Self Help & Misc. Instresting Stuff.

[DSM]

For anybody interested in documentaries.... educative, informative, insightful, funny and more.....

http://documentaryheaven dot com/popular/

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PS : As usual, use your own judgement while watching, as all documentary makers may not be without their own bias.....

 

[DSM]

Fate and Free Will - Devdutt Pattnaik

http://devdutt.com/articles/indian-mythology/playing-with-fate-and-free-will.html

(Is our destiny predetermined? Have always pondered on this question. Here's an interesting story on the subject about fate, free will, effort and intelligence from Vana Parva ("The Book of the Forest") of the Mahabharata.)


Typically, Indians are considered a fatalistic people. We believe in karma, that life is pre-determined. And yet, we find the following story throws interesting light on interaction of will and fate….

Once upon a time, there was a princess called Savitri, who was the only child of her father. She fell in love with Satyavan, a prince whose father had been driven out of his kingdom by his enemies, and so lived in abject poverty in the forest. Her father opposed this marriage not only because Satyavan was poor but also because he was destined to die within a year of marriage.

But Savitri followed her heart nevertheless. A year of happy married life followed. A year later, at the appointed hour, Yama, the god of death, hurled his noose and took Satyavan’s life out of his body. Savitri followed him. “Go back and cremate his body,” he advised her. She refused to do so and kept following Yama into the land of the dead. Exasperated, he offered her three boons so that she would go away, “Anything except the life of your husband.”

Savitri first asked that her father-in-law regain his kingship. Then she asked her father get a son and heir. And finally she asked that she be the mother of Satyavan’s sons. “So be it,” said Yama and continued on his journey to the land of the dead. After some time he noticed that Savitri was still following him. “You gave me your word that you would return to the land of the living,” he said. “You give me no choice. You said I would be the mother of Satyavan’s children. How can a dead body make me a mother? I must therefore follow Satyavan’s soul into the land of the dead.” Yama realized he had been outwitted. As custodian of the laws of karma, his boons had to be realized. The only way for Savitri to bear Satyavan’s children was to make Satyavan’s alive again. And so it happened.

Traditionally, women are told to read the story of Savitri during the ritual known as Vata-Savitri. At the same time, the women are told to go around the Banyan tree seven times. The Banyan tree is the tree under which Satyavan is supposed to have died. Conventionally, people believe that women are supposed to do this ritual for the long life of the husband. The Banyan tree represents long life and permanence making the ritual a sympathetic ritual, where we act out our desire. By going around the symbol of permanence and reading the tale of the woman who brought her dead husband back to life, people believe women can protect themselves from widowhood, which is traditionally considered to be the worst fate for a woman in a patriarchal society.

Now, in a fatalistic society, such a ritual should not exist. Whatever will happen will happen so why pray and perform rituals. Clearly, it means people believe it is possible to change fate by intense will and by the grace of God. This is even more evident in the story itself. Here is a woman who walks into what seems like a terrible fate and she single handedly changes her fate. She even does the impossible, brings her husband back to life. How does she do it? First, she has the desire, then the will power, then the effort and finally the intelligence. Thus, the scriptures say that it is possible to overturn what is written in destiny by the grit of our will.

 

[DSM]

Quotes :

(These quotes are taken from a book based on 'The Gita' Am not able to recollect the name, though I had saved the quotes in my notes.... and they have application in trading)

The root cause of indecisiveness are ignorance, lack of knowledge and fear of taking risk.

It is wisdom that differentiates knowledge with the application of knowledge.

With intellect we see possible alternatives. With wisdom we choose the one that is right. Intellect gives reason to doubt. Wisdom provides a solution to doubts.

Wisdom is true knowledge that destroys ignorance.

 

[DSM]

Some musing over the weekend.....

Source : Twitter, Mail, Facebook and Whatsapp

After Brexit, apparently what follows is:

Grexit
Departugal
Italeave
Czechout
Oustria
Finish
Byegium

***

A man visits a mental hospital. He sees a patient with torn clothes and unkempt hair shouting "Lolita, Lolita !!"

He asks the doctor about the reason for the patient's behavior. The doctor says the patient used to love a girl called Lolita but couldn't marry her. So he became mad.

The man visits the next ward. There also he sees another patient with torn clothes & unkempt hair shouting "Lolita !! Lolita !!"

The man asks the doctor, what happened to him?

The doctor replies : "This one married Lolita" :lol:

***

Farmer Joe once lived on a quiet rural highway but as time went by, the traffic slowly built up and eventually got so heavy and so fast that his free range chickens were being run over, at a rate of three to six a week.

So Farmer Joe called the local police station to complain, "You've got to do something about all these people driving so fast and killing all my chickens," he said to the local police officer. So the next day the policeman had the Council erect a sign that said : 'SCHOOL CROSSING'. However, it had no effect, and farmer Joe’s chicken continued to be run over. So again, they put up a new sign : But that did not work either…

So Farmer Joe asked to put up your own sign. After which, Farmer Joe’s phone calls to the Police Station stopped. So curiosity got the better of the Officer, so he called Farmer Joe, “How’s the problem with the speeding drivers. Did you put up your sign?"

"Oh, I sure did and not one chicken has been killed."

The policeman was curious and went to take a look at the sign. It said :

'NUDIST COLONY' 'Slow down and watch chicks! :lol:

***

A senior citizen drove his brand new Mercedes to 100 mph, looking in his rear view mirror , he saw a police car behind him. He floored it to 140 , then 150, ... then 170, ... Suddenly he thought, "I'm too old for this nonsense !" So he pulled over to the side of the road and waited for the police car to catch up with him .

