Fear gives Power

This is a Moorish proverb: “He who is afraid of a thing gives it power over him.” The Moors were the medieval Muslim inhabitants of Morocco, Western Algeria, Western Sahara, Mauritania, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta.

This is an old wisdom that a minority keeps in mind to resist fear. They are the successful minority.

Why do lions roar? The roaring sound of the lion sends a chill into the heart of weaker animals. The roar of lions announces their presence in and around. The bigger the sound nearer they are. The ancient Kings in war used this tactics to defeat their enemies even before the war actually begin. They scared the enemies by a show of their might.

Fear is the strongest emotion of 21 century.

What is fear?

Fear is an apprehension of sufferings and loss. Fear is an emotion over something unpleasant which may occur in future. Fear is an unwelcome anticipation of pain, hunger, sickness, torture, dishonor etc. We are afraid of loss of property, income, time, health, power, honour and life itself.

Fear is caused by the belief in the existence of other personalities or powers that is against our life.
These personalities and powers are evil people and evil supernatural powers. Fear may have its base in our past life/the life of other people.

Fear has positive side too. It effects self restraint on us. Since we are afraid of suffering and loss, we try to avoid thoughts, words and action that may cause suffering and loss to us.

Fear as a negative emotion always has an enemy on the other side. It tells us always that we will be proven impotent against the enemy at any time in our life.

So we try to keep away the fearsome suffering and loss.

HOW

1. By trying to please the enemy/fear
2. Entering into a compromise/treaty with the enemy
3. By avoiding a confrontation with the enemy
4. By joining hands with a more powerful personality

The first three methods are that are of a coward.
We are acknowledging that you are afraid of the enemy.

We acknowledge:

His existence
His power to harm you
Your inability to stand against him.

By acknowledging the above three means we agree to remain subservient to fear.

That is what the Moorish proverb says. We are giving power and authority over us to fear. Hence fear rules over you.

Fear has many arrows in his quiver to keep us servile. Once we have subdued to him, it is difficult to escape. He is a relentless enemy who follows us to the grave. He will never bless us. He will try to ruin those who are disobedient to his authority.

He will try to convince us that:

We have no authority or no free will over our life
Everything in our life is controlled by fate or by some supernatural enemy power
Every happening is predestined and hence it will happen whatever we may do
The only way of escape is to live in fear of fear and subservient to fear.

The last option to escape fear of unexpected suffering and loss is to join a more powerful personality. People call Him GOD. God is almighty, omnipotent and omnipresent. Those who have joined hands with God have decided to fight against fear.

They believe that:

God is almighty – there none more powerful than God and hence more powerful than the enemy.
God is beneficent
God does not want us to live in subservience
With God we can overcome all enemies

Their decision is to:

Fight against fear
Defeat fear
Live a life of victory

The only option available to those who wish to live a life of victory is to fight and defeat fear.

Those who do not believe in the existence of God may try to depend on the power of their mind to defeat fear.

Let us conclude:
If you are afraid of fear, you live a defeated live, subservient to fear
Those who live a victorious life over fear live resisting, fighting, defeating and overcoming fear.

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://www.professorjacobabraham.com

Run towards the roar

I have read the following narration somewhere I do not remember now. But it is sure that I have read it in some book of inspiring thoughts. It is about a trick used by African lions to catch innocent lambs. I believe this behavior of African lions is true and reliable.

 

As lions grow old, it is natural to them to become weak physically. Their sound is distorted, their limbs become weak, tooth falls and body becomes lean. The whole appearance announces their old age. They cannot run fast as they used to, they cannot roar as they did in their young days and they cannot pounce upon their prey as they could before. They sleep most of the times and roar with hunger while they are awake. Hunger does not give space to old age and its weakness. They feel hungry but cannot catch prey as before.

 

However we should not assume that old lions lay idle waiting for death. It is not so. They run after animals and try to jump over them with all their strength. But often, the animals are faster and nimble than the old lions. Always, in 99 out of 100 cases, animals escape. This adds to the frustration of old lions.

