Does God Answer Our Prayers?

If God were to fulfill the desires of people according to their prayers then the Impartial Lord would become "partial" towards those who pray.

Then how does God fulfill the desires of His devotees?

Lord Krishna says "Whatever form a devotee seeks to worship with "faith" that "faith" of his I make firm in him". (Bhagavad Gita7/21)

From the material Standpoint, when we pray, and deter¬mine to achieve something we develop a "faith" in the goal and confidence in ourselves to do so. Faith is a, growing belief rooted in understanding. As this "faith" increases, the mind becomes more and more efficient. A single - pointed mind is indeed a mighty force against which no obstacles can stand for long. This "faith" irrespective of the chosen goal, is that which ultimately takes each one of us to our success.

Then what? How does one gain the fulfillment of his desire?

Reinforced with that "faith" in his chosen field man works harder. The Lord admits that by "His" grace that "faith" increases and consequently the efforts also increase with the increase of "faith". We put forth more and more efforts and as a result our desires are fulfilled. So, to say that we have been praying for years and our prayers have never been heard is the complaint of not those who pray but those, who only beg, without constantly striving hard to achieve.

From the spiritual standpoint, this verse is a very important one as it has carved out a distinct character for the Hindus—their unbelievable sense of tolerance towards all other religions in the world. The Hindu knows that "Truth is one; sages call it by different names." In whatever form man worships his God with "faith", in that form God shall be revealed to him.

Both in material and spiritual successes the secret of achievement is one and the same. If one desires the worldly things one gains them; if the spiritual experience, then one gains that too. If one's desires are materialistic •then one will seek them through worldly "devatas" (powers) and find one's immediate fulfillment.

Efforts remaining the same, the results depend upon whether we strive out-worldly for the passing joys, or dive inward to reach the permanent Bliss in the Self. In short, we can have what we wish for, if only our powers of wishing are powerful enough. Prayer brings about the necessary mental integration in ourselves, and assures our success
in any field of endeavor.

Remember, prayer is not beggary. Nor is it merely an exaggerated glorification of some unknown entity called God repeated mechanically by the mouth in a language which is unknown to the devotee. Prayer is invocation with the mind contemplating on the greater Reality of Life, the Essential Life that energizes, activates, thrills the inert world
of matter into living creatures, expands itself and in this expansion it soars higher into kingdoms of joyous experiences and true unfoldments.

Author : Swami Chinmayananda
Source : Swami Chinmayananda

Perception

Does the way in which the worlds perceives you matter at all ?

Words: 512
Reading time: little less than 3 mins

Perception, to define it in simple words, would be the way someone perceives another being to be. His/her characteristics, behaviour, good points, bad points are all stored in the minds of the audience based on previous instances. Once those are stored, they always are refreshed when that person is back in front of them. To change one's perception is very difficult - thats what people say.

"First Impression is the Last impression" is always the phrase repeated by many professors to their students to help them understand that once the impression is created in the mind, theres very little scope to change that again. Many many people in this world feel that one has to be himself / herself and not copy anyone else's traits. I do not completely disagree that, but at the end of the day it matters a lot when it comes to interaction with the world. The world would make a big picture about your character, positives, negatives etc and will always keep an impression in his/her mind. The next time you meet the same person, he already knows the way you behave and the way you socialize. Let me take an example, I am known to be a short tempered person, yeah theres still a divide on this within the social circle I am with most of the times. But those who have perceived me to be a short-tempered person will always ensure they dont cross the lines when being with me. Now personally I feel, I have very much overcome that short - temperedness (whatever it took me to realize, read Anger Management) Even today when a person meets me it has always been to my notice, that s/he still feels I havent done my lessons properly. Its all about perception. It might be atmost difficult to change a perception that has been bred in the minds for quite a long time now.

