Words of Wisdom 02 (Nov 08 - Jan 09)

[winston]

Even when you are engaged in your daily chores, you can convert them into worship of the Divine. While you are sweeping the floor, you can deem it as clearing your heart of all impurities. All work should be done with a pure heart filled with devotion, just as cooking must be done in a clean vessel.

Whatever good you may do without a genuine feeling of love is of no use. It is love in a pure heart that transforms work into worship.

- Divine Discourse, April 11, 1994.

[winston]

Word to the Wise: Eschew

To "eschew" (es-CHOO) - from the French for "to flee from" - is to avoid.

Example (as used by Don Hauptman today): "Plurals aside, the problem is not that these expressions are wrong but that they tend to sound excessively formal and old-fashioned. The best solution, say usage authorities, is to eschew all of them and substitute a single simpler word..."

[winston]

"Do not trust all men, but trust men of worth; the former course is silly, the latter a mark of prudence!"

- Democritus

[winston]

If you wish success in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother and hope your guardian genius.- Joseph Addison

Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.- Thomas A. Edison

[winston]

Selfless service is the ideal to be aimed at. If you fan a person out of love, when you stop, he cannot blame you; but when the paid servant stops fanning, the master takes him to task. In the first case, the act is done in the selfless way, with no aim to seek gain. The desire for gain is like poison fangs; when they are pulled out, the snake of karma is rendered harmless.

[kennynah]

however, we do not live in an ideal world...where we offer our services to our employers for free....unfortunately... although, of cos, we aim for the ideal in almost everything we do....we try... as best as we can....

[winston]

On Control:-

Don't follow the bad example of cruel and evil people. Turn aside and keep going.

Proverbs 4:14-15

[kennynah]

absolutely agree.... this one...no compromise...however, temptation to follow bad examples, or evil deeds are always strong....

hence....these 2 lines in the Lord's Prayer....

"And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil"

what is exceedingly clear here is this...that evil is all around us every moment and at every turn in our lives... this is the reason that we must ask to be kept away from evil.... by ourselves...it is not possible...but with Divine intervention...NOTHING is impossible.... not even having the devil stay away from us....

[millionairemind]

On Character
Abigail Van Buren:
The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back.

Abraham Lincoln:
Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

Albert Einstein:
Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.

[winston]

Word to the Wise: Banal

Something that's "banal" (BAY-nul or buh-NALL) is trivial or trite. The word is derived from a French word meaning "of or relating to compulsory feudal service." This evolved to signify "merely obligatory" - hence, commonplace.

Example (as used by Joyce Carol Oates in The New York Times): "How does the poet transform his banal thoughts (are not most thoughts banal?) into such stunning forms, into beauty?"