 

Hunger, frustration, anger and physical weakness – they live with memories of young days and the realities of the present day. 

 

Fortunately for them, their younger ones used to come for their help. They have a trick played from their ancestors to this day to catch animals for the old weak lions. They roam together, though the old ones cannot keep their pace with the young ones, till they spot innocent animals grazing in open fields or drinking at a shallow stream. Once they find their prey, they part in two groups, the young ones go in one direction and the old weak lions go in the opposite direction. This places their prey in between the two groups. There is wisdom in selecting the places where the two group stand for the prey. The old lions are expert in analyzing the direction of the wind. They lift their head, listen with their ears and see with their eyes and finally declare the direction of the wind – from where it comes and where it goes. The old lions go against the wind and stays in the direction of the wind so that the scent of lions and the harsh though weak roar of the old lions reach the grazing animals with the wind. The young lions go in the direction of the wind and stays with the wind so that the scent of the young lions will be carried by the wind away from the animals.

 

Once they position themselves, they get ready for the game. The old lions stand in the direction of the wind letting the wind to carry the scent of lions to the animals. The animals in between the two groups smell the scent of lions. Through the scent they sense the presence of lions somewhere near. They are wise enough to decide to run for their life. Their practice is to run away from the direction from which the scent of lions comes. Then comes the roar of lions. The old lions roar with all their strength. The wind carries the roar to the animals. A shiver passes through the body of animals. They decide to run. Which direction? Surely, away from the roaring lions.

 

They run, holding life in their hands, with a throbbing heart, death just following them. They run away from the scent of lions and the roar of lions. They run in the opposite direction. They are running for their life.

 

But what awaits them in the opposite direction? The young lions have placed themselves in that direction, opposite to the roaring old lions. Poor animals, they run fast into the mouth of the young lions. There is no escape from them. They fall into their trap. The young lions are quick and strong in action. No animal can escape their paws. The young lions paunch upon the innocent animals, kill them and prepares a feast for the whole group of young and old lions.

 

What went wrong with the animals? Their action was wise and correct. They should run for life. They should run away from the enemies.

Still the fact is that, if they would have run towards the roaring lions, they could escape from death. The roaring lions were old and weak. They could not run after animals. Hence, the animals could run away from the old lions. The young ones did not roar, but were strong and nimble. None could escape from them.

 

What should we learn?

RUN TOWARDS THE ROAR.

This is the secret of success. Face the roaring lions and do your best to defeat them.

There is risk. But there is no success without risk.

You need courage to run towards the roar. Success is not for the coward.

It is a life or death fight. Only the positive result of such a fight is called success.

We may die, may be defeated. Death by fighting is glorious. Death of a defeated person is the most inglorious happening in this world. Remember, one may be defeated, but cannot be destroyed.

 

Professor Jacob Abraham

www.professorjacobabraham.com

 

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Authority is the exercise of it

Authority is not an order on a paper, but the exercise of it.
One may be authorized to do an action by the order of a higher authority. He may have an order from his master on the authority over a group of people, materials or area. Still if he is not exercising it, the authority thus endorsed remains null.

All authority that man has comes from a higher authority. Authority is not self assumed. Self assumed authority is described by terms like dictatorship, totalitarianism etc. which is not desirable. The world has a hesitation to accept self assumed authority. So authority of all kinds must be supported by a higher authority.

What is this higher authority? Answer may differ from person to person. I prefer to presume that the higher authority is God, the Creator and Lord of the universe. You may disagree with me about God. That is alright. Still, we do not approve a self assumed authority. All authority of man must be endorsed by a higher authority.

What we discuss here is not the identity of the higher authority. Our discussion is that a mere endorsement of authority by a higher authority is not real authority. Authority is not an order from a higher authority, but the exercise of it.

