Dark Clouds......and Rain.

During monsoons everyone gets an opportunity to see the dark clouds hovering over us.

But have we ever gone deep and thought about the significance..??

There is a message for all of us..!!

GOD has its own ways of sending us HIS messages and blessings.

Dark clouds signify that the period of regenerating is about to begin for all of us. Whatever, we have been doing wrong is like a dark cloud for us. GOD gives us a message that your sins are like a dark cloud for you. HE also gives us an opportunity to understand that after every darkness there is light.

The dark clouds are full of water which sometimes rains. But the rain only comes once there is lightening and a cloud burst. What does it means..?? It means that GOD is willing to forgive us for all wrong deeds which we have done,provided that we improve ourselves.

When it rains and you get drenched, have you ever observed that it is cool. Most of us run away to a shelter without thinking or giving it a thought that GOD is washing us of all our sins and offering us to LIVE again on the virtuous path for which HE has given us birth on this mother earth.

Every rain drop when it falls on earth sprinkles into many water particles. Each water particle has its own expanse with the power it falls. But the ultimate result is that it covers a larger space than the one it falls on. We should be like that rain drop. With whatever limitations we have we should try and help the most around us. But many of us do not understand these natural messages. WHY?? since we are all engrossed in our own self. We fail to see the miseries of others in our own apathy.

Is this why we have been born in this world ?? Can we not take some message from dark clouds and rains to understand the ways of GOD. Most of us presume that there is no GOD and the life cycle is just a biological existence. But then WHO created this BIOLOGY.

Have we been born like we are…I do not think so. We are the product of evolution. GOD is up there creating each century…re-working on the brain chips for new generation. Re-inventing HIS creations on this earth. This is how we have grown and matured as so called humans. But what happens at the end. LIFE cycle for each one of us has a time period. We go away. We have to go. There is nothing permanent for us here.New generation is born with better intellect.

However, have we ever thought that only those souls are born with much finer intellect who did something fruitful and good. Rest of us also do get born but with the same last birth intellect and every time this happens. GOD is giving us opportunities each time to grow into a differently desired and thought provoking existence.It depends entirely upon us how we understand.

So every time you witness dark clouds, look at them with a different perspective.Everytime it rains enjoy the blessings. Do not run away , get drenched. It would help you relieve yourself because when you are in rains you forget yourself. And the moment you forget yourself, you have the greatest blessings of being washed away of your sins.

DARKNESS is not for eternity. There is always LIGHT beneath it.

Sanjiv Gupta

Creator Merrigold

The best phase of Life is "This Second"

Many times people from all walks of life talk about what their life had been ,what is it in present and how they imagine it should be in future. Most of the time each one of us  keep thinking about our past and keep imagining the future.This happens with all of us.

However, what we forget is our present.We fail to enjoy our moment of each breath that we inhale.We count the hours and minutes but we forget the seconds. If you think deeply, it is the seconds which are more important to live and enjoy than the minutes,hours,days, years, centuries etc.

The present second needs to be enjoyed. One needs to live what what one is doing during the present second. We do not have any idea what could happen the next second.Everytime people say this line. Forget what is going to happen it is not in your hands .LIVE your present second to the fullest extent possible .Dance,laugh,enjoy,eat,drink,make merry,read,write,work.Do whatever and anything you like but make each second of your Life as your most memorable experience. You get life in your present avatar only once so look at doing things which will make you happy.

And do not think too much. Travel back to your child hood days. Go through the memory lane. Do you think anything happened the way you wanted the things to be. The BIG answer is NO. You are, what you are because you were destined to be at the place and situation where you are right now. So now you see on how many seconds which you could have enjoyed got wasted. Of course you did enjoy some of them but by default. Most of the seconds were just washed away. Although you lived but the seconds died for want of freshness and energy.

Do, whatever you can do, within your powers to improve life of yours and others without any expectations. BUT do it this second. The moment you start thinking the opportunity is lost and the second is gone forever from the BANK OF LIFE. Seconds are like pennies but with a huge difference. Pennies in the material form can be accumulated and spent some other time. But your Life Seconds pennies cannot. They just get spent.Whether,you want or not it is not in your hands to hold the present second. It has to go and be replaced by the next life second. So when you cannot hold why waste. ENJOY!!! every bit of it for your own good and for the good of others close to you.