The officer walked up to him, looked at his watch and said, "Sir, my shift ends in ten minutes. Today is Friday and I'm taking off for the weekend. If you can give me a good reason that I've never heard before for why you were speeding. I'll let U go."

The Man looked very seriously at the police man, and replied :- "Years ago, my wife ran off with a policeman, I thought you were bringing her back." !!!

The Cop left saying, " Have a good day, Sir " :lol:

***

And finally...... Difference between Hollywood and Bollywood:

Hollywood:- And the Oscar goes to....

Bollywood :- And the Sansui Colors Pan Parag Award powered by MDH Degi Mirch and Maruti Suzuki Celerio goes to...... :lol:

***

Two opposite words are mixed up in each of the following words. If you find out one word, the other will be its opposite.

Example: IOUNT = IN x OUT

So what are these?

1. STHAOLRLT
2. BSUEYLL
3. WDERTY
4. PWEACAER
5. FBARCOKNT
6. BEENGDIN
7. LGOASISN
8. PROIORCH
9. ARLNKUW
10.IEONDBR

 

[Buzzstop]

"Most people know me, but don't know my story. At the age of 3, I watched my father leave. I attended four different high schools and struggled with dyslexia, making my education more challenging than it is for most. Eventually I left high school without earning a diploma. At the age of 23, my closest friend River Phoenix died of a drug overdose. In 1998, I met Jennifer Syme. We fell instantly in love and by 1999, Jennifer was pregnant with our daughter. Sadly, after eight months, our child was born stillborn. We were devastated by her death and it eventually ended our relationship. 18 months later, Jennifer would died in a car accident. Since then I avoid serious relationships and having kids. My younger sister had lukemia. Today she is cured, and I donated 70% of my gains from the movie Matrix to Hospitals that treat leukemia. I am one of the only Hollywood stars without a Mansion. I don't have any bodyguards and do not wear fancy clothes. And even though I'm worth $100 million, I still ride the subway and I love it! So in the end, I think we can all pretty well agree that even in the face of tragedy, a stellar person can thrive. No matter what's going on in your life, you can overcome it! Life is worth living.” Keanu Reeves

 

[DSM]

Post Brexit, new EU regulation :

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility to aussage the British. But as part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi TU understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

If zis mad you smil congratulations you have learnt German within minutes. :lol::lol::lol:

 

[DSM]

'Drifting kites' by Twinkle Khanna... (Edited excerpt)

Source : Whatsapp

10 am: I'm enjoying Sunday breakfast with the whole family. My in-laws always put enough food on the table to feed half of Amritsar. We're digging into aloo parathas with home-made ghee and as I am despairing at the horrific number of calories being consumed, the phone rings and we get some terrible news. A family friend has lost her young son. The young man, in his early 20s, went to America to attend a friend's wedding, left a suicide note on Facebook and killed himself before anyone could reach him.

I cannot even begin to imagine what his mother is going through. There is no pain greater than losing a child. You start worrying about these tiny beings -- from the time they are in your stomach; from hearing their heartbeats on the sonogram and counting kicks in your last trimester -- you begin your journey of worry. You worry about their health, their education, their careers, their spouses, their children... Worrying, but not really believing that one unlucky day your greatest fear may actually come true.

You lose a child to an accident or an illness and with a broken heart. You console yourself that you did your best, it's perhaps God's will, he has gone to a better place; but when your child decides that the life he has been given, the life where everything he knows is what you have taught him, is not worth living, how do you live with that? How do you stop blaming yourself? How do you go on?

We teach our children to study hard, to strive to succeed but do we teach them that it's okay to fail? That life is about accepting yourself? That there is no stigma in seeking help? Our Indian culture is based on worshipping our parents. We grow up listening to words like respect, obedience and tradition. Can we not add the words communication, unconditional love and support to this list?

I look at the WHO research. The highest rate of suicide in India is among the age group of 15 to 29. Do we even talk to our teens about this?

6.30 pm: I am standing in the balcony, sipping some coffee and looking at the sunset. The children have taken the dogs and gone down to play on the beach. I spot my son. He is standing on the sand, right at the edge of the ocean and is flying a blue kite.

The kite goes high and then swings low till it almost seems to fall into the water and all I want to say to him is that soon he will see that life is just like flying a kite. Sometimes you have to leave it loose, sometimes you have to hold on tight, sometimes your kite will fly effortlessly, sometimes you will not be able to control it and even when you are struggling to keep it afloat and the string is cutting into your hand, don't let go. The wind will change in your favour once again, my son. Just don't let go

 

[DSM]

Reposted.... Interesting and not too difficult challenge for the weekend....

Two opposite words are mixed up in each of the following words. If you find out one word, the other will be its opposite.

Example: IOUNT = IN x OUT

So what are these?

1. STHAOLRLT
2. BSUEYLL
3. WDERTY
4. PWEACAER
5. FBARCOKNT
6. BEENGDIN
7. LGOASISN
8. PROIORCH
9. ARLNKUW
10.IEONDBR

 

[badarivt]

SHORT TALL
BUY SELL
WET DRY
PEACE WAR
FRONT BACK
BEGIN END
LOSS GAIN
POOR RICH
WALK RUN

Last one?

 

[DSM]

Great!!! That was quick... The last one is BORN DIE

SHORT TALL
BUY SELL
WET DRY
PEACE WAR
FRONT BACK
BEGIN END
LOSS GAIN
POOR RICH
WALK RUN

Last one?