Be remembered for your Karma

When you took birth on this earth, you had brought with you the date and time of your last day on this earth. Your deeds work as mirror for you. They define how you lived your life. This is what Samarth has said in his eighth shloka initially. Whoever is born, he should know that this body is not truth, he should understand that his karma is all what he would be remembered for. As we know that everyone loves appreciation. Everyone loves to listen good things about them.

       Samarth in this shloka talks about the fame which you get for your good deeds after your life. That fame is more important, because when you are alive, people praise you and your work so that you could know this and they could achieve their personal gains through you. But when you are dead, you are of their no use and even then, if people talk good about you then Samarth says that, it is more important.

      That praise from people is the real proof of your good deeds. Hence, Samarth asks mind to follow this as a daily routine. To make mind understand the concept of doing good deeds without stopping, Samarth gives an example of sandal wood. He explains further in Shloka that when sandal wood ends its life by continuously giving pure smell to whoever uses it, it is remembered for the quality it possesses.

       Just like sandal wood, you should be remembered for your work, is what Samarth asks in this Shloka. Samarth further adds that to impress the “Sajjana” that is the people with pure heart and good deeds around us, we should do good deeds only. In this shloka, Samarth has successfully explained the importance of Karma in our life.

Make your child ready for sibling

Parenting is blessing which God gives every living being. Children become our world and we become their world when it comes to parenting and rearing them. Though parents and child share the strongest bond, no one can deny the fact that the bond between the siblings is ultimate.

  When you both are planning for your second child, you need to keep one thing in mind that your first child should be aware of this fact. Acceptance should be there in your first child when it comes to welcoming his or her sibling at home. You may feel that when the baby would arrive, your first child would welcome him or her. 

   But this is not going to happen if you don’t make him or her aware of the fact that he or she would be the elder child at home and from his or her parents to his or her  clothes and toys will be shared when that little bundle of joy would enter your life, your first child would feel insecure in future. You should inculcate these things very positively, so that your elder child would also feel happy to be called elder.

   Involve your child in this process effectively. Let him or her talk to your baby bump, let him or her decide the name he or she would like to give to their sibling. In this way if you work, it won’t be difficult for your first child to welcome his or her new sibling. And the most importantly, he or she won’t feel ignored and less important. Instead of feeling ignored, your first child would feel that he or she is going to have a friend in the form of sibling.

  You need to assure your first child that he or she would be always special for you through your actions. It is a bit challenging but it is as important as anything else when it comes to parenting and additional responsibilities. Have a happy parenting!

Daughter: A blessing in disguise

It is very rightly said that, “Daughters may outgrow your lap, but they will never outgrow your heart.” Undoubtedly, daughters are the best. They are the ones who make your life worth living. They are tender, they are polite and they are most lovable. They make your house a beautiful heaven. 

Olden are those days when people used to feel that daughters should be soft spoken and well-behaved, rather they used to feel that these norms are only applicable for daughters. But the fact is everyone should be that way. At the same time we should make our daughters ready for today's world! 

    They should be strong enough to stand for their rights. In the first place, they should be made aware about their rights. It is your duty as parents to identify the need of the moment and try to raise your daughter well, in order to make them the strongest individuals of the society. Following are some things which you should keep in mind while raising your daughters.

•          Never tell her what to do and what not to, just tell her what are after effects and consequences of doing wrong.
•          Raise her to make her aware of her rights.
•          Make her so strong that she wouldn’t need anyone else to solve her problems.
•          Tell her that crying is not an option for everything.
•         Tell her that woman’s tongue is her weapon, so use it wisely. It can develop peace if it is used in a proper way, and it can destroy the home too, if not used properly.
•          Ask her to use her strengths to make the world a better place to live.

You are what you eat!

Food is considered as the ‘God’ in our Indian culture. According to the great Ayurveda, you are what you eat. Food you eat has the greatest impact on your personality. It is said that food is the factor that not only nourishes our body but also develops our soul. It is a myth that we eat food by mouth. 

 Eating food is the process which starts from the smell you experience when you enter your home and your mom is cooking. That smell gives you clear idea about what is being cooked. Then in this process, your eyes are also involved. 