But this would need determination and a conscious effort .There are certain steps which would enable you to start practicing “ I enjoy my life every second “ :

• Firstly, do away with all the negative feelings.
• Stop thinking about the past. Forget.
• Think less of future.
• Concentrate more on present.
•  Smile more often.

Do not hold yourself. Most of the time we are suppressing our feelings due to some reason or other. This action of ours actually tune our body and thinking pattern negatively. If you have something to say and express do it that very moment. Let me tell you NO one is bothered who you are and what you think so why not express yourself freely. Live for yourself, your soul, your heart, your body, your being as a natural force which is part of GOD. Just let yourself GO….

In our Life circle as I said earlier every second counts till we depart from this world. And the only thing which is ours is- “OUR OWN SOUL”. Rest everything we will leave here. When we  start living every second of our existence it is actually our soul, our atma which gets happy and nourished. So let us pledge to ourselves that our ultimate aim is to nourish our soul. The more and more we do that, the better our state of mind will be. As is said happiness cannot be bought. It is there inside you,all which needs to be done is to experience it. It is present with you right now “also” as you are reading this article. Just smile, take a deep breath ,close your eyes and think about everything nice which you did. You will be happy immediately,the same very second. Just keep enjoying your life as it comes to you without getting into deeply on how, why and what is happening to you. It is Life with all its colors. And it is yours. Only you can change it and no one else. So be ready. Get, set and go……!!!

The Best Phase of Life is "This Second."

Sanjiv Gupta

Creator-Merrigold

Motherly Instinct

One fine morning a cute little sparrow made its home in one of the secluded corners of our house.It used to collect tiny twigs and leaves to furnish its home for comforts.After a few days  it layed two eggs.We could see it sitting on its eggs and chirping.Some more days passed and one fine morning the sparrow got blessed with two chicks and could be seen flying with delight and bringing home some food to feed its young chicks.

Out of curiosity I and my wife wanted to see the chicks so we tried to go near the nest but suddenly the sparrow attacked us as if to protect its chicks thinking that we have come to take them away.We retreated.Many number of times for the next few days, we tried to go near the nest but the sparrow just would not allow us to.The instinct of a mother to protect its little ones was amply visible.One day the chicks came out of their nest and delightfully tried to flutter their small wings.Natural instinct to fly could be seen.The sparrow seeing this chirped in joy as if to encourage its offspring's to try harder.Days passed by and the chicks could now be seen eagerly waiting to fly away.One fine morning the chicks now little grown up could be seen perching on the small railing near their nest.The mother sparrow also sat with them and kept feeding them,flying away and then coming back with more food.The grown up chicks however could never be satisfied and kept on picking their mother for more.More days passed by.We were just silent observers and from a distance tried to imitate their chirpping.The chicks could be seen straining their fragile necks whenever we used to imitate their chirping ,as if to find out where the voice was coming from.Even the mother sparrow was cautious.

A day came when one of the chicks flew away and then the second.They never came back.The mother sparrow also was never to be seen after that.The house felt empty.We did not remove the nest for few days hoping that the sparrow family would return.But that was not to be so.Finally we did remove the nest but when we were doing so there was subtle thought which kept crossing our mind that GOD has given the same motherly instinct to all the living beings who are instrumental in bringing life to this beautiful planet.Only the form varies but the instinct remains ever burning,ever bright and eternal as the Supreme being himself.

Sanjiv Gupta

Creator Merrigold

Color of Blood

Take some blood from all living beings like humans,animals,fish,birds and then mix it up.Looking at the red liquid can you differentiate...which blood is from which source?? Any second person looking at it will say it is the same color red and belongs to the same source which ever. When you cannot differentiate the color from outside then what right do you have to draw boundaries around caste, creed,rich & poor.Every living creature born in this world deserves the same love and affection and needs to be looked at with the same respect as your own soul.

The Sun,Moon,Stars,Air,Water and Nature shower the same affection to everyone.It is only we humans who have drawn square lines around us.Till such time we are happily entrenched in our own luxuries of life we fail to look at the sufferings, miseries and sadness amongst others.Most of the time we are not even conscious on what is happening around us and are only aware about happenings that concerns us only.

