Saturday, December 27, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Chapaner
A concentration of largely unexcavated archaeological, historic and living cultural heritage properties cradled in an impressive landscape which includes prehistoric (chalcolithic) sites, a hill fortress of an early Hindu capital, and remains of the 16th century capital of the state of Gujarat. The site also includes, among other vestiges, fortifications, palaces, religious buildings, residential precincts,agricultural structures and water installations, from the 8th to the 14th centuries. The Kalikamata Temple on top of the Pavagadh Hill is considered to be an important shrine, attracting large numbers of pilgrims throughout the year. The site is the only complete and unchanged Islamic pre-Mughal city.
The Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park with its ancient Hindu architecture, temples and special water retaining installations together with its religious, military and agricultural structures, dating back to the regional Capital City built by Mehmud Begda in the 16th century, represents cultures which have disappeared.
The structures represent a perfect blend of Hindu-Moslem architecture, mainly in the Great Mosque (Jami Masjid), which was a model for later mosque architecture in India. This special style comes from the significant period of regional sultanates.
The Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park is an outstanding example of a very short living Capital, making the best use of its setting, topography and natural features. It is quite vulnerable due to abandonment, forest takeover and modern life.
The Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park is a place of worship and continuous pilgrimage for Hindu believers.
Sahastralinga Talav - Patan
Sahastralinga Talav is among the many artificial tanks built in different parts of Gujarat under the patronages of Siddhraj Jaisinh (1093-1143 AD). The architecture of this tank integrated the great sense of water management and sanctity of water in Hindu religion. The tank used to receive water from a canal of the Saraswati River and had spread of about five km. With masonry embankments. There were thousand Shiva Shrines on the edge of the tank. Some remains of the same are even visible today. Looking at the ruins, one can imagine the grandeur of this great water tank. The famous legend of Siddhraj Jaisinh’s desire for Jasma Odan, a beautiful woman of the tank digger's community, revolves around this tank. She refused to marry him and committed sati to protect her honour. It is believed that her curse made this tank using the stones from ruined structures.
Rani Ki Vav - Patan
Rani Ki Vav (Step well) in Patan was built by Rani Udaymati of the Solanki dynasty in memory of her husband Bhimdeva I. It has seven galleries and is laid out in an east-west direction. The stepped corridors and some of the mandaps are beautiful to behold. The galleries contain exquisite sculptures of gods and goddesses. At water level the recumbent figure of Vishnu on Sesha (the thousand-hooded serpents) the Buddha is included among the Dasavataras, the ten incarnations of Vishnu. Such wells are found throughout arid regions of Gujarat and Rajasthan. They provided cool retreats from the torrid heat of the region. Initially such wells were dug as simple structures. But as time passed, they were embellished with sculptures to provide attraction to the viewers. The water at the lowest level was no doubt used by weary travelers to quench their thirst.
HISTORY OF RAN-KI-VAV - EXCERPTS FROM WIKIPEDIA
During the period of the Solanki or Chalukya , the stepwell called the Rani ki vav, or Ran-ki vav (Queen’s step well) was constructed. It is a richly sculptured monument, seven floors underground.
It is generally assumed that it was built in the memory of Bhimdev I (A.D. 1022 to 1063) son of Mularaja, the founder of the Solanki dynasty of Anahilwad Patan in about 1050 A.D. by his widowed queen Udayamati.
It was probably completed by Udayamati and Karandev Ist after his death. A reference to Udayamati building the monument is in the Jain Scripture 'Prabandha Chintamani' composed by Merutunga Suri in 1304 AD.
It was one of the largest and the most sumptuous structures of its type. Among its ruins one pillar still stands which is the proof not only of the elegance of its design, but also excellent example of this period. A part only of the west well is extant from which it appears that the wall had been built of brick and faced with stone. From this wall project vertical bracket in pairs, this supported the different galleries of the well shaft proper. This bracketing is arranged in seven tires and is richly carved. There is also a small gate below the last step of the step well which is having a 30 kilometer tunnel built (Now its has been blocked by stones and mud) which leads to the town of Sidhpur near Patan. It was used as an escape gateway for king in the times of defeat.
Most of the sculpture is in devotion to Lord Vishnu, in the forms of his Avataras (reincarnations), representing his return to the world.
Around 50-60 years back there used to be Ayurvedic plants around this areas which caused the water accumulated in Rani ni vav helpful for viral diseases, fever etc.