Authority becomes alive only by speaking and acting upon it. A sleeping lion is not a danger. A wakeful lion which prowls and runs is a danger. Authority is not a title, not a position and not an office. It is the exercise of the title, position and the office. A sleeping police officer does not have any authority as long as he sleeps. He may be wearing symbols of the authority but they are not exercised.

How shall we exercise authority?

Authority can be exercised through intimidation and leadership. A successful leader never uses intimidation as a means to exercise authority. Intimidation is the tool of cowards and less talented people.
We scream when we see a poisonous snake because we are afraid of it. We yell out at a barking dog because we are afraid of it. A snake charmer uses sweet music and other techniques to pacify the snake. The master of the dog gives instructions to the barking dog to go back to its kennel in a soft voice. The village tricks of the snake charmer and the commands of the dog’s master in a soft voice are obeyed because there is authority in it. Intimidation is the tool of incompetent people.

Leaders exercise authority by being a model to his subordinates. Leaders do not command, but leads others into a job. Real authority is never felt, but always obeyed. It never humiliates, but uplifts. It is always an encouragement, appreciation, applaud and a positive comment. It leaves behind lasting impressions that are cherished.

So authority may be exercised by speaking, acting and leading.

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://www.professorjacobabraham.com

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Winners create history

Winners make laws. Losers follow them.

We are familiar with the dictum that history is written by the victors. History is always ‘his story’ the story of the winner. History is not always a record of the truth. It is a story narrated as seen by the narrator. The narrator wishes his successor to remember the events in a particular way as sees them. Hence history is not always an objective record; it is often subjective recordings endorsed by the government of a nation. Recorded history of the same event endorsed by a nation is different from that endorsed by another nation.

Victors write history. Victors make laws. Victors change history and laws. Victors change the world.
And the victims and the losers follow them.

The world accepts nothing from a loser. The only lesson he passes to others is not to follow his paths. No memorials are made to him. No poetry is written for him. No days are separated for him.

Jesus is still worshiped because he was a winner. He knew the secret power of success. His disciples understood the power of success in changing the world. So St. Paul advised Christians to live a triumphant life. Jesus would not have influenced the world so much if His life story ended with the cross. It went beyond the cross to the grave and to resurrection. The story did not end there too. It continued through his disciples conquering people. The life story of Jesus continues. It is a story of success.

I mean, only winners make history. Victims follow them.

Why a follower? Why can’t we be winners and create or change history?
Henry Ford did it. Bill Gates is doing it. Steve Jobs did it. Tata did it. Gandhiji did it. The Uncle Sam of USA, the poor butcher added a chapter to history.

Great men are born ordinary. Great men are created by their success in life. Success is a choice not a gift of fate. In fact, we all are born to be winners. There is no god or any supernatural power that wishes us to live a failure. We are placed in this world to conquer. Nobody is working against you stopping your journey to success. Success is only a matter of choice.

Decide. Arise. Walk towards success. Be a winner.
Do not be a follower, but be a leader.

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://www.professorjacobabraham.com

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Peg your goal on vision

Peg your goal on vision, not on men.

Goals are your targets, it is your winning point and it is the success line.
Though it is not an end, it is a finishing point that you should cross. Each goal qualifies you to continue the race to the next one.
The track of the race leads to this border line and beyond.
Touching the goal is the achievement, the moment of glory. It is the fulfillment of life purpose.

What will take you to this achievement?
Only vision can lead and carry you to your goals.
Vision is like an eagle which carries its young ones on its wings. Vision imparts the passion and helps you to fix your goal.

Vision contains all that you need for running the race to the finishing line.
It gives the ‘push’ to start the race, fills you with the momentum, strengthen you in weak moments, encourages you in troubles and lift you when you sink.

Vision is an ingrained dream. It is more than a dream. Vision is not an emotion, it is deeper than passion and it is beyond all intellectual understanding. It is a haunting and nagging dream.
Vision goes into your blood, while dream stays in your heart.
So vision leaves you not till its fulfillment. It never betrays anyone.
(Read more on Vision and Dream @ http://www.professorjacobabraham.com/2012/12/vision-and-dream.html)

So peg your goals on vision, not men. Why?