The source of life for everyone is through the eternal being.Only the form of life is different.This is how HE has created a complete world where each form of life exists for a purpose.Each one has been created to balance the existence with various LIFE colors.Amongst all life forms GOD made humans the most advanced in order to spread the message of peace,love,gratitude,sharing,caring and existing together.But look what have we done.We have completely defeated HIS vision and formed our own vision to rule this planet.Formed up our own corners of comfort.Displaced and disturbed the very agenda of GOD for creating us.Have we ever asked a question to ourselves as to why we have done this ? Why is it that for us the color of blood is different in our own way of thinking about others.Is it because of our own sophistication that we feel that others who are not so fortunate as us have a different blood.Really, this is highly distasteful if we look at the color of blood from a very sadistic and inhuman perspective.

However,the most selfish part of our existence is that the same blood which has come from the very same people who we shoo away for our sophistication and lifestyle entrenchments, is what we need from the blood bank when at the hospital facing a crisis.At that point in time no thought even remotely cross our mind at the source from which this has been generated.And we gladly accept and thank GOD for saving our LIFE. Is it GOD who has saved our LIFE or is it the blood which was made available to us when we needed it the most.We need to think.!! Why it then we fail to recognize the fact that all of us carry the same color blood.We must meditate, try and empty our mind from thoughts which are undivine. Only then we can clearly see the color of blood which is neither red or white but having the color of purity of existence,adundance of love,baskets of gratitude and loads of compassion.GOD from its rainbow in the sky has taken specific colors and filled our LIFE with all his love.

Blood banks are a source of inspiration if one is willing to understand the path to divinity.

Sanjiv Gupta

Creator Merrigold

Forgiveness

Forgiving people who have done wrong to you makes way for enriching your soul with calmness.Why should you carry a burden of pointless thinking about the incident.You only hurt yourself everyday and your near and dear ones around you.Just remember one thing.Your own virtuousness will carry you through all pains and miseries but you should have faith in the Supreme.No one can harm your soul or take it away from you.Your soul remains yours till such time you are alive in this world of illusions.They can only cause you an external grievance by way of speech & actions.Why should you be worried on what they are doing to you.Is it really that important to brood.You know what..? You are pained by the other people actions only when there is an attachment to the worldly possessions and feelings.Once you practice the art of de-attachment these issues will not bother you.Let me also reaffirm to you that what is in your destiny cannot be denied to you.If you are to receive something that GOD has willed to you it will be delivered to you when the time comes.If something is to be taken away from you it will be taken away.Nothing is ours since we did not bring it with us in this world.

Not only one should try and practice forgiving other people but also try and practice forgiving self.When you start forgiving yourself you also get to understand your own wrong doings and what is that you need to do to correct yourself.Forgiveness is a 360 degrees practice to get you on a 180 degrees straight line.But developing the art of forgiveness will take practice.Seemingly for the first time practitioners it is very hard.It is so not because of any defects with a person but due to the fact that over a period of time we have been tuned into a state of our own mind where the acceptability of the other person finds very little space.The reasons can be many but predominant amongst them is our materialistic attitude.Our own joys matter more to us than the grievances of others.We do not care to think twice on whether what we are doing is right or wrong.Everything at that point in time seems right to us because we stand to gain.We fail to foresee the after effects of what we are doing.And when we feel those after some period in time we try and ask for forgiveness from the person.We may be forgiven or not at that point in time is not in our hands.If we are fortunate enough we will get forgiveness which will clean out soul somewhat but the spot will remain deeply entrenched and many efforts would have to be made by us to clean it completely. If we have done someone some wrong and we know it consciously then no matter how hard we try this act of ours will come to haunt us definitely some day and in somepoint in time during our life. It is said that everything which we give comes back to us in some form or the other.This is the eternal law of the Universe.

Even before we start practicing the art of forgiveness, we should try and meditate and ask for forgiveness from the Supreme Soul.The moment we do that we will experience certain questions which will be asked from us by our own consciouness.The first & the last one would be " Why did you do an act which is so undivine?" We may have no answer to this and no matter how hard we try to reason, all answers will fall flat.This is the learning which GOD will impart at the first instance.When you open your eyes you will find that seeking forgiveness from Supreme is very hard because you are at fault.The Supreme anyways is going to forgive you not because you have asked for it but because it is his part within you which GOD wants to clean.You are just a means to carry a part of his consciousness within you as your soul.Your sinful thinking which tarnishes the soul needs to be cleaned by HIM since GOD cannot accept anything which is impure after your term on this earth expires.This would then make you think as to what is your entity.Frankly speaking NOTHING.You are no one since you do not have the power to create nature and its people.