FOR MORE PICS.
plasma2007.pssi.in/documents/Pics/rani.htm
Sarkhej Roza -Ahmedabad
The famous saint, Makhdum Shaikh Ahmed Khattu, a disciple of Baba Ishq Maghribi of Khattu, settle and died at Sarkhej, about 10 km. South-west of Ahmedabad. Construction on a dargah and mosque were begun in 1946, under Mohammad Shah II, and completed the reign of Sultan Qutb-ud-din Ahmed Shah.
The Dargah, the largest of its kind in Gujarat, has plinth area of 31.70 m. and is roofed by a large dome. It also has surrounding rows of 13 pillars on each side. The walls are broken up into two storeys and perforated stonework of gate variety fills up the spaces above and below the dividing stones. The inner central square, too, is partitioned by screen walls, perforated in steel and metal, with a door in similar workmanship.
A porch leads from the dargah into the Mosque, which to the west. The mosque has a roof of uniform height. Five large domes, in a raw, and 40 smaller ones, symmetrically disposed, correspond to the pillared squares within. The roof is supported by 120 pillared of the same pattern. The Mosque has an elegant simplicity: the columnar style adopted here appears to be on purpose, and compares favourably with the arched façade of other mosques in and around Ahmedabad. The ablution tank is situated in an enclosed alley, at the half the height of the roof. Access to the roof through porch, in the thickness of the wall.
The tomb of Sultan Mohmud Begada is also part of the Sarkhej complex. Stonework covers the pillar on three sides of the tomb, except for the east. A balcony window projects into the tank.
The Dargah, the largest of its kind in Gujarat, has plinth area of 31.70 m. and is roofed by a large dome. It also has surrounding rows of 13 pillars on each side. The walls are broken up into two storeys and perforated stonework of gate variety fills up the spaces above and below the dividing stones. The inner central square, too, is partitioned by screen walls, perforated in steel and metal, with a door in similar workmanship.
A porch leads from the dargah into the Mosque, which to the west. The mosque has a roof of uniform height. Five large domes, in a raw, and 40 smaller ones, symmetrically disposed, correspond to the pillared squares within. The roof is supported by 120 pillared of the same pattern. The Mosque has an elegant simplicity: the columnar style adopted here appears to be on purpose, and compares favourably with the arched façade of other mosques in and around Ahmedabad. The ablution tank is situated in an enclosed alley, at the half the height of the roof. Access to the roof through porch, in the thickness of the wall.
The tomb of Sultan Mohmud Begada is also part of the Sarkhej complex. Stonework covers the pillar on three sides of the tomb, except for the east. A balcony window projects into the tank.
Sidi Saiyad’s Mosque - Ahmedabad..........
Sidi Saiyad’s Mosque is famous for its 10 unique semi-circular tracery windows. The tracery resembles the famous silver filigree work for which Gujarat is so famous. They adorn the upper zones of the side and back walls. The two western windows with exquisite naturalistic patterns are without parallel anywhere in India. The remaining eight windows have jail workmanship of square grid pattern. The mosque was built in 1572-73 CE by Saikh Said commonly spelt as Sayyaid, who was noted noble of the time of Sultan Muzaffar Shah III.
Adalaj Step-Well - Adalaj Villege
Adalaj Vav is situated 18 kms. north of Ahmedabad in Gandhinagar district. Built in 1499 A.D. by Queen Rudabai, this step well at the village Adalaj is a fine example of magnificent architectural form, unique to Northwestern India.
The step well or Vav as it is locally called is intricately carved and is several stories in depth. The designs on its walls and pillars include, leaves, flowers, birds, fish and other breathtaking ornamental designs.
A unique characteristic of step wells was that they not only conserved water but were also cool chambers where one could rest during hot summer months. In the olden days, these step wells used to be frequented by travellers and caravans as stopovers along their trade routes.
The step well or Vav as it is locally called is intricately carved and is several stories in depth. The designs on its walls and pillars include, leaves, flowers, birds, fish and other breathtaking ornamental designs.
A unique characteristic of step wells was that they not only conserved water but were also cool chambers where one could rest during hot summer months. In the olden days, these step wells used to be frequented by travellers and caravans as stopovers along their trade routes.
આ છે રડિયાડી રાત..........ને........