1. No man can ever be entrenched with the vision of another. However he tries, some elements and dimensions of the vision of another man will remain out of his reach. The larger extent of entrenchment into another’s vision is the merit of a partner. The more he is entrenched in to the vision, the better partner he is.

2. Man is never stable. He is changing. His attitudes, likes and dislikes, approaches to life and everything that concerns him always undergo changes.
The man who owns the vision also goes through changes. The merit of vision is that it is not influenced by the attitude of man; rather it influences the character of man.
Since man is not stable and he cannot be stable, no partner in an enterprise can be expected to be with us till we reach the goal point. Always expect anyone to leave you at any point in life. You will be left alone in the midway without a direction.
Vision never leaves you in the mid air. It came to take you on its wings to the goal.

3. Man may fail. Though this is the worst that you may experience in the race to success, it happens every now and then. I believe in the positive nature of human beings, I do not want to tell you that all men are treacherous. Still what we see often around us are not always encouraging to depend on a universal positiveness of man.
So be prepared for the worst.

There is one more reason why you should peg your goal on vision.

Vision always is larger and heavier than you can carry.
So it is better to let the vision carry you.

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://www.professorjacobabraham.com

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Leadership defined

Who is a leader?
A leader must have three characteristics.

1. He is not a static but a moving personality
2. He goes before his followers
3. He has a troop of followers
4. He leads his followers to new heights.

He is not a static but a moving personality

A leader must be ready to leave his comfort zone and move to unknown horizons. To remain comfortable where we already are, need no leader. Comfort zone offers no challenge. Moving out is facing new challenges. A leader is a person who is not satisfied with what he has already achieved. He looks beyond the present and sees new horizons to conquer. He is adventurous and thirsty for new victories. So he moves and never rest. Moving is life for him and rest is death. A leader is not satiate with any victory. He always sees more mountains to conquer.

He goes before his followers

A leader should take the risk of going before his followers. He is not a pusher but a puller; he does not push his followers to move forward but pulls his men along with him as he moves. So he has to go in front of others. He has confidence in himself. He is overflows with positive energy. He knows no fear and never gives space to ‘ifs’.
He is always:

1. Ready to take the risk of moving to unknown regions.
2. Must be confident of the success of the move
3. Ready to take the responsibility of the move

He has a troop of followers

What a leader without followers? Followers are a group of people who have decided to follow the leader without any persuasion except that of the vision of the leader. They are natural gathering not hired laborers. It does not mean that the troop of followers should not include hired employees. A leader of a business firm may have a many hired employees, but all of them are not his followers. Some of them are convinced of the vision of the leader and start following his dreams forgetting all about their wages. They need wages for their living, but they follow the leader because of his vision. This small group is the real follower. A true leader has always such a group of followers with him.

He leads his followers to new heights

A leader is one who leads others to new heights. A leader is not a person who maintains the status quo. Still moving is not enough. He must take all his followers along with him as he moves forward. He is not a lonely warrior, but the commander of a troop. Every war is fought with his followers; every conquest is made with his followers. He never moves alone, but with his faithful leaders. He never reaches a new height without his followers. His victory is always shared with his men. Without his followers he might not have conquered the new mountain of success. He never stands alone on the victory stand; his victory stand belongs to his followers also.
He carries his followers as he goes forward.

A leader is not a private entity, but a public entity among his followers.

Further reading:
Legendary Leaders @ http://professorjacobabraham.blogspot.in/2013/01/legendary-leaders.html
The Shepherd Leader @ http://professorjacobabraham.blogspot.in/2013/01/the-shepherd-leader.html

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://professorjacobabraham.blogspot.in

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How did Kingship evolve?

This is a theory existing among scholars those who study human history. I do not pledge accuracy. This may not be the final truth. Some others may have another theory. Still this story narrates the most probable theory on the evolution of Kingship.

