Opinions are always likely to change; so are the recognitions.🔗

Walt Wiltman sent his poem collections called 'Leaves of Grass' to Leo Tolstov, who was famous at that time in the world of literature. But as Tolstoy had a bad opinion of Whitman, he threw it into the trash.

Expectations of approval and recognition have existed in the immemorial. Depending on the recognitions, some of the trends of history have been influenced.

Many times, others' recognitions have become the basis of our lives do not take shape on the basis of what we really think of ourselves. We have shaped out lives on the basis of buying others opinions about us. We are actually a totality of marks given to us by others.

Every one of us has almost become like a parcel loaded in a goods lorry. We have put our stamps on the parcel. It will be good if there is one seal over the stamps on an envelope. But if there are so many seals over the address itself, then the letter will never reach the correct address. We have all become like that.

Once upon a time, one Vachaspathi Misra wrote a commentary on Brahma Sutra. His guru, who had requested him to do so, gave his daughter Bamathi in marriage to him.

But Misra spent a lot of time in writing it. Brahmasutra, which contains Mahavakyas, is a world's treasure of knowledge. So, to write a commentary, it took him nearly fifty years. He was going on writing without proper food and without even getting out from his place of work.

You should not ask whether all these things are possible, because, only to reveal great truths such historical incidents happen, but people leave the truths and hang on to the stories. A ladder is meant for people to go up, but if you are just hanging on to the ladder, what can be done?

Finally, when Misra finished writing the commentary on Brahmasutra, he raised his head. He saw an old lady standing before him. He asked her, 'Who are you?' But she said 'Have you finished writing? It is my good fortune to be of help and serve you while you are writing. '

Surprised and shocked a little. Misra asked again. 'Who are you?' She asked. 'I am your wife Bamathi. Have you finished writing?' He said, 'I have finished. I am yet to give it a caption.' She again said, 'I am fortunate to serve you.'

Vachaspathi Misra, recognizing her sincere service without the anticipation of any returns, gave as title for his book the name of his wife. 'Bamathi.' The lady, who never expected any sort of recognition, got the very best recognition.

From this story, we come to know that there have been wives who have not demanded their husband's attentions.

Today however, there are wives who snatch away the newspapers from their husbands if they go on reading it for more than ten minutes. There are also husbands who become angry on seeing their wives absorbed in watching T.V. serials.

The reason for all this is that each one is waiting for recognition from the other.

Recognition is the thing which creates the craving sign of approval. Other's deficiencies are only their shadows. Only their efficiencies are the real truths. The sigh of crazy cravings for recognition is merely leaving the object and giving importance for its shadow.

There are husbands who do not fulfill the expectations of their wives as per the wives' expectations and wives who do not fulfill the expectations of their husbands as per their thinking. The reasons for people behaving this way is leaving the real object and hanging on to its shadows and living only for the shadow.

We cannot estimate the quality of others' lives by simply seeing the outward facilities they enjoy. Those are only shadows. They can never become real.

Others' opinions cannot become truths. They are only superficial thinking about you. Others praising you or abusing you - both are only half truths. Half truths are worse than lies. They are only shadows of truths.

A real life is one filled with joy and peace. Let us turn our minds to live a real and true life. There is no need to envy and suffer just by recognizing only shadows.

If we recognize and approve ourselves, shadows will not attract us any- more. We will not be waiting eagerly for others' recognitions. Our joy and peace can never be shattered by others.

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The World is a Reflection of Our Minds

• Our thoughts get formed as per our mind.
• Our lives get formed as per our thoughts.
• Our success gets formed as per our lives.
• Our health gets formed as per our success.
• ❖ Our mind gets formed as per our health.

Do you understand...? It is a cycle.

Mind: this is the way it acts. People always act like reflecting mirrors. If we give respect, we can get respect. If we bother somebody, we will be bothered. If we show love, we will receive love. If we are always in an irritated and angry mood, it will appear as though the entire world is always wrong and everybody is irritating us in a planned manner.

To explain this, a small story ....

A dog which was roaming in the streets accidentally entered the king's palace. The king had built a guest house using a thousand mirrors. That dog was having the habit of barking angrily at any other dog entering its street and territory. The moment that dog entered the king's guest house, it was shocked and got very angry, because it saw nearly 1000 dogs in the mirrors.

As usual, the dog started barking. All the 1000 dogs were barking from different angles. The dog became a little afraid. Still unable to bear the anger, the dog started barking again. All the dogs also started barking. When the dog stopped, all the dogs stopped barking. When the dog barked again, all the dogs barked. The dog barked all night long, lost its energy and ultimately died.

The dog did not know that he was the only real dog and all the other dogs were only its own reflections in the mirror. It was rather difficult for the dog to understand too. If only the dog had observed keenly that the moment this dog stopped barking, all the other dogs also stopped barking, it might have understood the reality. It would have understood what is maya or illusion.

The planet earth is always a heaven. All are basically very good people. If we are angry, we feel that the whole world is doing wrong. If we always feel irritated and are in low spirits, the whole world seems uninteresting.

When we are successful, happy and contented, we feel really happy and say, 'Aha! What a wonderful world! Beautiful relationships! Nice people!'

Understand the truth. Mind will always be barking like a dog. Whether our eyes are open or closed, our qualities such as anger, hatred, jealousy, being in low spirits etc. will always be there with us. No change will happen.

Moreover, all the faults we discover in others around us are actually our own faults. What the dog saw in the mirrors at different angles were all its own reflected forms.

Making statements like, 'Who are these people, they don't have any sense of understanding, fools, senseless fellows...etc. ' These are all the voices of our minds, not our real, true voice. When we think about others thus, 'Oh, what nice people, how affectionate they are, this is the correct way to behave' is also just the action of our mind.

It is an illusion to think very badly about people and the world.

As a matter of fact, all are normal and nice people. The world will change according to our method of approach towards it. The planet earth is very beautiful. We must start realizing it. We will know the truth!

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