  When you see the food, you get an idea that which ingredients are used to make that delicious dish. Here you can be surprised that how can I say the dish is delicious without even eating? But let me tell you one thing that the smell you experienced is the proof that the dish is delicious.

When you touch that food, you understand it’s texture, and you already start imagining it’s taste. And when you actually eat that food, your tongue gives you an idea of the taste of that food. We Indians believe that, the God lies in our body as a soul. So, to offer the divine yadnya to your God, that should be sacred. So, you should take care of what and how you eat. You should involve each and every taste in your daily meal as they provide ‘Raj’, ‘Tama’, and ‘Satva’ gunas to your body and your soul.

To have a healthy appetite, you should keep following things in mind:

•     Involve food in diet that nourishes your body with vitamins, minerals and iron.
•     Eat not only with mouth and hand but eat with your mind.
•   Feel the divine power of the food you eat!

Adopt an attitude of gratitude

“Thank you” is a word which can make things easier for you in life. Saying thank you means letting the other person know that you genuinely appreciate whatever he does for you. When you decide to say thank you, identify the real strength of that word. Imagine, if anyone says thanks to you, you feel appreciated and put an extra efforts to make that person feel good. In the same way, when you show your gratitude to a person, that person also feels highly appreciated, he also tries his best to make you feel better with his actions.

  Gratitude is the fragrance that keeps the environment of your life fresh and enlightening. Where does this fragrance come from? This comes from the purity of your heart! Gratitude is the mirror of your personality and your heart.

  It is not always about thanking people for their actions. Gratitude is all about being grateful for everything that we have. Our Indian culture teaches us to be grateful for everything that we have in life. We recite prayer before eating meal, this way we thank the God, nature and farmers for the food we get to eat. We are living our life and we know that we are dependent directly or indirectly on many people, things and off course the nature!  

   It is often said that, “What you do, speaks louder than what you say!” But many a times, it is better to express yourself, in order to gather good people around you. Gratitude has the power to attract people. The person, who has this power always stays happy, because he gathers good people around him with his attitude of showing gratitude. If you find yourself complaining about things in life, then realize that you are lacking an attitude of gratitude. To make yourself realize the power of gratitude, you need to start appreciating people around you, who do a lot or less for you. You should adopt this attitude to see the world wonderfully.

   When you follow this principle in life, you would be able to see things with a different perspective. You would be able to make your own angle of seeing people and things around you, and this angle would be definitely the positive one. When you have gratitude within you, you have nothing to complain about. You would be the one who would allow only gratitude, sensitive things, sensible people and love in life.

Importance of having strong mind

Mind is a tool which helps to achieve everything in life. Mind works as a driving force behind every action. When you decide to do something, you need to have that strong mind to accomplish your aim. Strong mind is like fuel in the vehicle. When the vehicle has fuel, it would run smoothly. Take this example to understand the importance of having strong mind.

      When we are not well, and we don’t go to the doctor, we don’t understand the real reason behind our ill health. We take it easily but as we get to know the reason behind our ill health, we feel more helpless. Do you know why does this happen? Because our mind gets equipped with the thoughts of having something wrong with our health. This discourages our mind a lot! As it needs time to accept this fact that it has to deal with the upcoming circumstances which can be unfavorable.

    In the 7^th Shloka, Samarth Ramdas Swami asks mind to increase its power of bearing. He suggests mind that many situations would arise in life, where you have to bear the nasty words but don’t say anything! Just listen to the person who is saying these things. When you get habitual to listening to such things, you’d be able to be strong enough to face unfavorable situations in life. And the people who used nasty words against you, would come back to you when they realize their mistake and would definitely regret their actions.

     While travelling this path of being patient and being humble, you need to inculcate it in your words too. You need to use humble words while talking to everyone and you need to make it a habit. Samartha asks us to be humble while talking and he asks to be humble with everyone even if the person in front of us, won’t treat us the same way.  Samartha believes that this is the only way to live life and make even bad people love you. This is how Samartha Ramdas Swami pushes our mind on the path of creating this world the most peaceful and loving place to live.