In the Old Testament part of the Bible there is a Babylonian King called Nimrod. The name ‘Nimrod’ has been proverbial from the earliest times as a mighty hunter. He was the first who claimed to be a “mighty one in the earth.” Babel was the beginning of his kingdom, which he gradually enlarged. Nimrod is supposed to have begun the tower of Babel.

It is fine to believe that Nimrod himself was a hunter. He might have been a mighty man with extraordinary physical strength. Physical strength was the most valuable asset in the ancient times, as intellect and talent are today.

Man in his early ages lived a nomadic life. The life style of man evolved through various stages since then. The nomadic life was uncertain and uncomfortable. It was a restless life. So man decided to stay in one place for longer time. He chose fertile lands and moderate climate and permitted other people to live aside. He tolerated his co inhabitants for he realized the strength of unity of men.

The enemy of men was not other men, for all men were struggling to survive. The enemies of men were wild animals. So in the wisdom of the ancients they built their huts closely together at one place and maintained their arable farm at a length. They stayed together and worked together.

They kept watch in the night to warn them of the attack of wild animals. At every siren from the night watch, all men in the village woke and attacked the enemy chasing them out of their village. The common enemy bound them together in all efforts. All men had to come together against the common enemy. All men in the village were considered as warriors. It was the beginning of today’s compulsory military service.

As this situation continued, the more mighty men stood in the forefront became a special warrior group and later they we lead by the still more mighty man. This man was the most ferocious warrior among all men in the group. He was unequalled in strength, courage and war tactics among all men in the village. So he became the leader all of warriors, all men in the village and hence the leader of the village itself.

Gradually and naturally he demanded and received respect and obedience. He was granted with special privileges by the villagers. As long as his might remained the best he was unchallenged. Might was the greatest asset of the time.

The privileges grew. His authority grew. His commitments grew.

A wise hunter leader of the village, tired of chasing animals every night, formulated a better war tactic – offence is better than defense.
Attacking and chasing away wild animals when they come to attack the village is only defense. Offence is going into the forest and attacking wild animals in expectation of an attack in the night. It rendered more and lasting peace to the village and rest to the leader. So he went into the nearby forest to a considerable length and attacked and chased away wild animals. Continuous offensive attack by the leader kept the wild animals away from the village for considerable period of days. A repeated and occasional attack into the forest kept wild animals away from the people.

Thus he established a new theory of offense above the old method of defense.

All these developments in the formation of leadership kept the leader busy and engaged every day that he could no longer go for work in the farm.
Hence the duty to feed, clothe and shelter the leader came down to the people. The people were happy because they could shift the responsibility of protection of their family and village to the leader and live peacefully. They were only happy to set apart a small portion of their income for the well being of the leader.

Thus Kingship evolved from hunter to King.

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://professorjacobabraham.blogspot.in

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Never regret the past

What we are today is an entity chiseled by the past. We are being polished by the all experiences and feelings we are going through now. The process of perfecting our life will never end; it will continue to our graves.
We are born raw for this world to live. We are born inexperienced, unbalanced and unsteady and hence we stumble.
Our first attempts in this world are destined to fail.
We try to walk and fall; but our fall is never considered a failure. We are not born with the experience to walk upright in this world. So falling is necessary to learn to walk.
If we did consider the fall from our first attempt to walk as a failure in life, we would have never learned to walk.

How many times does the mother bird throw her little chicks down the cliff into the air to teach them to fly? The mother bird pushes her chicks down again and again till they learn to fly. At each failure to fly, the father eagle interferes and carry the little one back to the top of the cliff.
It is trying, failing and restarting again.
(read more on ‘Fly Like an Eagle’ @ http://professorjacobabraham.blogspot.in/2012/12/fly-like-eagle.html)

Our past is not a matter of shame. The failures of the past are not a shame; they are the ingredients that combined together to form our present personality. If there were no such past, we would not have learned to live as we live today.

