Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Random Acts of Kindness

Random Acts of Kindness are a wonderful way to reach across time and space to touch the life of another being. Publicizing and raising awareness of the significance of human kindness undoubtedly makes the world a better place. At every step along the path of expanding awareness , there is the opportunity to go deeper; to explore more of the potential of our divine humanness. So it is with kindness. Acts of kindness are really not difficult. An intention is formed, and you carry it out. It makes you feel good. Holding kindness and compassion in our hearts, and integrating them into the complexity and stresses of daily life, every day – now there is a deep challenge! ……..

Excerpt from ‘Reflections on Kindness’ by Gwen Randall-Young, “33 Heartfelt Stories of Kindness”, http://www.intouchmag.com/kindnessstories.pdf (In my opinion, it is a 'must-read')

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Living Without Violence by Usha Jesudasan

Gandhiji made non-violence a political weapon and showed its power to those who were captive to violence and oppression.

On January 30, we remember the anniversary of Gandhiji’s violent death.

Violence. How we fear it. How we hope that it will not touch or those we love. But it does so often. The violence we face may not be brutal or physical; It may not be on our streets; or with bombs and guns; but nevertheless it is there. We find it lurking in our everyday relationships, attitudes to each other, words, thoughts, looks and feelings.

For centuries men mostly, and those in authority, marginalized the idea of non-violence as it did not help them prosper or succeed in getting what they wanted as much as violence and fear did. Then came people like Gandhiji, Martin Luther, Vaclav Havel and others who made non-violence a political weapon and showed those who were captive to violence and oppression, its power.

Since then, people all over the world have discovered the power of non-violence as a political weapon. But the non-violent life is more than just a political tactic. It is a way of life for every single person and that is both challenging and meaningful. The idea of non-violence is revolutionary and feared by those who cling to power, because it is an idea that can completely change the nature of society, and thus is a grave threat to the established order.

Non-violence or ahimsa living, is not just for activists; it is for us ordinary people – we all need to transform our minds and hearts to embody non-violence. This is a huge challenge because our society surrounds us with violence – in the media, in our workplaces, relationships and way of life. So, unless we train ourselves to consciously unlearn all the habits of violence we use, our first response to a crisis is violence.

We need to practise the art of “ahimsa living” every day. We need to store within ourselves a repertoire of non-violent actions, thoughts and words, so that when we do face crises, we can draw upon these practical, ethical, and spiritual ahimsa resources.

Could you make a commitment to an ahimsa way of life for a day or week? Which areas of your life would you have to specially target to live this way?

- “Living without Violence” by Usha Jesudasan, Young World, Supplement to The Hindu, January 25, 2008

My grateful thanks to Ms Usha Jesudasan for the wonderful article and to The Hindu for publishing it.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Love Poems from LovePoemsAndQuotes.com

LovePoemsAndQuotes.com has got a collection of 121 poems on Love, which are easy to access. They are going on adding all the time. About the poems and the website, in their own words:

"Our love poems collection focuses on poems that are positive, romantic, and easy to understand. In addition to the work of famous poets, you will also find a number of poems unique to our website. Our extensive library is easy to navigate and new poems are added every month."

For reading the poems, just click:
http://www.lovepoemsandquotes.com/LovePoems.html

Quotations on Love from Wikipedia

Wikipedia has a collection of Quotations related to Love. They are given in alphabetical order. For reading them, just click:

Wikipedia article on LOVE:

For reading the Wikipedia detailed article on Love, click:

Love, the Cohesive Force - Gandhiji

Scientists tell us that without the presence of the cohesive force amongst the atoms that comprise this globe of ours, it would crumble to pieces and we cease to exist; and even as there is cohesive force in blind matter, so must there be in all things animate and the name for that cohesive force among animate beings is LOVE. We notice it between father and son, between brother and sister, friend and friend. But we have to learn to use that force amongst all that lives, and in the use of it consists our knowledge of God. Where there is love, there is life; hatred leads to destruction.

- Young India, May 5, 1920


Courtesy: ‘Truth is God’ by M.K.Gandhi; Published by Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad-380014, Gujarat

Little Nuggets-93:

Happiness comes more from loving than being loved; and often when our affection seems wounded it is only our vanity bleeding. To love, and to be hurt often, and to love again - this is the brave and happy life - J. E. Buchrose