Friendship

We often hear the expressions ‘Go with the flow’, ‘Let go and Surrender to yourself’.’ What is it that we are supposed to be letting go of and to whom? What does it mean and where do we start?

Words like friendship and enmity mean different things to different people. Perhaps we agree that it is a concept of consciousness or the natural order of things. We probably think all our problems could be solved if we could just win the lottery. But perhaps, what we really want from life is more along the lines of loving and caring relationships, joy, fun, happiness and harmony, where we feel we are being useful. How do we ensure that we achieve that?

Once a thief paid a visit to the house of a wise man. Although he sought a great deal, he found nothing and was much grieved. The wise man, who knew this, threw the blanket upon which he had been sleeping into the way of the thief that he might not go away disappointed. He remarked: "I heard that men of the way of God have not distressed the hearts of enemies. How canst thou attain that dignity who quarrelest and wagest war against friends?" [RUMI]

The friendship of pure men, whether in thy presence or absence, is not such as will find fault behind thy back and is ready to die for thee before thy face. In thy presence gentle like a lamb, in thy absence like a man-devouring wolf. He who brings the faults of another to thee and enumerates them will undoubtedly carry thy faults to others. [SADI]

Service is synonymous with support. It is the giving of assistance or support to another with an absence of judgment. Today, this term is used mostly in the business sense. However, in friendship, it has a much more important role.

Look at your life and find something you're longing to create, but can't or don't know how to by yourself. Take a risk and ask a few people to support you in fulfilling your dreams...

Feel the 'instantaneous completeness' and believe that the so-called missing piece to life and to the self has finally been found. "You are the bows from which your friends as living arrows are sent forth." 

Satisfaction

Most often we think that satisfaction is an end product - something that comes along after all the work is done, or as a reward for living a good life. How often do we equate the notion of satisfaction with a lack of action? Nearly always, I'd say. The very word connotes a state of relaxation or idle happiness for many of us.

Probably the biggest surprise of all to me was that the longer I practiced economical living and read books on the topic, I found that I was more satisfied by the simpler pursuits I was discovering than I ever was by all the shopping and personal luxury items that I had previously considered such a treat.

A sage asked a physician how much of food he must consume daily. He replied: 'The weight of one hundred coppers will be enough.' The sage queried: 'What strength will this quantity give me?' He replied: 'this quantity will carry thee, and whatever is more than that, thou wilt be the carrier of it.' ‘Eating is for living and praying. Thou thinkest living is for eating.’

Maintenance of life depends on food, but it brings on disease when eaten in excess. If thou eatest rose-confectionery without an appetite it injures thee, but eating dry bread after a long fast is like rose-preserve.

Time and time again the heart re-evaluates its meaning and purpose. And with a little greed, anger or resentment the meaning may suddenly shift. What was once a simple joy and satisfaction is no longer fulfilling. The heart's satisfaction is lost as personal meaning shifts.

A traveller lost himself in an extensive region having neither any strength nor food left. He possessed some money but roamed about the road leading him nowhere. Hence, he perished from exhaustion. Some people afterwords discovered his corpse with the money in front of it and the following written on the ground:

‘If possessed of all the gold, it will avail nothing to a hungry man. To a poor man burnt in the desert, boiled turnips are more valuable than pure silver.’

Satisfaction is not hard to attain, yet if one's personal meaning does not drive one's life, one is robbed of true satisfaction. 

Email Tracking / Harvesting

I think this is really worth a read as a strong reminder. And never let the senders make you feel guilty when you double delete.

E-Mail Tracker Programmes -- Very interesting and a must read!!!

The man that sent this information is a computer tech. He spends a lot of time clearing the junk off computers for people and listens to complaints about speed. All forwards are not bad, just some. Be sure you read the very last paragraph.

_________________________________________

He wrote:

By now, I suspect everyone is familiar with snopes.com and/or truthorfiction.com for determining whether information received via email is just that: true/false or fact/fiction. Both are excellent sites.

Advice from snopes.com VERY IMPORTANT!