આ છે રડિયાડી રાત, ને છે પ્રિતમ નો સાથ...
આજ મને રમવા દો, ને ગરબે ઘુમવા દો.
આ છે રડિયાડી રાત, ને છે પ્રિતમ નો સાથ...
આજ મને રમવા દો, ને ગરબે ઘુમવા દો.
ચારેય તરફ આજ, બસ એક જ વાત...મારા પ્રિતમ સંગાથ, હું તો દીઠુ કંઇ ખાસ...
આજ મને રમવા દો, ને ગરબે ઘુમવા દો.
મારા હૈયામાં આજ, બસ ઘુમે છે એક જ વાત...મારા પ્રિતમ સંગાથ, હું તો જુમું જનમોજનમ તેની સાથ...
આજ મને રમવા દો, ને ગરબે ઘુમવા દો.
આ છે રડિયાડી રાત, ને છે પ્રિતમ નો સાથ...
આજ મને રમવા દો, ને ગરબે ઘુમવા દો.
આવી નવલી નવરાત્રીની રાત, હું તો સજી શોળે શણગાર...
માથે સાતરંગી ચુંદડી ઓઢી છે આજ, ને પગમાં છે રુડી ઝાંઝર બાંધી...
આજ મને રમવા દો, ને ગરબે ઘુમવા દો.
કોઇ કહેજો પેલા ઢોલીને આજ, ન થંભે એના ઢોલ ના સાદ...
મારા પ્રિતમ સંગાથ, મારે રમવા છે રાસ...
આજ મને રમવા દો, ને ગરબે ઘુમવા દો.
આ છે રડિયાડી રાત, ને છે પ્રિતમ નો સાથ...
આજ મને રમવા દો, ને ગરબે ઘુમવા દો.
ટહુકે છે કોયલ મીથો રણકાર આજ, ને નાચે છે મોરલા ઢેલણને સાથ...
સખીઓમાં દીઠે છે આજ ઇર્ષાનો ભાવ, મને મળ્યો છે મનના મણીયારનો સાથ...
આજ મને રમવા દો, ને ગરબે ઘુમવા દો.
સુરીલા સુરોની છે રાત આજ, કરવા છે મારે પુરા આજ વર્ષોના કોડ...
દીધી છે મેંહદી હાથોમાં આજ, રંગાવવું છે મારે આજ પ્રિતમના રંગમા...
આજ મને રમવા દો, ને ગરબે ઘુમવા દો.
આ છે રડિયાડી રાત, ને છે પ્રિતમ નો સાથ...
આજ મને રમવા દો, ને ગરબે ઘુમવા દો.
આ છે રડિયાડી રાત, ને છે પ્રિતમ નો સાથ...
આજ મને રમવા દો, ને ગરબે ઘુમવા દો.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Zig’s Story - Page 3
God gives heart transplants. I remember the marvelous changes that took place in my life. As a Christian, I’ve laughed infinitely more than I’ve ever laughed before, but I’ve also cried more than I’ve ever cried. Yesterday morning, as I was reading the scriptures about the birth of our Lord, and I thought in my own family of the good news we got just this week of the impending birth of a new grandchild in our family. It’s still eight months away, but are we ever excited about it. And as I sat there thinking about that beautiful gift of that precious life that was in my daughter-in-law’s womb, my eyes just filled with tears of gratitude.
I’ve been to funerals of Christians and I’ve been to funerals of non-Christians. The difference in the anticipation, the joy, the excitement is so dramatically different. I struggle with the preacher who is preaching for a person who is lost and how he has to struggle to find something nice to say. Those who’ve known the Lord, you know when they come out and say, “We know that he or she is infinitely better off today. What a tremendous comfort that is.”
So many things have happened—I remember two years after my conversion, I was out in the swimming pool again and I was looking up into the heavens and as I did, my son was there and he and I was sitting on the side talking. And all of a sudden I said, “Son, look there’s another shooting star.” And my nine-year-old boy said, “Aw Dad, that wasn’t a shooting star. That was a roman candle.” And I said, “No boy. I was looking at it. It was a shooting star.” He said, “Dad, I was looking at it too. It was a roman candle.” And I said, “Well boy, your eyes are lots younger than mine and I’m going to let you rule this time that it was a roman candle, but it sure looked like a shooting star to me.” And then he got awfully quiet and he looked at me and he said, “You know Dad, two years ago at your moment of need, that star that you saw falling had left its orbit 1000’s and 1000’s of years earlier. And a perfect God timed it so that it would appear at your exact moment of need.”
