LISTENING

Man learns less by reading, more by observing and the maximum by listening. Research proves that we learn 80 per cent of what we know by listening but most of us absorb just 25 per cent of what we hear. Books are vocal words told in black and white. Speech is not always lip service. It can motivate, enlighten, guide, clarify, provoke, educate, inform and entertain.

Listening requires to be learnt. Everyone talks but only a few listen. We hear to overhear and drop to eavesdrop. Gettan, a Zen monk used to say, “When you have a talking mouth, you have no listening ears.” People love their own voice more than the symphony of Mozart. Read More...

PLAYING WITH FIRE

Fire is beautiful. One gets enthralled at viewing the sanguine sky during dawn and dusk. Fire maintains its eternal pristine purity. Air gets congested, water gets poisoned, earth gets polluted and sky becomes saturnine but fire remains untouched. Water tends to go down and fire always flares up. It aims high and stays pointed. If energy is directed upwards it is meditation and when it flows down the lane it is indulgence. Water cleanses but gets turbid. Fire distills without getting disturbed or distorted. Fire burns but also purifies, destroys but distills, scorches but synthesizes. Fire multiplies on its own. A spark can become an inferno and a leak can lead to a holocaust. Light envisages god and enlightenment implies realization. Read More...

A cup of Tea

An ounce of tea has gallons of antiquity. It is replete with resplendent history, mesmerizing mythology and appealing anecdotes to its credit. It is the oldest beverage and still widely drunk for its rejuvenating capacity and refreshing quality. It triggers the dimensions of our dynamism. To day, it competes only with water in consumption.

The origin of tea and the discovery of its taste were purely serendipity. Chinese emperor Shen Nung was a serious stickler for boiling water. Once, it was done in garden and the leaves from a nearby plant accidentally fell to render the water brown. The emperor drank the mixture and declared it a delicacy. He eulogized it as donor of ‘vigour of body, contentment of mind and determination of purpose’.Read More...