1) Any time you see an email that says "forward this on to '10' (or however many) of your friends", "sign this petition", or "you'll get bad luck" or "you'll get good luck" or "you'll see something funny on your screen after you send it" or whatever --- it almost always has an email tracker program attached that tracks the cookies and emails of those folks you forward to. The host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded and then is able to get lists of 'active' email addresses to use in SPAM emails or sell to other spammers. Even when you get emails that demand you send the email on if you're not ashamed of God/Jesus --- that is email tracking, and they are playing on our conscience. These people don't care how they get your email addresses - just as long as they get them. Also, emails that talk about a missing child or a child with an incurable disease "how would you feel if that was your child" --- email tracking. Ignore them and don't participate!

2) Almost all emails that ask you to add your name and forward on to others are similar to that mass letter years ago that asked people to send business cards to the little kid inFlorida who wanted to break the Guinness Book of Records for the most cards. All it was, and all any of this type of email is, is a way to get names and 'cookie' tracking information for telemarketers and spammers -- to validate active email accounts for their own profitable purposes.

You can do your Friends and Family members a GREAT favour by sending this information to them. You will be providing a service to your friends. And you will be rewarded by not getting thousands of spam emails in the future!

Do yourself a favor and STOP adding your name(s) to those types of listing regardless how inviting they might sound! Or make you feel guilty if you don't! It's all about getting email addresses and nothing more.

You may think you are supporting a GREAT cause, but you are NOT!

Instead, you will be getting tons of junk mail later and very possibly a virus attached! Plus, we are helping the spammers get rich! Let's not make it easy for them!

ALSO: Email petitions are NOT acceptable to Congress of any other organization - i.e. social security, etc. To be acceptable, petitions must have a "signed signature" and full address of the person signing the petition, so this is a waste of time and you are just helping the email trackers.

Love people

Most people still choose to see the world through "filters" of consciousness. It’s like wearing rose-coloured glasses. Everything appears to be rose tinted. And each of us has some tinted awareness inside.

So how do you clear away all the untrue impressions and mistaken beliefs that have been stored in your consciousness for such a long, long time?

The answer is: by becoming aware of them. And interestingly enough, this is accomplished not by looking for them, but by praise, gratitude and love for everything and everyone in the universe.

One of the devouts who had deeply plunged his head into the cowl of meditation and had been immersed in the ocean of visions, was asked, when he had come out of that state, by one of his companions who had desired to cheer him up:

'What beautiful gift hast thou brought us from the garden in which thou hast been?' He replied: 'I intended to fill the skirts of my robe with roses, when I reached the rose-tree, as presents for my friends but the perfume of the flowers intoxicated me so much that I let, go the hold of my skirts.'

I remember first reading this. It touched something very deep in me. So deep, in fact, I can't even find words to adequately describe the feeling that surfaced. It's enough to say a tremendous wave of emotion washed over me, and I began crying without really understanding why.

O bird of the morning, learn love from the moth because it burnt, lost its life, and found no voice.

These words echo in my consciousness. Even now! You can learn something from every person you encounter in your life.

O thou who art above all imaginations, conjectures, opinions and ideas, Above anything people have said or we have heard or read, The assembly is finished and life has reached its term and we have, as at first, remained powerless in describing thee.

So, my friends! If you have love, family, health, good humour and a positive attitude towards life, you've got everything! You can't buy any of these things. You can have all the material possessions imaginable. Provisions for the future, but if you are poor of spirit, you have nothing. 

Confusion

What would it feel like if all your dreams came true? What if you knew how to realize your potential and began living your life with a clear sense of purpose? What would it be like to improve your relationships (both at home and work) and live a life filled with abundance, joy and success?

Take a moment and let it sink in. Wow!

You may have difficulty focusing your attention and may feel disoriented. Your ability to make decisions is impeded now. You may be worried about your finances, your relationships or your health. You may be running "here and there" so often (maybe too often?) that you've let those dreams that were once so important to you, fall by the wayside.

And then one day it hits you. Hard. Bang! How did my life turn out this way? And how can I change it?

The great philosopher Rumi describes this brilliantly. He says: “Sometimes it presents one appearance, sometimes another. Yes, the affair is only bewilderment. Not, such as occurs when one turns one's back, but such as when one is drowned and absorbed. As there are many demons with men's faces, it is wrong to join hands with every one.”

A good way to test confusion is to ask someone his or her name, age, and the date. If they are unsure or answer incorrectly, they are confused.

