creations were in various stages of completion, they already exuded a remarkable presence.

Just then the young lady stood up, and pulling a little hammer out of her apron pocket, she walked toward a large stone that was perched on a work pedestal. After careful examination of one small area she rapped it – just once – with her small hammer. She used so little force, he felt sorry for her timidity. Surely, he thought, she must be a novice; but his eyes couldn’t believe what happened next.

Suddenly dozens of small pieces of stone broke away. At first he thought she made a mistake and had cracked the whole stone; a moment later he knew otherwise. She had not ruined the stone; instead, she had released it secret character. With that one blow she had not only uncovered a beautiful white marble- like material, but had shaped it to resemble the graceful neck of a great swan. He was stunned. What magic was this? He longed to know.

"Please forgive me,"he said, entering the courtyard, "but how in the world did you do that with a single blow from your tiny hammer?"

"Oh,"she laughed. "I’m guessing you’ve only been there for the last few minutes. Before you began watching me I had delivered hundreds of similar small blows to the exact same spot on that stone. You saw the result of many days of careful work coupled with a special kind of quiet consideration.

"That’s how all great things are achieved…consistent attention coupled with persistent effort - a little bit at a time - until the right time comes when that work is rewarded. Then nothing can stand in the way of what must be released. The practice of this knowledge, in whatever one intends to do, must produce a subsequent revelation that is the heart of liberation itself.”

As they shared a smile and said goodbye, the young man knew he had learned an important secret: With consistent attention and persistent effort you can release whatever now stands between you and the freedom for which your heart seeks.

The ABC of life By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Awareness, Belongingness and Commitment hold the key to success. That’s the ABC of life. In any field you need the ABC. Are we aware of what we are telling ourselves?

This level of awareness is vital for a society because this is what can prevent a crime. With this level of awareness, it is impossible for a criminal to commit a crime. There was a thief. He went to meet a saint. He told the saint that he had a compulsion to steal. The saint said, “I am not going to tell you not to steal. But when you steal, do it with awareness.” Three months later, the thief came back to the saint and said, “With awareness, I could not steal.” It is the same with anger. It comes with a burst, you lose it.

But what have you actually lost? You lost awareness. You smile starts shrinking. I measure success by the smile. How strong your smile is will show how secure you are. And that is what, I think, indicates success in your career. To be able to smile through any situation in life, you need a little knowledge about yourself, about your mind and your consciousness. You need to learn a little bit about your breath. We need to know a little bit about all the layers of our existence, that is, body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, ego and the self. This is what I call Art of Living, learning a little bit about yourself, the seven layers of our life. And that makes us be in the present moment and it helps us to maintain the innocence that we are all born with, and feel at home with everybody, anywhere.

Breath and mind

Neither at school nor at home does anybody teach you what to do when you are upset or angry or depressed. Learning something about our breath is very important. Our breath has a great lesson for us which we have forgotten. For every rhythm in the mind, there is a corresponding rhythm in the breath; for every rhythm in the breath, there is a corresponding emotion. So, when you cannot handle your mind directly, you can do it through breath. The rhythm in breath can help you get in touch with the depth of yourself, your soul, your consciousness.

The ABC of life brings expansion. It brings an awareness of existence, belongingness to the whole creation and commitment to human values in life. This will help broaden our vision and deepen our roots. can arouse a passion, and that passion can become an impulse to destroy. But to be creative you don’t need to arouse a passion, you need to be focused and most importantly, you need to be aware. Now, how is one to bring up one’s awareness? You start with simple and small things in life. Things that seem insignificant like hearing the birds singing, seeing the sunset and so forth.

This would bring up your awareness. Awareness nurtures intellect. Belongingness nurtures the heart. And commitment nurtures life. The problem is that creators are only a few and they succeed because they have a lot of commitment.

If we are observing the ABC, then we can make a big change in society. Ask yourself the question, do all people in the world belong to me? The day you ask that your spiritual journey has begun. With this context of awareness, you can understand cosmology. Sankalpa In some temples, there is a tradition called sankalpa. They remind you how old this universe is, and then from there they bring you into this moment. Cosmology brings awareness.

Other methods for raising awareness are meditation, breathing and pranayama. You need energy and you will not get that only from food and sleep. Meditation and a silent state of consciousness will also give you energy. C is also for commitment and compassion. Smile more. A bit of humor can keep you out of trouble. Look into the mirror everyday and smile. I measure success by the smile. How strong your smile is will show how secure you are. And that is what, I think, indicates success in your career.