GURU PURNIMA

ON THE AUSPICIOUS OCCASION OF GURU PAURNIMAA.....

Glorious Immortal Self,

Salutations and Adorations!

Guru's (spiritual Master's) teaching is a mirror of words wherein we can see ourselves clearly.

A Master "takes away" only those things which you don't have but you think you have. And he goes on "giving" you things, which you already have but have forgotten completely.

He who robs you of possessions is a thief and he who robs you of a sense of possession is a Master.

A master does not raise the dead, but makes men dead to the world of ignorance and live in wisdom. A Master does not give light to the blind eyes, but blind men to the world of ephemeral objects and beings. 

An enlightened Master systematically destroys every doctrine, every belief and every concept of the divine, for these things, which were originally intended as pointers, were now being taken as descriptions. When the sage points to the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger.

You cannot ask a Master to fit into your conceptions of holiness. It is one thing that a man be a saint. It is quite another that he should seem saintly to you.

A Master's quality can't be determined by the size of the crowd he draws.

Masters cannot be comprehended by even the most powerful intellect. They are beyond that, though they insist they are superior to none and inferior to none.

A Master's teaching is liberal education. In its truest sense, it "frees" a person from the prison house of his class, caste, creed, race, religion, place, nation, concepts, ideas, opinions, family, lineage, gender and even his / her body, mind and intellect equipment.

A sculptor, on a block of stone, pounds away at anything that doesn't look like the form he is sculpting. Similarly a Master’s task is to hammer away at everything that isn't who you really are: every thought, feeling, attitude, compulsion, identity that adheres to you from your culture and your past.

A Masters job is to teach people to laugh. A clown gets you to laugh at him, a Master teaches you to laugh at yourself.

A Master may appear very ordinary to a lay man. He may be seen going through the motions of life doing daily chores as anyone else. When God makes a Master, he does not unmake the man.

Masters go on teaching,   

for the same reason that the rose gives fragrance;

for the same reason that the sun gives warmth and light;

for the same reason that the hen goes on laying eggs;

for the same reason as the nightingale sings.

There is nothing else to do.

"It is very difficult for me to answer who is my Master, since I have learnt from almost everybody. From those I could not learn it was due to my inability. The whole existence has been my Master. I have learnt from every event that has happened in my life and I am grateful to all that has happened, because out of all that learning I have arrived."  

Too much dependency on the manifest Master would prevent the disciple from contacting the inner source. Three things there are that when too close are harmful, when too far are useless, and are best kept at middle distance: fire, the government and the Guru (spiritual Master).

The mediocre teacher tells

The good teacher explains

The superior teacher demonstrates

The great teacher inspires

May Param Pujya Gurudev bless you with health, long life, peace, prosperity and Kaivalya Moksha (Realization of non-dual Self). 

Lots of Love,

Avadhutananda

High On Insurance, Low On Investment

I am 36 years old, my wife is 33 and our son is 7. My wife and I each have an annual agricultural income of Rs 12 lakh. Our present household expenses are Rs 3 lakh per annum (Rs 25,000/month) and our son’s schooling expense is Rs 3 lakh per annum.
— Nimbalkar Khardekar
The Khardekars have started investing fairly early, are currently earning well and have clear cut goals. If one looks at the basic inflow and outflow, as of now they have an inflow of Rs 24 lakh per annum and an outflow of Rs 11,39,142. The latter includes their monthly household expenses as well as premium payments towards various insurance policies and monthly investments. That leaves them with an investible surplus of Rs 12.60 lakh. While some of this money can be placed in a bank fixed deposit as an emergency fund, the chunk of it can be invested towards their goals. And by invested, we mean equity investments. While they have a bag full of insurance policies and a Public Provident Fund (PPF), they must ensure that equity forms a major component of their portfolio if they are to achieve wealth creation. The returns from equity far outweigh the returns that one would get from a fixed-return instrument. For that reason, equity is a must for virtually every portfolio, though the actual amount allocated to that asset would differ.
Here are some suggestions.
* A health policy must be taken out in the son’s name. An accident, sickness or illness can deplete one’s bank balance rapidly. Health insurance is a must for every individual.
* Despite having so many insurance policies, we would still recommend a term plan for each of the spouses since both are earning. The total value can be around Rs1.5 crore. The tenure can be for as long as possible since it will protect the remaining members against life risks.
* If they discontinue with their insurance current plans, it would be a losing proposition. We recommend that they continue with all their insurance policies.
* They should also continue to invest the maximum annual limit in PPF. This will continue even under the new tax regime of the Direct Tax Code (DTC).
* Since time is on their side and they do not have major liabilities or debts, exposure to equity must increase. Specially if they are saving for their retirement and their son’s retirement too. They can start by just increasing the amounts of their Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs). As their income rises, they can proportionately increase the amount that is channelized towards their investments.
* We recommend that investing in equity funds is always done systematically. This enables the investor to buy more units when the market is down and less when it is high. It is a good strategy to participate in the equity market.
* An annual review of the portfolio is recommended. No one must buy and sit tight. Every quarter, they must look at the performance of their funds via each fund’s benchmark and its peers. They can also keep a tab on the star rating of the fund that is assigned by Value Research. If a fund keeps falling in performance, then it can be replaced by another good performer in its respective category.
* As they approach their goal, they can begin to lower the equity exposure and put the money in a bank fixed deposit or debt fund. They must not wait to sell all their equity investments at one go because that would put them at the mercy of the state of the market then, which is too much of a risk.
* They must create a contingency fund which will help out during emergencies. The amount could be around four months of monthly expenses. This can be kept in a liquid fund or even a savings account or bank fixed deposit which is linked to a savings account and can be accessed instantly.
The Kharkekars have not only planned for their retirement but even their son’s, which is going one big step ahead. But if they stick to the plan, it is certainly achievable and definitely very commendable.


source:ValueResearch