“When the fowler sounds his decoy whistle, that the birds may be beguiled by that snare, the birds hear that call simulating a bird's call and, descending from the air, find net and knife. They make stuffed lions to scare the simple; that wine of the righteous yields a perfume of musk; other wine (the evil) is reserved for penalties and pains.”

But today, right now, you have the power to change your reality. And lead the successful, joyous, satisfying life you've always wanted.

Try to keep your surroundings calm, quiet, and peaceful. Drink a sweet drink or eat a sweet snack. If the confusion lasts longer then call the doctor. 

Friendship

We often hear the expressions ‘Go with the flow’, ‘Let go and Surrender to yourself’.’ What is it that we are supposed to be letting go of and to whom? What does it mean and where do we start?

Words like friendship and enmity mean different things to different people. Perhaps we agree that it is a concept of consciousness or the natural order of things. We probably think all our problems could be solved if we could just win the lottery. But perhaps, what we really want from life is more along the lines of loving and caring relationships, joy, fun, happiness and harmony, where we feel we are being useful. How do we ensure that we achieve that?

Once a thief paid a visit to the house of a wise man. Although he sought a great deal, he found nothing and was much grieved. The wise man, who knew this, threw the blanket upon which he had been sleeping into the way of the thief that he might not go away disappointed. He remarked: “I heard that men of the way of God have not distressed the hearts of enemies. How canst thou attain that dignity who quarrelest and wagest war against friends?

The friendship of pure men, whether in thy presence or absence, is not such as will find fault behind thy back and is ready to die for thee before thy face. In thy presence gentle like a lamb, in thy absence like a man-devouring wolf. He who brings the faults of another to thee and enumerates them will undoubtedly carry thy faults to others.

Service is synonymous with support. It is the giving of assistance or support to another with an absence of judgment.

Today, this term is used mostly in the business sense. However, in relationship, it has a much more important role.

Look at your life and find something you're longing to create, but can't or don't know how to by yourself. Take a risk and ask a few people to support you in fulfilling your dreams...

Feel the 'instantaneous completeness' and believe that the so-called missing piece to life and to the self has finally been found. You are the bows from which your friends as living arrows are sent forth."

How to forward an email appropriately

A friend who is a computer expert received the following directly from a system administrator for a corporate system. It is an excellent message that ABSOLUTELY applies to ALL of us who send e-mails. Please read the short letter below, even if you're sure you already follow proper procedures.

Do you really know how to forward e-mails? 50% of us do; 50% DO NOT.

Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail? Do you hate it?

Every time you forward an e-mail there is information left over from the people who got the message before you, namely their e-mail addresses & names. As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every e-mail address that has come across his computer. Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit. That's right, all of that inconvenience over a nickel!

How do you stop it? Well, there are several easy steps:

When you forward an e-mail, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message (at the top ). That's right, DELETE them. Highlight them and delete them, backspace them, cut them, whatever it is you know how to do. It only takes a second. You MUST click the "Forward" button first and then you will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message. If you don't click on "Forward" first , you won't be able to edit the message at all.

Whenever you send an e-mail to more than one person, do NOT use the To: or Cc: fields for adding e-mail addresses. Always use the BCC : (blind carbon copy) field for listing the e-mail addresses. This is the way the people you send to will only see their own e-mail address. If you don't see your BCC: option click on where it says To: and your address list will appear. Highlight the address and choose BCC: and that's it, it's that easy. When you send to BCC: your message will automatically say "Undisclosed Recipients" in the "TO:" field of the people who receive it.

Remove any "FW :" in the subject line. You can re-name the subject if you wish or even fix spelling.

ALWAYS hit your Forward button from the actual e-mail you are reading. Ever get those e-mails that you have to open 10 pages to read the one page with the information on it? By Forwarding from the actual page you wish someone to view, you stop them from having to open many e-mails just to see what you sent.

Have you ever gotten an email that is a petition? It states a position and asks you to add your name and address and to forward it to 10 or 15 people or your entire address book. The email can be forwarded on and on and can collect thousands of names and email addresses.

A FACT: The completed petition is actually worth a couple of bucks to a professional spammer because of the wealth of valid names and email addresses contained therein. If you want to support the petition, send it as your own personal letter to the intended recipient. Your position may carry more weight as a personal letter than a laundry list of names and email address on a petition.

