Nice, Akash.
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Nice, Akash.
Akash, thanks ...i've always admired Swami Vivekanantha... :thumbsup:
Me too, NM :D
"Our Thoughts Make things Beautiful,
Our Thoughts Make things Ugly,
The Whole World is in our OWN mind"
- Swami Vivekananda
Not sure if this is authentic, but still, interesting read!!
Believe it or not ... Of all tales of the supernatural, this one is
perhaps the best documented, the most disturbing and the most difficult to explain.
The Princess of Amen-Ra lived some 1,500 years before Christ. When she died, she was laid in an ornate wooden coffin and buried deep in a vault at Luxor, on the banks of the Nile.In the late 1890s, four rich young Englishmen visiting the excavations at
Luxor were invited to buy an exquisitely fashioned mummy case containing the remains of Princess of Amen-Ra. They drew lots. The man who won paid several thousand pounds and had the coffin taken to his hotel. A few hours later, he was seen walking out towards the desert. He never returned.
The next day, one of the remaining three men was shot by an Egyptian servant accidentally. His arm was so severely wounded and had to be amputated. The third man in the foursome found on his return home that the bank holding his entire savings had failed. The fourth guy suffered a severe illness, lost his job and was
reduced to selling matches in the street.
Nevertheless, the coffin reached England (causing other misfortunes along the way); here it was bought by a London businessman. After three of his family members had been injured in a road accident and his house damaged by fire, the businessman donated it to the British Museum.
As the coffin was being unloaded from a truck in the museum courtyard, the truck suddenly went into reverse and trapped a passerby. Then, as the casket was being lifted up the stairs by two workmen, one fell and broke his leg. The other, apparently in perfect health, died unaccountably two days later.
Once the Princess was installed in the Egyptian Room, trouble really
started. Museum's night watchmen requently heard frantic hammering and sobbing from the coffin. Other exhibits in the room were also often hurled about at night. One watchman died on duty causing the other watchmen to quit. Cleaners refused to go near the Princess too.
When a visitor derisively flicked a dust cloth at the face painted on the coffin, his child died of measles soon afterwards. Finally, the authorities had the mummy carried down to the x-udment. Figuring it could not do any harm down there. Within a week, one of the helpers was seriously ill, and the supervisor of the move was found dead at his desk.
By now, the papers had heard of it. A journalist photographer took a picture of the mummy case and when he developed it, the painting on the coffin was of a horrifying, human face. The photographer was said to have gone home then, locked his bedroom door and shot himself.
Soon afterwards, the museum sold the mummy to a private collector. After continual misfortune (and deaths), the owner banished it to the attic. A well known authority on the occult, Madame Helena Blavatsky, visited the premises. Upon entry, she was seized with a shivering fit and searched the house for the source of "an evil influence of incredible intensity." She finally came to the attic and found the mummy case. "Can you exorcise
this evil spirit?" asked the owner. "There is no such thing as exorcism," she said. "Evil remains evil forever. Nothing can be done about it. I implore you to get rid of this evil as soon as possible."
But no British museum would take the mummy; the fact that almost twenty people had met with misfortune, disaster or death from handling the casket, in barely ten years, was now well known.
Eventually, a hardheaded American archaeologist (who dismissed the happenings as quirks of circumstance), paid a handsome price for the mummy and arranged for its removal to New York. In April 1912, the new owner escorted his treasure aboard a sparkling, new White Star liner about to make its maiden voyage to New York.
On the night of April 14, amid scenes of unprecedented horror, the Princess of Amen-Ra accompanied 1,500 passengers to their deaths at the bottom of the Atlantic.
The name of the ship was the Titanic.
The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully
dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably coiffed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.
Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.
After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready.
As she manoeuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual
description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window.
"I love it," she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.
"Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room ..just wait."
"That doesn't have anything to do with it, "she replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged... it's how I arrange my mind.
"I already decided to love it. It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.
"Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away just for this time in my life.
"Old age is like a bank account: you withdraw from what you've put in.
"So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories.
"Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still
depositing."
Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less
1. TODAY I WILL NOT STRIKE BACK:
If someone is rude, if someone is impatient, if someone is unkind... I will not respond in a like manner.
2. TODAY I WILL ASK GOD TO BLESS MY "ENEMY":
If I come across someone who treats me harshly or unfairly, I will quietly ask God to bless that individual. I understand the "enemy" could be a family member, neighbor, co-worker, or a stranger.
3. TODAY I WILL BE CAREFUL ABOUT WHAT I SAY:
I will carefully choose and guard my words being certain that I do not spread gossip.
4. TODAY I WILL GO THE EXTRA MILE:
I will find ways to help share the burden of another person.
5. TODAY I WILL FORGIVE:
I will forgive any hurts or injuries that come my way.
6. TODAY I WILL DO SOMETHING NICE FOR SOMEONE, BUT I WILL NOT DO IT SECRETLY:
I will reach out anonymously and bless the life of another.
7. TODAY I WILL TREAT OTHERS THE WAY I WISH TO BE TREATED:
I will practice the golden rule - "Do unto others as I would have them do unto me" - with everyone I encounter.