All our attitudes are a constructed mindset.
The process of constructing this mindset needs the failures of the past.
(read more on ‘attitude’ @ http://professorjacobabraham.blogspot.in/2013/02/attitude.html)

No one is born perfect with wisdom and practical know how to live a proper life. Wisdom is the natural product of considered experiences in our life.
How I learned to be a success at University examinations? I leaned it by writing examinations in lower classes. The wisdom of life is a mass of all knowledge in the past life.

Even if we were born at this age without a past, we are still likely to fall; because we have no back support of experiences. Age does not make us wise only experiences in life will make us mature.

Success in life is also as important as failures. Successes are also experiences. Success also leaves lasting impressions.
Success joins with failure to produce the final product.
Our present attitude or mindset is constructed with a compound of success and failure.
Without them we would have been different.

All our experiences in life are different from other people. The happiness, joy, despair, frustration and everything are different from those of others. Hence we are different from others.
As long as our experiences in the past are different from others, we cannot be the same as them.

Do not regret the past.
They have made us today.
Without them we cannot be the same.

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://professorjacobabraham.blogspot.in

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Story of a fish – from a well to the ocean

Once there was a fish in a well. The well belonged to a kind farmer. The farmer had a beautiful vast ranch with green pastures and singing rivers. The well therefore contained a good measure of water throughout the year.

The fish was born somewhere up in a shallow part of the river. The river was flowing down through the ranch into the sea far in the west. The soft current of waves in the river took the fish from its birth place into the ranch. The fish really enjoyed the journey down the river and worried not about flowing into the sea. As it came to the ranch, the farmer saw it and carried it in his pitcher. The fish did not know what was happening because it was so young with little experience of life. The kind farmer loved the fish and down he let the fish into the well. Thus the little fish started living in the well.

The well was different from the river. There were soft current of waves in the river which kept the fish moving forward towards the sea. The water in the well was calm without waves. There was no pushing and pulling of water currents. Life seemed to be peaceful. The fish started enjoying its new abode.

Days and months passed. The fish nourished from the water in the well grew to a grownup fish. The best pastime of the fish was swimming from one corner of the well to the other. It could start from one side of the well and reach the other side with a sweep. It was great satisfaction that it could the other end. There was no more to conquer.

Still a thirst continually troubled the fish. It could not realize the nature of the thirst and the reason for it. It felt an imperfection somewhere. The only thing it could identify was the haunting memory of the river and the life there. There it was moving forward to an unknown end. The river offered new sights and feelings every moment.

Life was calm in the well while it was moving in the river.
There was an end, the other side of the well, for the journey in the well; the journey in the river seemed never ending.
There were no new hopes in the well; every moment in the river offered a new hope.
There were no new dreams in the well; life in the river was full of dreams.
It is all over with life in the well; life is always new in the river offering new challenges.

If the other side of the well was the end of all, the fish had already achieved it. What else the fish lived for?

The fish was sad, sadder, restless, frustrated and desperate.
It finally realized the truth that the fish was not born to live in a well, however wide the well was.

The fish grew fatty and big. The well could not contain it any longer. The farmer noticed the size of the fish. There were two things he could to do – either kill the fish or return it to the river. The farmer was so kind that he picked the fish in his pitcher once again and released it into the river. The fish swam into the river water.

Whoops! It was pushed forward by the current. It lost its balance. There was no place to hold on. The fish hit here and there on small rocks. It pained and bruised. “Oh! This is cruel”, thought the fish. “Can I survive? Where am I moving to? Is there more big rocks waiting in the river that may smash my head?”

Slowly, the fish gained its balance. It could guide its movements. Instead of hitting headlong on rocks, the fish brushed the rocks elegantly. It floated, dived, swam, leaped out to have a look at the surrounding nature.
What a sight of plants, trees, pastures, birds, animals, man, women, snakes and reptiles!
How it missed all for such a long time.

It glided through new experiences and feelings.
The fish dreamed new dreams every moment.
It realized the vastness of life.

Moved and moved, the fished reached the ocean. It was a triumphant moment for all the fishes in the river. They shouted with joy and jumped in ecstasy as they moved into the sea.
Wow! What a place!