I said it before. My boy’s a smart boy. But he ain’t that smart. You see God again, was manifesting himself in so many different ways. I well remember—in those days we didn’t have the corporate structure we have today, and I kinda ran almost a one-person outfit. We simply paid our expenses and then billed the companies back for it. And I remember one week and the Redhead had written the check for the tithe, and I looked at her and I said, “Gretchen, I didn’t know we made that much money this week.” She said, “Yeah, we had a good week.” And I said, “Wonderful!” Then I thought for a couple of minutes and I said, “Now wait a minute! You know, I was all over the country this week and you didn’t deduct all of the airfare!” She said, “No, I sure didn’t.” She hesitated just for a moment and then she smiled and she said, “Honey, let’s just leave it like it is, we can’t out-give God.”
So true. You can not out-give God. I want to be very careful to say this, I’m just so grateful it’s true. Our tithes today and our gifts are substantially more than we were earning before I became a Christian. My taxes are dramatically more than I was earning when I committed my life to Christ. And I want to say this so very carefully because not for one moment do I want you to ever get the idea that when you become a Christian, God is going to bless you financially. The idea that you can name it and claim it is an absolute abomination to the Lord. The idea that you’re broke because you’re faith is not strong enough is absolute heresy. It simply is not true. I know so many Christians, including my mother–strongest Christian that I ever knew in my life and she never had a dime in her life. God doesn’t mind you being prosperous; particularly if you use it for His glory. But God will give to you what is best for you. Money might be the worst thing on earth for you, but He will bless you according to what is best for you.
I close with this example. When I committed my life to Christ, my number one objective was to have each member of my family—children, brothers, sisters—everybody in the Kingdom. These were the ones I loved the most. I immediately started witnessing to and trying to live in a way that they would be attracted to the benefits of Christianity now. See a lot of people don’t realize is, that as a Christian, even as a churchgoer, you will live five- and seven-tenths years longer than a non-churchgoer. You have fifty-five percent less chance of having a one-car accident and sixty percent less chance of having a fatal heart attack. There are some mal-benefits.
There are some other benefits that go along with it. My greatest benefit I believe has been in the world of relationship. I always thought I loved that red-head of mine. The kids used to always call us the lovebirds. But until I learned to love her, through Christ, I did not know what love was all about. We’re infinitely closer today after 47 years of marriage than we’ve ever been. We talk more. We laugh more. We do more. We have more in common. We grow closer by the day.
God has opened my eyes and my heart in so many different ways, folks, it just makes such a big difference. One by one, each member of my family came into the Kingdom, with the exception of my oldest daughter. She was quote “an intellectual.” A lot of it just didn’t make any sense to her. She could see how excited I was. She could changes in me, “But Dad, you’ve always been excited about a whole lot of things;” and she kind of thought that it was a passing fancy.
When you can only witness so much, even to your own child, and after a period of time, you know I really grew a little discouraged. And then one day, the Lord whispered to me—and I want to emphasize a point there too. In 99 and nine-tenths percent of the cases, God speaks to me through His Bible. There have been about five instances in the years I’ve known him where I felt so—His presence was so real—that I felt that He was audibly speaking to me and obviously He was impressing my mind. But God mostly speaks to me through His Bible, but it seemed on this occasion that God whispered, “Why don’t you write her a book?” And I very quickly said, “Alright Lord, we will write her a book.” Every word, every phrase, every verse of scripture, every example, every illustration, every prayer in Confessions of a Happy Christian was put in there with the hope and prayer that it would be instrumental in bringing my daughter to Christ.
Well, in the meantime, she had gotten involved with an organization which had a strong witnessing Christian. And he started talking about Christ. In the meantime also, she had gotten married. And one day she told me, you know, that she was in church and oh, that really tickled me. But when my book came out, you know, and I gave it to her as I did to all the other members of the family, and one by one they were saying, “Oh Dad, it really is a great book.” And I just couldn’t wait for my oldest daughter, but she never opened the book. A couple of Sundays later, she and her husband were seated in our den. And as we talked, I felt God’s Spirit moving and I said, “Are you two ready to commit your lives to Christ.” My son-in-law said, “Well, I already have.” And I looked at my daughter and said, “And what about you sweetheart?” She said, “No Daddy. I’m just not ready.” It really broke my heart because, you see, the Bible says when the Holy Spirit beckons, you must respond because there’s no guarantee that he will beckon again.
