A Thought for Today-433:

Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation, you do not find it among gross people - Dr Johnson

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A Thought for Today-432:

There is no religion higher than truth - Veda

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A Thought for Today-431:

Values are the norms, goals or purposes that one chooses in order to give a sense of direction and meaning to one's life. They are the integrative forces that bring about knowledge in one's personality - Philomena Aquado

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A Thought for Today-430:

Silence is the safest policy, if you are unsure of yourself - La Rochefoucauld

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A Thought for Today-429:

Without labour nothing prospers - Sophocles

Picture of the day-261:

Self-Improvement,-81: How to Transform oneself by Sathguru Jaggi Vasudev

Grateful thanks to Sathguru Jaggi Vasudev, YouTube and IshaFoundationVideo.

A Thought for Today-428:

A  pound  of  pluck  is  worth  a  ton  of  luck - James A Garfield

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Picture of the day-259:

A Thought for Today-427:

Occupation is scythe of time - Napoleon

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A Thought for Today-426:

There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds - Tennyson

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Random Thoughts-37: Unique Talent

I strongly believe that every living being is endowed with some unique talent.  Take human beings, nay take only Indians; the figure runs to more than a billion.  Then take the entire population of the world.  Go further, take all the living things including plants, animals, insects etc.  You get a mind-boggling number.  Still I believe every living being is endowed with some unique talent or the other.  No kidding.

The tragedy of life is most of us, human beings, are not even aware of this fact.  Even those who are aware of it - or who get an inkling of it now and then - never pursue or probe it further.  Tragedy again.  Some of us - the number dwindles down further - do not stop with the awareness but try to identify it; look for it; search for it.  The number is down further.  Sometimes life is gone before we identify it.  Greater tragedy.  The few who nurture it, cultivate it but use it only for their own selfish ends or still worse, use it to oppress or exploit others.  Even greater tragedy.  Then there is the luckiest few who become aware of their unique talent at a very young age, nurture it cultivate it, allow it to blossom and manifest it in their lives; they go further and use it not only for their own welfare, not only for the welfare of near and dear but also to the welfare of the world at large.  I feel only these people find fulfillment in their life.  Their life becomes meaningful, purposeful and fruitful.

What stops others in making life meaningful and fruitful?  Past karma? Lack of effort?  Plain laziness? Lack of divine grace?  or something else?  Honestly, I don't know.

But I do know this.  The least one can do is to strive.  To borrow a few lines from Tennyson's Ulysses, Strive, Seek, Find and Never Yield.  Never yield to distractions, temptations, unmanliness, slovenliness, laziness and faint-heartedness. Continued effort, relentless effort with a strong will - that is what is needed.  I am sure divine grace shall follow.

There is this assurance of Lord Krishna in the Gita:

NO  EFFORT  IS  EVER  WASTED.

Let each one of us put in our efforts to the best of our ability.  All the best.

A Thought for Today-426:

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost;  that is where they should be; now put foundations under them - Pope Leo