(Actually, if you think about it, who's supposed to send the petition in to whatever cause it supports? And don't believe the ones that say that the email is being traced, it just aint so!)

One of the main ones I hate is the ones that say that something like, "Send this email to 10 people and you'll see something great run across your screen." Or, sometimes they'll just tease you by saying something really cute will happen. IT AINT GONNA HAPPEN!! (Trust me, I'm still seeing some of the same ones that I waited on 10 years ago!) I don't let the bad luck ones scare me either, they get trashed.

(Could be why I haven't won the lottery??)
Before you forward an Amber Alert, or a Virus Alert, or some of the other ones floating around nowadays, check them out before you forward them. Most of them are junk mail that's been circling the net for YEARS! Just about everything you receive in an email that is in question can be checked out at Snopes. Just go to http://www.snopes.com/ Its really easy to find out if it's real or not. If it's not, please DON'T pass it on.

So please, in the future, let's stop the junk mail and the viruses.

Finally, here's an idea!!! Let's send this to everyone we know ( but strip my address off first, please). This is something that SHOULD be forwarded.

--
V.M.Essa

The Mystery of '786' - revealed

Q. I never quite understood the idea behind the number "786". Is it possible for you to explain its significance at your earliest convenience? (Asim)

A. "786" is the total value of the letters of "Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim". In Arabic there are two methods of arranging letters. One method is the most common method known as the alphabetical method. Here we begin with Alif, ba, ta, tha etc. The other method is known as the Abjad method or ordinal method. In this method each letter has an arithmetic value assigned to it from one to one thousand. The letters are arranged in the following order: Abjad, Hawwaz, Hutti, Kalaman, Sa'fas, Qarshat, Sakhaz, Zazagh. This arrangement was done, most probably in the 3rd century of Hijrah during the 'Abbasid period, following other Semitic languages such as Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldean etc.

If you take the numeric values of all the letters of the Basmalah, according to the Abjad order, the total will be 786. In the Indian subcontinent the Abjad numerals became quite popular. Some people, mostly in India and Pakistan, use 786 as a substitute for Bismillah. They write this number to avoid writing the name of Allah or the Qur'anic ayah on ordinary papers. This tradition is not from the time of the Prophet -peace be upon him- or his Sahabah. It developed much later, perhaps during the later 'Abbasid period. We do not know of any reputable Imams or Jurists who used this number instead of the Bismillah.

Herewith below is the table:
Each Arabic letter corresponds to a certain numerical value in the following way: -

Alif – 1
Baa – 2
Jeem – 3
Daal – 4
Haa (small) – 5
Waaw – 6
Zaa – 7
Haa (big) – 8
Tau – 9
Yaa – 10
Kaaf – 20
Laam – 30
Meem – 40
Noon – 50
Seen – 60
Ayn – 70
Faa – 80
Saud – 90
Quaf – 100
Raa – 200
Sheen – 300
Taa – 400
THaa – 500
Khaa – 600
Thaal – 700
Dhaud – 800
Thau – 900
Ghayn – 1000

Any letter not included above has the same numerical value as the one written like it in this table. E.g., Hamza is the same as Alif.

Now calculate Bismillahir Rahmaanir Raheem, which consists of the following letters: -
Baa = 2; Seen = 60; Meem = 40; Alif = 1; Laam = 30; Laam = 30; Haa (Small) = 5; Alif=1; Laam = 30; Raa = 200; Haa (big) = 8; Meem = 40; Noon = 50; Alif = 1; Laam = 30; Raa = 200; Haa (big) = 8; Yaa = 10; Meem = 40.
Add all the numerical values and you will find the total to be 786.

This is how the Arabic letters are valued numerically. The practice of substituting Bismillahir Rahmaan Nir Raheem with the number 786 is not substantiated by the Ahadith nor the Qur'aan. This was merely the practice of some of our pious predecessors. It is not a Sunnah practice nor does it hold any virtue.

It is permissible to use the number 786 on letterheads etc if there is a fear of the name Allah being disrespected. According to the numeric values mentioned in the famous lexicon, Fairuzul Lughaat, the number 786 symbolizes Bismillahir Rahmaan Nir Raheem if the numeric value of each letter in Bismillahir Rahmaan Nir Raheem is added up.

Try valuing your own name… and… enjoy!