So ask yourself a hundred times when you think of uttering even one word which is undivine and for which you will have to ask for forgiveness.Why do it when you can avoid it.Just mellow down yourself and think of only divine eternity as the true purpose of your life on this earth.Since what you own are only illusions and nothing more, then what is the need to cause grief and sorrow to others.Seeking forgiveness is your right only if you have committed some undivine act out of ignorance and not otherwise.We must try and act in a way where we should not ask for forgiveness from others but forgive others for what they do to us through ignorance of their existence on this beautiful planet.

Sanjiv Gupta
Creator Merrigold

Life is a poetry

The rising Sun
Makes me believe in myself
I dream of my ambitions
Rising like the new born Sun everyday
The flowers,the petals,the leaves,the green trees and the rich blue sky
Makes me dream of happiness all around
I see the world dancing on their feets
With beautiful people shaking hand with me
My eyes brim with tears
So loving,so caring are these all.
Times passes and the evening gets red
I see the Sun going down
With the dusk setting slowly and birds flying home
The quietness and the gloom which sets in with the darkness
And I see the other bends in Life,besides the sweet ones
Which leave a lasting impresssion till death of unhappy memories which cross you
For a moment I stand still...silent !
Then I smile
Maybe this is what Life`s all about
Making it interesting for us to live.
And as the dusk falls and night settles down
There is only one thought !
Before I go to sleep
Let the next morning Sun wake me up.

Sanjiv Gupta
Creator Merrigold

Discounting Yourself

Have you ever felt that you have been neglected even though you are a prominent person.Has this hurt you inside.It must have.This is but natural.When we consider ourselves important and expect people to shower us with attention then this feeling is bound to arise.But if we discount ourselves and just take things as they are without expecting attention from people around us then this feeling also will fade away.The more we discount ourselves the more peaceful we will feel.Discounting yourself is also a form of mind meditation where you look at life which exists within, in the form of your soul.It is the soul which is your true self and not the outside body.Our eyes see what our mind tells them to see.It is the mind which has the power to stir our emotions.But when you start discounting yourself then it is your soul which then starts changing your perspective and you start looking at things with a more straight forward viewpoint.

Most of the time the root to our greviances,discontent,frustation,jealousy and degeneration is when we fail to discount ourselves.Our own importance supersedes everything.What is it that we are trying to achieve?This is the question we need to ask ourselves everyday,every minutes and every second.Who are we that others should give us attention?What is it that we have done that we deserve to be garlanded with attention from everyone.Frankly speaking nothing!!.Whatever we have achieved is only worldly ambition.And we want even more.Have we done something to please our inner soul.Have we realized our true purpose of life.We have not.Whatever we have achieved till date without any consideration of spiritual existence is worthless.It is worthless because we cannot take it with us.It is going to remain here and others will enjoy it.So let us discount ourselves from the present and let it go.Why bother..if somebody has ignored you.Who is he to you.Nothing.It is your inner soul and GOD which should matter to you.But this realization will only come after you start practicing discounting yourself.Some people will have a query as to what discounting yourself means.There is a very simple explaination."When you start understanding that this body is an illusion and the world around is also an illusion and nothing matters except your connection with the Supreme Soul and it is HE who holds your strings of life and death and nobody else. When you start looking at all events and happenings around you with calm and quietness of the vision without any form of distorted thoughts that is when the force of Discounting Yourself gets operational within you."

7 Golden rules of Discounting Yourself

Close your eyes for 2 minutes

Concentrate on controlling your heart beat.

Breathe slowly

Just let go of all thoughts

Visualise yourself as the means and not the end.

Smile

Practice.

As you start practicing the art of Discounting Yourself 5 things are going to happen to you over a period of time.Maybe more.

You will feel more relaxed.

You will feel more happy.

You will be more calm and at peace with yourself.

Your relationships will improve.

Your spiritual side will get enhanced.

When we trap our mind with narrow thinking and materialistic approaches the outcome is always inflated egos.This entices us to look at how important we are and we fail entirely in logical patterns of behaviour.What will happen? We start getting annoyed,short tempered,jealous,anxious and grieved and take actions which are uncalled for.Our relationships with others as a result suffer.On the other hand if we allow the process of discounting ourselves to take control, we will feel more at peace with ourselves.

So let us try and practice this art of mind meditation and see how discounting oneself enriches life making it more compassionate,gracious and worthwhile living on this planet.

Sanjiv Gupta

Creator Merrigold