# #awareness #lifelessons #words #positivity #appreciation # #personaldevelopment

June 30, 2023
by Savvy Raj 1 Comment

The Parodox of Beauty 2

Beauty is what beauty feels

Continuing in a series on Life and Living … The subject of Beauty brings to mind its paradox As mentioned in my last article I would like to reflect on this with my readers and fellow writers and work in collaboration towards a certain consensus if attainable .

Here is a beautiful reflection of the thoughts of this reader who starts by visualizing in the vebalisation of the beauty in the elemental awareness of nature and culminates her standpoint in the beauty of nurture…

Of a mother and child and the beauty in a loving heart.

Thank you to my dear mother Anjana for your exemplary examples. Rest assured I certainly will be reading these lines often.

“Anything that pleases the eye is beautiful..How much exquisite or breath-taking the physical beauty may be… it’s just skin deep. Beyond that all is same.

A wise soul has this awareness. Though the elements may be the same, their arrangement makes the difference. But there is beauty in the wilderness too.

The dancing flames of fire, the eruptive flowing and glowing lava of the volcono, the blowing sand making patterns on the sands of deserts, the mystery that lies in the underground caves, in the depths of the oceans, in the vast space that surround us , there is beauty in everything. A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.

Above all beauty has a connection with love in the heart. Even the so assumed ugliest child looks beautiful to it’s mother. After all beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. Can anything be more beautiful than a compassionate and kind heart that sees goodness in all.”

The lines above have an sensitive emotive and reflective quality which is engagingly beautiful to me.

Cont’d…

Savvy

April 21, 2023
by Savvy Raj 2 Comments

Soulful Clarity

A heartfelt forward worth a share…

” 𝑀𝑦 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑙 𝐼𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐴 𝐻𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑦 .”

Mário de Andrade

𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑟.

𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 .

𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑜𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑎 𝑏𝑜𝑤𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠. 𝐴𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡, ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑏𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡, ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 …

𝐼 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑜𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦/𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦.

𝐼 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑔𝑜𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒….
𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒, 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑠, 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑠, 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑢𝑐𝑘.

𝐼 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠,
𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒…..

𝐼 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜, 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑔𝑒, 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒…..

𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 , 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑠….
𝑀𝑦 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑠. 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑤 …..

𝑀𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑙 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑦 ….
𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑏𝑜𝑤𝑙 ….

𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 “ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛” –
ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 ;

..𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑚𝑢𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑚𝑝ℎ𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓-𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒…..

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒
𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ!
𝑌𝑒𝑠, 𝐼’𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑦 .
𝐼’𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒….
𝐼 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒s….
𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒, 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑟 .

PS : a quote from Confucius :
“𝑊𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠.
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒.”

March 1, 2023
by Savvy Raj 1 Comment

On flexibility

An interesting epic story with profound thoughts

“Tongue in Teeth……”

Strolling through the streets of Lanka at night, Hanuman was taken aback when he heard the chants of Sriram coming from a home.

They were not loud but whispers through the windows.

Hanuman wondered who could be chanting my Lord’s name in the city ruled by Ravan.

The house had a cluster of Tulsi plants outside and the walls had signs of Sri Hari.

Just then a man opened the front door and came out chanting the Holy Name.

The Sky was Starlit and it was couple of hours before Dawn.

The man offered water to the Tulsi plants, while performing a Circumbulation.

Hanuman hopped and stood before him, folding his hands.

The man introduced himself as Vibhishana, brother of Ravan.

Hanuman asked

“It baffles me: you are a devotee and a Noble Soul.

How on Earth you live among the Demons? “

Vibhishan smiled and said

“Just as the tongue lives in the mouth with thirty two teeth biting and grinding, around it, not only does the tongue remain untouched, it enjoys all the taste”.

The very food that sits and rolls on the tongue is chewed to a pulp by the teeth and yet this snaky little thing escapes unscathed.

Only time it is hurt is when we have a lapse of mindfulness.

Why?

Philosophically the chief difference is, flexibility.

The tongue’s flexibility is the key to its longevity.

That’s why it gets the taste while the teeth get Root canals and Cavities

They fall too or pulled out!.

But no one loses their tongue.

The tongue teaches…….

Others may grind and bite but you can still enjoy life if you are flexible.

Everything will hurt less, bother less if we loosen up a bit.. then an Avalanche of Peace and Joy is triggered.

If you want lasting Peace and Joy, learn from your tongue and live like it. Befriend it. Tame it. It has a great bearing on your relationship.