Yo Yogi
By Life Positive
July 2006
Time out with Ananda
Swetaketu
Kumar asked Ananda, ‘How can I believe there is God when I cannot see him?’
‘Wonderful question,’ said Ananda. ‘I will show you the answer.’
‘Bring me a fig from the fig tree here,’ he instructed. Kumar brought a fig.
Ananda asked him to break it.
‘What do you see now?’
‘Seeds – hundreds of them.’
‘Now break one of the seeds.’
With difficulty, Kumar did this too. ‘Do you see anything inside?’
‘No, there is nothing inside.’
‘Kumar, just because you cannot see it, that does not mean that there is not a wonderful principle at work in the seed, which is the cause of the whole fig tree. This is God, the principle of the Universe to which we all belong,’ said Ananda. ‘This is what Svetaketu, a young boy, asked many, many years ago and the answer to this question remains eternally true.’
Kumar looked at the seed and the tree, this time with reverence and awe.
(Adapted from the story of Svetaketu in Chhandogya Upanishad)
Did you know?
The Hero of Jaipur
The ‘Jaipur Foot’ is an artificial limb – a marvelous invention of master craftsman Pandit Ram Chandra Sharma. For all the thousands whose legs were amputated, Sharma not only created a limb that was affordable and suitable for Indian conditions, but is now used all over the world. This 85-year-old amazing man continues to work in Jaipur, still helping many more people lead a normal life.
Cheers to this real life hero who has touched scores of lives all over the world!
Mind Blowers
Wat-er Trick
You are standing next to a well, and you have two jugs. One jug has a content of 3 liters and the other one has a content of 5 liters.
How can you get just 4 liters of water using only these two jugs?
Answer: Fill the 5-liter jug. Then, fill the 3-liter jug to the top with water from the 5-liter jug. Now you have 2 liters of water in the 5-liter jug. Remove the water from the 3-liter jug and pour what’s in the 5-liter jug into the 3-liter jug. Then refill the 5-liter jug, and fill up the 3-liter jug to the top from it. Since there were already 2 liters of water in the 3-liter jug, 1 liter is removed from the 5-liter jug, leaving 4 liters of water in the 5-liter jug.
On or Off
A light bulb is hanging in a room. Outside the room there are three switches, of which only one is connected to the lamp. You can turn the switches from outside any number of times, but you cannot see whether the light comes on. On entering, you have two chances to determine the right switch. How can you make sure you do this?
Answer: To find the correct switch (1, 2, or 3), turn on switch 1 and leave it like that for a few minutes. After that you turn switch 1 off, and turn on switch 2. Now enter the room. If the light bulb is lit, then you know that switch 2 is connected to it. If the bulb is not lit, then it has to be switch 1 or 3. Now touch the bulb. If the bulb is still hot, then switch 1 was the correct one; if the bulb is cold, then it has to be switch 3.
Poems that Please
One Step at a Time
I pushed away my sitar in a sudden fit of despair,
No matter how hard I tried, the ‘Music’ just wasn’t there. Amma peeked in and lovingly delivered her famous line…
‘Don’t give up, my little one. Take one step at a time.’
Watch your little sister, her wobbly baby gait,
She’s fallen more times than she’s walked! She hasn’t given up… to date!
Watch her smile when she manages to walk without a fall The effort’s been much but the result has been worth it all!
If everything in life came too easily to you.
Where is the sense of achievement in whatever you do?
It is only when we push ourselves to perform a little bit more That the success we receive is enjoyed right down to the core.
What separates the ordinary life from the extraordinary one?
Why do some reach greater heights and why do some reach none?
It’s the road that they have taken, the rocky – less-traveled – way That has made THE difference to their lives today.
No city has ever been built without that first red brick.
And perseverance to complete the job is the basic trick
To ensure that you reach your goal and enjoy the fulfillment that comes…
Put all of yourself in your job and see that it is well done.
But you must remember that Mr Success rarely comes alone
He’s accompanied by ‘Failure’ with whom a strong friendship he’s sown.
To know Success, you must be exposed to Failure too sometimes
Those who go through that willingly are those with extraordinary minds.
Sometimes we are confronted by a job that just can’t be done.
With your prayers to The Lord, learn to let go, my little one.
Some things in our lives were never meant to be.
Place your trust in the Lord and set your mind and your heart free.
Archana Savnal
(Courtesy : The Chitrapur Sunbeam)
Laugh Out Loud
Teacher: Draw a picture of bacteria
Amit (immediately): Here it is, Madam.
Teacher: Where? You haven’t drawn anything.
Amit: But Madam, you told us that bacteria
cannot be seen with the naked eye.
A teacher to a parent
Teacher: Your son has cheated in his examinations.
Parent: I challenge you to prove it.
Teacher: Well, the first answer of your son’s
partner was yes and so was your son’s.
Parent: So that proves nothing.
Teacher: Well, for the second question your son’s partner wrote, ‘I don’t know’ and your son wrote, ‘Neither do I’.
Teacher: What is the height of Mt Everest?
Ramesh: It is 5.2 cm, Madam, I measured it in my geography textbook.
Teacher: Working together is a good thing.
Student: Sir, then why do you stop us when we work together during our examination?
Teacher: Can someone give us a sentence using the word ‘archaic’?
Student: We can’t have archaic and eat it too.
Teacher: If your father earned Rs 3,000 a month and he gave your mother half, what would she have?
Student: A heart attack.
Teacher: What is the purpose of having school?
Student: Without school there wouldn’t be a reason for holidays and a summer vacation.
Student: Is it true that the Law of Gravity keeps us on earth?
Teacher: Yes, that is true.
Student: What kept us on earth before the law was passed?
Teacher: What can you tell me about the Dead Sea?
Student: Dead? I didn’t even know he was sick!
Student: Teacher, I can’t solve this problem.
Teacher: Any five-year-old should be able to solve this one.
Student: No wonder I can’t do it then, I’m nearly ten!