And so it really bothered me and yet, I felt that I could go no further. And I didn’t. Eight days later, on Monday night, I was doing a seminar here in Dallas. My son-in-law works with me. He went down and had the display of the books and the tapes there. My son had decided to go with me that night and my daughter went also. When it was all over and I had finished bidding everybody a good night, and my son and son-in-law were loading the books and tapes back in the car, my daughter was standing in the back and I walked back to her and she put her arms around me and she said, “Thank you Daddy, for finding Jesus Christ when you did. Because had you not found Him then, I would not know Him now.”
I grabbed her and I hugged her and I kissed her and I spanked her and I cried. And I hugged her and kissed her and I spanked her again and I cried some more. And we had made an agreement with my son and son-in-law that we were going to meet down in the coffee shop and have a bowl of soup. She and I walked on down. We took our seats. I sat here, she on my left. My son-in-law came in and sat down right in front of me and my son on my right. My son sat down, and I looked at him. And I said, “Son, guess who Susie knows.” He looked startled just for a moment. And then his little eyes filled with tears. He bowed his head and he wept.
You parents, who have had the privilege of knowing Christ and leading your children to Christ, know the unspeakable joy that I felt. We got home, we walked in the front door; the Redhead was all the way across the room—and for the benefit of the visitors, when I keep saying the Redhead, I’m obviously talking about my wife—she was all the way across the room; when we walked in before anybody said a word, she said, “Susie knows the Lord, doesn’t she.” And I said, “Yes. She’s safe. She’s safe.”
The question is, do you know the Lord? It’s a given that all of us are going to die. I believe with all of my heart that heaven is a real place, that hell is a real place. We will go, by our choice to one of them. And I say by our choice because, you see, God’s voted for you, Satan’s voted against you. And the deciding vote is going to be yours.
First, let me thank you for listening to my testimony. I encourage you actually to listen to it again, maybe several more times because there is a great deal to it. I sincerely hope, that by now you’ve made a decision to make the most important decision you could ever make. And that is to invite Jesus Christ into your life and remember you have everything to gain and absolutely nothing to lose in this process.
Let me remind you that if everything I’ve said is completely untrue, but you believe it, you really have nothing to lose. But if everything I say is true, and you don’t believe it, then you have lost everything.
With that in mind, and if you happen to be riding down the highway listening to this, I encourage you to simply pull to the side of the road and quietly bow your head. Close your eyes, there’s nothing significant really in closing your eyes except that it is a sign of submission, of trust. You can’t see what’s going on because your eyes are closed. But that trust in Christ is so important.
Now if you’re ready, simply, in your own mind, you can either silently pray this or even better, repeat these words out loud: “Dear Lord, I confess that I am a sinner. And I know that I can not save myself. So Lord, I ask you to forgive me of my sins, and I’m going to what you told me to do in Romans 10:9. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord. I believe in my heart that God raised him from death. And Lord, you told me that if I did that, I’d be saved. So in faith, that’s exactly what I’m doing. You told me in Ephesians 2:8-9 that it is by grace—that’s the unmerited favor of God, I don’t deserve it, but you give it to me because you love me—it is by grace and my faith in you that I will be saved. That I won’t be saved because of my works because if I could save myself, I just might boast. So Lord, it’s trusting in you that will give me that salvation. And so Lord, I confess that you are my Lord. Invite me into your heaven Lord. And I am now secure in that knowledge, that I am saved. And, oh Lord, I’m so grateful for that.
Now at this moment, you might not quote “feel different.” Some do, some don’t. But let me assure you that you’re not saved by your feelings. You’re saved by hearing and believing the word of God. And that’s exactly what you’ve been hearing.
My friend, you are saved. If you prayed in your heart the prayer we just voiced, and you and God are the only two who know whether it was in your heart or not; now I encourage you, study your Bible, get involved in a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church, and enjoy the benefits of your salvation now. And may God bless you richly for this most important commitment and decision.
