spiritual flower

Do not look for a spiritual flower every day. Sow
the seed, water it with prayer and right endeavor.
When it sprouts, take care of the plant, pulling out the
weeds of doubt, indecision, and indifference that may
spring up around it. Some morning you will suddenly
behold your long-awaited spiritual flower of Realization.
(Paramahansa Yogananda)

On Second thoughts in Pune

The anecdote is among the early days in pune when I was searching for a room. One day I went to a place called dahanukar colony in the kothrud area looking for a room. I had to urgently get a printout of the emails to my personal mail id listing the other places where I could enquire for accomodation. I was searching for a cyber cafe and looked high and low for one. After some enquiry and walkabout, I located a good-looking cyber cafe on the main road. Just after the entrance of the cyber-cafe two young (good-looking) ladies were standing in jeans and t-shirts.

With thoughts of urgency about my room-search filled in my mind I went inside ,after opening the door and asked them matter-of-factly "What is the hourly rate?" . They were confused so I looked elsewhere inside the cyber-cafe and I realised that the manager was sitting slightly out of sight of the main entrance. He seemed to have overheard the conversation but waited for me to ask the same question again. Rs.10/- he said. When I was at my seat, he started giving a strange smile to me. He was still smiling at me when I left the cyber-café.

Only couple of days back, I realised what he was trying to interpret wrt to my question to the two ladies !!!! Very bad , wot say???

Weakening a bad habit - Paramhansa Yogananda

Habits of thought are mental magnets that draw to you certain things, people, and conditions. Weaken a bad habit by avoiding everything that occasioned it or stimulated it, without concentrating upon it in your zeal to avoid it. Then divert your mind to some good habit and steadily cultivate it until it becomes a dependable part of you.

Devotion over reasoning

One should not reason too much; it is enough if one loves the Lotus
feet of the Mother. Too much reasoning throws the mind into
confusion. You get clear water if you drink from the surface of a
pool. Put your hand deeper and stir the water, and it becomes
muddy. Therefore pray to God for devotion.
(Ramakrishna, `The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' )

Research defined by Albert Einstein

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?

-Albert Einstein

Photograph on Bangladesh war

Photograph on Bangladesh war

http://shahidul.wordpress.com/2008/03/25/distances/