Imagine people going for an interview, the first impression is the last impression truly. The way you approach situations, problems is answered in the perception created in the interviewer's mind and yes of course, thats created by you itself, Isnt it ? Once you are done with the interview, you might get a feedback that you might be expecting but something that would not be expecting. The strangest thing would be to create such a perception to the interviewer which might not be the case - the so called wrong-impression.

Till today, It hasnt been possible to read peoples mind and possibly change the way they think about you as a person. The only way one can change the perception is to change the thinking method that one employs. Put yourself in the person's position and assess your behaviour - a best and the only method according to me for introspection. Perception cannot be destroyed, but can be modified and at the end of the day, I think its the way the world looks towards you as a person which matters the most and not that of the "man in the mirror" !!!

Law of the Garbage Truck

The morning had already begun by witnessing a brawl between two passengers, while commuting in the local train in my homtown, Mumbai. Rather than such quarrels occuring on day-basis, I would say these quarrels occur on an hourly-basis or maybe even less than that. At every step, every life you encounter with in Mumbai would be running to earn his bread-n-butter (job)...

Post an hour of travel to workplace, I came across a lovely mail and it very well echoed what I witnessed in the morning and what should be done to make this world a beautiful place to live in.. 

The mail is called as Law of the Garbage truck and it goes like this

"One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! 

The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.' 

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full offrustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally, just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. 

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so...Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't. 

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it! Have a blessed, garbage-free day! " 

Wouldn't be it wonderful if everyone adopts this law in each ones life ?? We will just put behind all the differences and make this world a better place to live in ...

 

BRTS Mumbai

BRTS cannot succeed in Mumbai unless authorities take huge efforts

Introduction:

BRTS (Bus Rapid Transit System) was started by Best in Mumbai by introducing Long buses with cushion seats, conditioners that keep you cool in the hottest weather outside and running right across from Backbay (South Mumbai) to Dahisar (North Mumbai) - from one end to other end of the city. Pricing is pretty comfortable for an air - conditioned bus at Rs. 65 from Backbay to Dahisar (check the BEST website which says 55 but the conductors charge 65). The minimum charges are Rs. 10.  

The bus is deputed in the mornings and the evenings from Monday to Saturday - targeted at the car owner who uses his / her vehicle to travel to work. 

Practical Problems: 

The absence of a dedicated lane for the Long bus (which is seemingly impossible in Mumbai or in any city in India) makes the travel a long 3 hrs from Backbay to Dahisar - the time in which you can reach Pune, thanks to the expressway. But in Mumbai, if you are returning from work - 3 hours, trust me, tend to be extremely long. BEST estimates a time limit of 2 hours which can still be long. The other alternative, the bone-crushing travel in the local train which is faster at 1 hour but totally strains you out - Air condition is out of question but getting a place would also be difficult in the local train. 

Epilogue:

The fact that it takes more than double the time to travel between the same places, the travel being extremely relaxing with those super efficient suspensions but in this world where people are always short of time, the pleasing environment inside the bus might not help lure mass Mumbaikars.  

Rock On - The bollywood movie

The Bollywood movie "Rock On" rocks.. a must see !!

It was a hectic week in office, and I was already dreaming of going back to a good sleep. My friends suddenly came up with this plan to go for this movie.. that too a late night show.. phew !! I could not imagine what I could have missed I had not joined them on this show.. !!

This movie simply goes by its Title - it simply rocks.. Based on a group of guys who had a band (a rock band) out of sheer passion and had even won a Channel V contest to bag a cool music album sponsorship... what happens next ? I would like to leave that for the time when you yourself would see it in the cinema hall...

Finally, a great story directed very well... Shankar ehsaan loy has yet again given good numbers suiting to the film.. Lyrics could have been better but who listens to lyrics in rock songs.. !! oh did I hear that you dont like rock music ?? But chill .. even I dont like it still now .. but i love those numbers in Rock On.. those are simply awesome...

A story with love, friendship emotions and yes of course the rock music all mixed very well to create a masterpiece

I would simply give a "MUST SEE" rating to it..