Now let me simply say this. If you have prayed to accept Christ, I’d like to take a few more minutes to share with you how you can continue your spiritual journey, in other words—how can you keep it going, how can you maintain this excitement and enthusiasm in this faith of yours. Well first of all let me say that the Bible will keep you out of sin or sin will keep you out of the Bible. In other words, you need to get in God’s word and learn what God has to say. I urge you, if you haven’t got one, get one. I also encourage you to find a Bible-teaching church and attend there on a regular basis. There might be some discouraged people there you can encourage and you will be encouraged by going to such a church. I want to encourage you also to pray to God frequently, be open and honest with Him. He is interested in every aspect of your life—remember, He does have a tremendous amount invested in you. There are no secrets from God; He’s not surprised at anything you say or do.
I also encourage you to take the initiative and tell others about your decision to follow Christ. A lot of people will unfortunately say, “Well, you know, I’ll let my life be my story or my witness or whatever.” Well let me emphasize a point—Christ lived the perfect life. And He performed all those miracles and yet He always verbalized the importance of faith in God. I encourage you to do exactly the same thing. As you get involved in your Christian faith, as you start your walk, let me also say that if you have already committed your life to Christ, it’s important for you to call Life Story and tell them about that decision. Now, from my perspective, I’m a professional speaker and an author, but let me say that my first priority is my relationship with Christ. The things I’ve talked about today are extremely important. I want you to know that God really cares for you and He cares for me. He’s interested in our spiritual walk and God bless you with your spiritual walk with our Lord.
Motivated for Life
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© 2008 Zig Ziglar Life Story | RSS | Presented by Life Story Foundation
I’ve been to funerals of Christians and I’ve been to funerals of non-Christians. The difference in the anticipation, the joy, the excitement is so dramatically different. I struggle with the preacher who is preaching for a person who is lost and how he has to struggle to find something nice to say. Those who’ve known the Lord, you know when they come out and say, “We know that he or she is infinitely better off today. What a tremendous comfort that is.”
So many things have happened—I remember two years after my conversion, I was out in the swimming pool again and I was looking up into the heavens and as I did, my son was there and he and I was sitting on the side talking. And all of a sudden I said, “Son, look there’s another shooting star.” And my nine-year-old boy said, “Aw Dad, that wasn’t a shooting star. That was a roman candle.” And I said, “No boy. I was looking at it. It was a shooting star.” He said, “Dad, I was looking at it too. It was a roman candle.” And I said, “Well boy, your eyes are lots younger than mine and I’m going to let you rule this time that it was a roman candle, but it sure looked like a shooting star to me.” And then he got awfully quiet and he looked at me and he said, “You know Dad, two years ago at your moment of need, that star that you saw falling had left its orbit 1000’s and 1000’s of years earlier. And a perfect God timed it so that it would appear at your exact moment of need.”
I said it before. My boy’s a smart boy. But he ain’t that smart. You see God again, was manifesting himself in so many different ways. I well remember—in those days we didn’t have the corporate structure we have today, and I kinda ran almost a one-person outfit. We simply paid our expenses and then billed the companies back for it. And I remember one week and the Redhead had written the check for the tithe, and I looked at her and I said, “Gretchen, I didn’t know we made that much money this week.” She said, “Yeah, we had a good week.” And I said, “Wonderful!” Then I thought for a couple of minutes and I said, “Now wait a minute! You know, I was all over the country this week and you didn’t deduct all of the airfare!” She said, “No, I sure didn’t.” She hesitated just for a moment and then she smiled and she said, “Honey, let’s just leave it like it is, we can’t out-give God.”
So true. You can not out-give God. I want to be very careful to say this, I’m just so grateful it’s true. Our tithes today and our gifts are substantially more than we were earning before I became a Christian. My taxes are dramatically more than I was earning when I committed my life to Christ. And I want to say this so very carefully because not for one moment do I want you to ever get the idea that when you become a Christian, God is going to bless you financially. The idea that you can name it and claim it is an absolute abomination to the Lord. The idea that you’re broke because you’re faith is not strong enough is absolute heresy. It simply is not true. I know so many Christians, including my mother–strongest Christian that I ever knew in my life and she never had a dime in her life. God doesn’t mind you being prosperous; particularly if you use it for His glory. But God will give to you what is best for you. Money might be the worst thing on earth for you, but He will bless you according to what is best for you.
