Ashok Anchan

A sage in India had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his shoulder. In that two pots one had a crack while the other was in perfect shape. At the end of the long walkfrom the stream to the temple, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to the temple. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its imperfection as it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the sage. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you. I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts." The divine sage smiled and said lovingly, "Did you...

Last night we ran our first teleseminar on Intention, which was fantastically well-attended by people all over the world. If you missed it, we’ll be running another one soon on developing intuition, so stay tuned. One of the questions I repeatedly receive during workshops such as last night’s is how to protect yourself from the collective negative effect and intention of a group. Why do certain groups fairly irradiate ‘bad vibes’ and others joyful ones? Why is it that when you attend certain events you are elated and yet others leave you feeling utter depressed? How can you prevent yourself from becoming ‘infected’ by it, most people ask? What kind of psychic protection do you need? Recently I found a fascinating answer to this, in the work of Professor Sigal Barsade, who teaches management at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. Transformed office As a young graduate student, Sigal went to work one day and noticed that something fundamentally had changed – so...

Back in the third century there lived a King named Ts'ao. He had a son name Prince Tai. Since Tai was to succeed his father as King, the King wanted the Master Teacher Pan Ku to teach the boy the basics of being a good ruler. When the Prince arrived at the temple, the master Pan-Ku sent him alone to the forest. After one year, the prince was to return to the temple to describe the sound of the forest. When Prince Tai returned after a year, Pan Ku asked the boy to describe all that he could hear. "Master", replied the Prince, "I could hear the cuckoos sing, the leaves rustle, the humming bird hum, the crickets chirp, the grass blow, the bees buzz and the wind whisper and holler." When the Prince had finished, the master told him to go back to the forest to listen to what more he could hear. The Prince was puzzled by the Master's request. Had he not discerned every sound already ? For days and nights on end, the young prince sat alone in the forest listening, ...

Vivek Pradhan was not a happy man. Even the plush comfort of the air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdi express could not cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and still not entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with the admin person, it was the savings in time. As PM, he had so many things to do. He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use. Are you from the software industry sir," the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop. Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car. "You people have brought so much advancement to the country sir. Today everything is getting computerized. " "Thanks," smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a look. He always found it difficult to resist appreciation. The man was young and stocky like a sports...

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver andget back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watchhim at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fireand let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner andpurifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being r...

It was the ninth night of the war at Kurukshetra. The exact midpoint of the legendary 18-day bloodbath. Not the start, not the end, but the middle. The war had been inconclusive. Sometimes the Kauravas led by the old sire Bhisma had the upper hand; sometimes the Pandavas led by the young warlord, Dhristadhyumna, Draupadi's twin brother, had the upper hand. A see-saw that was going nowhere. "Bhisma loves us too much to defeat us," said the Pandavas. "Yet not enough to let us win," reminded Krishna. "He must die, if dharma has to be established. " But Bhisma had been given a boon by his father that he could choose the time of his death. No one could therefore kill him. "If we cannot kill him, we must at least immobilize him." "But no one can defeat him," said the Pandavas. "Even the great Parashurama could not overpower him in a duel. So long he holds a weapon in hand he is invincible." "Then we must make him lower his ...

A man once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. "Where is the damage?" he asked. "There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work. "Where are you going to install the idol?" The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked. The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I will know it." The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates i...

Buddha, one day, was in deep thought about the worldly activities and the ways of instilling goodness in human beings. One of his disciples approached him and said humbly " Oh my teacher ! While you are so much concerned about the world and others, why don't you look in to the welfare and needs of your own disciples also." Buddha : "OK.. Tell me how I can help you" Disciple : "Master! My attire is worn out and is beyond the decency to wear the same. Can I get a new one, please?" Buddha found the robe indeed was in a bad condition and needed replacement. He asked the store keeper to give the disciple a new robe to wear on. The disciple thanked Buddha and retired to his room. A while later, he went to his disciple's place and asked him "Is your new attire comfortable? Do you need anything more?" Disciple: "Thank you my Master. The attire is indeed very comfortable. I need nothing more" Buddha : "Having got the new one, what d...