The ocean was water and water. It had no beginning and no end. It was ocean everywhere.
The fish swam freely to the left and right; to front and back. There were no limitations. It sat on rocks and dreamed new dreams.
The striking sight was that of fishes of all kind, size and color swimming everywhere in the ocean. What a world full of fishes! The fish never thought that his world contained such a variety of fishes. He was only a small fish among all these.

He used to swim across the well, from one side to the other, in a sweep. However he tried, he could not get a sight of the other side of the ocean. He tried and tried hard; finally realized that he will never reach the end of the ocean.
All he knew, experienced, achieved and dreamed are only a tiny speck of the vast ocean.

He accepted the fact.
I am important in this ocean; but not the only important fish.
My knowledge and experiences are valuable; but there are still more valuable knowledge and experiences.
My race is fine; still there are better races.
However a fish try, it will never reach the end of the ocean and never acquire all that an ocean offer.

It made him big and small; proud and humble.
Life in the ocean is really different from the life in the well.

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://professorjacobabraham.blogspot.in

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Fame and friendship

I studied a poem on fame and friendship long back in my higher secondary school days. I have a faint remembrance of the teacher but do not remember other details. I have nothing to share with you about the poet. I fail to recollect a detailed verse to verse summary of the poem.
I do remember only the theme of the poem. In a fact this poem has influenced my views on life to a great extend.

As I wrote above the poem was on fame and friendship. The poet was narrating the blessings of fame and friendship. Surely he might have supported one side, but I do not remember which side he supported.
From that time onwards I stood with one side – friendship.

Fame is the reward that the world gives for your endeavor so far. It comes to you after the hard work for a long period. It is bestowed by the world only to exceptional personalities. Not all exceptional personalities are bestowed with fame. Fame embraces only a few among the exceptional. Fame adorns only those who are noticed by the world. Those famous are exceptional and handpicked. For many people with excellent brilliance and devotional hard work pass away from this life without receiving any honour from the world.

So fame is not a reward for all excellent people, it is a reward for some excellent people. The criterions for awarding fame by the world are inconsistent. So we cannot expect fame on our head by doing more devotional service to the world than the present famous people. The world is wayward and caprice in awarding fame.

Fame lives with you while you are alive and lives even after your death. This is the positive aspect of being famous. Your name and personality will be remembered with thanks or hate even after you leave this world, for many more years.
Still fame has a time limit. The duration of fame depends on the famous personality, his service for the world and the gratitude of the people towards him.

The tragedy of fame is that, at times, it goes to the unmerited too. Good people are famous and bad people are ill famous. In a sense, both are famous.

Fame does not improve our life at any level. It is not monetary, comfort, health, spiritual, or power. It does not feed, shelter or cover the nakedness. It is fame and fame only. It will not comfort at the saddest moments of life. It never sheds a tear for you, never double your joy by sharing it.

Fame is a lifeless shadow lengthening at the best of our life and disappearing at the worse days. Hence it is not trustworthy.

Friendship is diametrically different at many levels.
Friendship is a reward for all souls irrespective of their excellence, wealth or talents. Even the most poor and untalented persons are eligible for good friends.
Friendship will not make you known worldwide. It will not create an icon of you.
But it keeps you flesh and blood always.

Friendship is not wayward. It is not for a selected few. It never demands exceptional services. It is love and warmth.

Friendship is not eternal. Friendship comes only up to your graveyard. It cannot come beyond it. Friendship sheds a drop of tear at your grave. It leaves there a deep sigh as a comforting companion at your loneliness in the grave.
You are remembered only in the heart of your friends but your memories remain alive as long as your friends live.

Friendship is food, shelter and clothes. It keeps the fire burning in your hearth. It cries with you, it laughs to double your joy. It never leaves you to an enemy.
Friendship is life, protection and care.
Only as long as you live.

What do you prefer – Fame or friendship?

I love friendship!

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://professorjacobabraham.blogspot.in

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