I close with this example. When I committed my life to Christ, my number one objective was to have each member of my family—children, brothers, sisters—everybody in the Kingdom. These were the ones I loved the most. I immediately started witnessing to and trying to live in a way that they would be attracted to the benefits of Christianity now. See a lot of people don’t realize is, that as a Christian, even as a churchgoer, you will live five- and seven-tenths years longer than a non-churchgoer. You have fifty-five percent less chance of having a one-car accident and sixty percent less chance of having a fatal heart attack. There are some mal-benefits.
There are some other benefits that go along with it. My greatest benefit I believe has been in the world of relationship. I always thought I loved that red-head of mine. The kids used to always call us the lovebirds. But until I learned to love her, through Christ, I did not know what love was all about. We’re infinitely closer today after 47 years of marriage than we’ve ever been. We talk more. We laugh more. We do more. We have more in common. We grow closer by the day.
God has opened my eyes and my heart in so many different ways, folks, it just makes such a big difference. One by one, each member of my family came into the Kingdom, with the exception of my oldest daughter. She was quote “an intellectual.” A lot of it just didn’t make any sense to her. She could see how excited I was. She could changes in me, “But Dad, you’ve always been excited about a whole lot of things;” and she kind of thought that it was a passing fancy.
When you can only witness so much, even to your own child, and after a period of time, you know I really grew a little discouraged. And then one day, the Lord whispered to me—and I want to emphasize a point there too. In 99 and nine-tenths percent of the cases, God speaks to me through His Bible. There have been about five instances in the years I’ve known him where I felt so—His presence was so real—that I felt that He was audibly speaking to me and obviously He was impressing my mind. But God mostly speaks to me through His Bible, but it seemed on this occasion that God whispered, “Why don’t you write her a book?” And I very quickly said, “Alright Lord, we will write her a book.” Every word, every phrase, every verse of scripture, every example, every illustration, every prayer in Confessions of a Happy Christian was put in there with the hope and prayer that it would be instrumental in bringing my daughter to Christ.
Well, in the meantime, she had gotten involved with an organization which had a strong witnessing Christian. And he started talking about Christ. In the meantime also, she had gotten married. And one day she told me, you know, that she was in church and oh, that really tickled me. But when my book came out, you know, and I gave it to her as I did to all the other members of the family, and one by one they were saying, “Oh Dad, it really is a great book.” And I just couldn’t wait for my oldest daughter, but she never opened the book. A couple of Sundays later, she and her husband were seated in our den. And as we talked, I felt God’s Spirit moving and I said, “Are you two ready to commit your lives to Christ.” My son-in-law said, “Well, I already have.” And I looked at my daughter and said, “And what about you sweetheart?” She said, “No Daddy. I’m just not ready.” It really broke my heart because, you see, the Bible says when the Holy Spirit beckons, you must respond because there’s no guarantee that he will beckon again.
And so it really bothered me and yet, I felt that I could go no further. And I didn’t. Eight days later, on Monday night, I was doing a seminar here in Dallas. My son-in-law works with me. He went down and had the display of the books and the tapes there. My son had decided to go with me that night and my daughter went also. When it was all over and I had finished bidding everybody a good night, and my son and son-in-law were loading the books and tapes back in the car, my daughter was standing in the back and I walked back to her and she put her arms around me and she said, “Thank you Daddy, for finding Jesus Christ when you did. Because had you not found Him then, I would not know Him now.”
I grabbed her and I hugged her and I kissed her and I spanked her and I cried. And I hugged her and kissed her and I spanked her again and I cried some more. And we had made an agreement with my son and son-in-law that we were going to meet down in the coffee shop and have a bowl of soup. She and I walked on down. We took our seats. I sat here, she on my left. My son-in-law came in and sat down right in front of me and my son on my right. My son sat down, and I looked at him. And I said, “Son, guess who Susie knows.” He looked startled just for a moment. And then his little eyes filled with tears. He bowed his head and he wept.
You parents, who have had the privilege of knowing Christ and leading your children to Christ, know the unspeakable joy that I felt. We got home, we walked in the front door; the Redhead was all the way across the room—and for the benefit of the visitors, when I keep saying the Redhead, I’m obviously talking about my wife—she was all the way across the room; when we walked in before anybody said a word, she said, “Susie knows the Lord, doesn’t she.” And I said, “Yes. She’s safe. She’s safe.”
The question is, do you know the Lord? It’s a given that all of us are going to die. I believe with all of my heart that heaven is a real place, that hell is a real place. We will go, by our choice to one of them. And I say by our choice because, you see, God’s voted for you, Satan’s voted against you. And the deciding vote is going to be yours.