8. TODAY I WILL RAISE THE SPIRITS OF SOMEONE I DISCOURAGED:
My smile, my words, my expression of support, can make the difference to someone who is wrestling life.
9. TODAY I WILL NUTURE MY BODY:
I will eat less; I will eat only healthy foods. I will thank God for my body.
10. TODAY I WILL GROW SPIRITUALLY:
I will spend a little more time in prayer today: I will begin reading something spiritual or inspirational today; I will find a quiet place (at some point during the day) and listen to God's voice!
A stranger was walking thru' a construction site where hundreds of men were busy at work. The sun was hot and not a cloud was there in the sky. The workers were complaining about everything- the heat, the lousy tools, the other workers, the design of the building. Everything.
Each time the stranger walked past a sweating worker, he'd ask, "What are you doing?" And each worker would scowl and angrily reply, " What does it look like? I'm laying bricks. Get out of here and leave me alone!"
But one man stood out from the rest. Though he was soaked in dust and filth from brick and mortar, he was humming a tune and the stranger could swear that he was smiling.
" All of these men are miserable except you," commented the stranger. " You 're all slaving away under the same hot sun, doing the same hard work over and over. Yet you're smiling while laying bricks while others are swearing.Why?"
The smiling worker turned to him, mopped his brow and replied in a strong, proud voice- " I'm smiling beacuse I'm just not laying bricks. I'm building a Cathedral."
So, WHAT ARE YOU BUILDING?
Albert Einstein was once introduced to the eighteen-month-old son of a young friend. The infant looked into the old physicist's wizened face and promptly began to bawl.
"You're the first person for years," Einstein declared, patting the child on the head, "who has told me what you really think of me."
***********************
During the Cannes Film Festival one year, Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, were invited to attend a party aboard a luxury yacht. As they approached the party in a smaller boat, Maria began to feel terribly seasick. "Darling, for God's sake be a grown-up," Schwarzenegger snapped. "What's a little rough sea?"
Once they were safely aboard the yacht, Maria found her sea legs and soon felt fine. And Arnold?
He promptly turned green (in front of about eighty guests) and had to be helped off the ship and hurried to shore.
*************************
One day during rush hour, George Shearing (who had been blind since birth) found himself at a busy Manhattan intersection, waiting for someone to help him across the street.
After waiting for some time, he was finally tapped on the shoulder. Unfortunately, it was another blind man, seeking similar assistance. What did Shearing do?
"What could I do?" Shearing later laughed. "I took him across - and it was the biggest thrill of my life!"
**************************
Charlie Chaplin once entered a Charlie Chaplin Look-Alike Contest in Monte Carlo, Monaco. He was placed third.
A SOULFUL RELATIONSHIP
An African proverb states, "Before you get married, keep both eyes
open, and after you marry, close one eye."
Before you get involved and make a commitment to someone, don't let lust, desperation, immaturity, ignorance, pressure from others or a low self-esteem, make you blind to warning signs.
Keep your eyes open, and don't fool yourself that you can change
someone or that what you see as faults aren't really important.
Once you decide to commit to someone, over time his or her flaws,
vulnerabilities, pet peeves, and differences will become more
obvious.
If you love your mate and want the relationship to grow and evolve, you've got to learn to close one eye and not let every little thing bother you.
You and your mate have many different expectations, emotional
needs, values, dreams, weaknesses, and strengths. Neither of you are perfect, but are you perfect for each other? Do you bring out the best in each other?
Do you compliment and compromise with each other, or do you
compete, compare, and control?
What do you bring to the relationship?
Do you bring past relationships, past hurt, past mistrust, past
pain?
You can't take someone to the altar to alter him or her. You can't make someone love you or make someone stay. If you develop self-esteem, spiritual discernment, and "a life", you won't find yourself making someone else responsible for your happiness or responsible for your pain.
Manipulation, control, jealousy, neediness, and selfishness are not
the ingredients of a thriving, healthy, loving and lasting
relationship!
Seeking status, sex, wealth, and security are the wrong reasons to
be in a relationship.
What keeps a relationship strong?
1.Communication, intimacy, trust, a sense of humor, sharing
household tasks, some getaway time without business or children and daily exchanges (a meal, shared activity, a hug, a call, a touch, a note).
2.Leave a nice message on the voicemail or send a nice email.
3.Sharing common goals and interests.
4.Growth is important. Grow together, not away from each
other, giving each other pace to grow without feeling insecure.
5. Allow your mate to have outside interest. You can't always
be together. Give each other a sense of belonging and assurances of commitment.
6. Don't try to control one another.
7.Learn each other's family situation. Respect his or her
parents regardless.
8.Don't put pressure on each other for material goods.
Remember for richer or for poorer.
9.If these qualities are missing, the relationship will erode
as resentment, withdrawal, abuse, neglect, dishonesty, and pain
replace the passion.
10.The difference between 'United' and 'Untied' is where you
put the i.
wow.... this thread is absolutely great... i must say this is the first thread that i read through from the very beginning to the very end.... i just wish i had something to add of my own.... but nothing on hand at present.... but i give u my word, i will be back in abt two days with some jewels..... i have some things at home....
anyway before i sign off i just want to say again that this thread is awesome.....