First, let me thank you for listening to my testimony. I encourage you actually to listen to it again, maybe several more times because there is a great deal to it. I sincerely hope, that by now you’ve made a decision to make the most important decision you could ever make. And that is to invite Jesus Christ into your life and remember you have everything to gain and absolutely nothing to lose in this process.
Let me remind you that if everything I’ve said is completely untrue, but you believe it, you really have nothing to lose. But if everything I say is true, and you don’t believe it, then you have lost everything.
With that in mind, and if you happen to be riding down the highway listening to this, I encourage you to simply pull to the side of the road and quietly bow your head. Close your eyes, there’s nothing significant really in closing your eyes except that it is a sign of submission, of trust. You can’t see what’s going on because your eyes are closed. But that trust in Christ is so important.
Now if you’re ready, simply, in your own mind, you can either silently pray this or even better, repeat these words out loud: “Dear Lord, I confess that I am a sinner. And I know that I can not save myself. So Lord, I ask you to forgive me of my sins, and I’m going to what you told me to do in Romans 10:9. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord. I believe in my heart that God raised him from death. And Lord, you told me that if I did that, I’d be saved. So in faith, that’s exactly what I’m doing. You told me in Ephesians 2:8-9 that it is by grace—that’s the unmerited favor of God, I don’t deserve it, but you give it to me because you love me—it is by grace and my faith in you that I will be saved. That I won’t be saved because of my works because if I could save myself, I just might boast. So Lord, it’s trusting in you that will give me that salvation. And so Lord, I confess that you are my Lord. Invite me into your heaven Lord. And I am now secure in that knowledge, that I am saved. And, oh Lord, I’m so grateful for that.
Now at this moment, you might not quote “feel different.” Some do, some don’t. But let me assure you that you’re not saved by your feelings. You’re saved by hearing and believing the word of God. And that’s exactly what you’ve been hearing.
My friend, you are saved. If you prayed in your heart the prayer we just voiced, and you and God are the only two who know whether it was in your heart or not; now I encourage you, study your Bible, get involved in a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church, and enjoy the benefits of your salvation now. And may God bless you richly for this most important commitment and decision.
Now let me simply say this. If you have prayed to accept Christ, I’d like to take a few more minutes to share with you how you can continue your spiritual journey, in other words—how can you keep it going, how can you maintain this excitement and enthusiasm in this faith of yours. Well first of all let me say that the Bible will keep you out of sin or sin will keep you out of the Bible. In other words, you need to get in God’s word and learn what God has to say. I urge you, if you haven’t got one, get one. I also encourage you to find a Bible-teaching church and attend there on a regular basis. There might be some discouraged people there you can encourage and you will be encouraged by going to such a church. I want to encourage you also to pray to God frequently, be open and honest with Him. He is interested in every aspect of your life—remember, He does have a tremendous amount invested in you. There are no secrets from God; He’s not surprised at anything you say or do.
I also encourage you to take the initiative and tell others about your decision to follow Christ. A lot of people will unfortunately say, “Well, you know, I’ll let my life be my story or my witness or whatever.” Well let me emphasize a point—Christ lived the perfect life. And He performed all those miracles and yet He always verbalized the importance of faith in God. I encourage you to do exactly the same thing. As you get involved in your Christian faith, as you start your walk, let me also say that if you have already committed your life to Christ, it’s important for you to call Life Story and tell them about that decision. Now, from my perspective, I’m a professional speaker and an author, but let me say that my first priority is my relationship with Christ. The things I’ve talked about today are extremely important. I want you to know that God really cares for you and He cares for me. He’s interested in our spiritual walk and God bless you with your spiritual walk with our Lord.
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© 2008 Zig Ziglar Life Story | RSS | Presented by Life Story Foundation
ZIG'S STORY - 2
Zig’s Story - Page 2
We got to Dallas. I went to the bookstore; I got a copy of Taylor’s Bible stories. And I started reading the stories to him –at age seven, you know– I thought he could relate to that more nearly than he could the old King James, which was so popular in those days. And as some of you might suspect by now, I kind of –you know– bring a little extra to the stories. Now I don’t add to the Bible, don’t misunderstand, but I kind of dramatize, you know.
And everybody’s favorite story is David and Goliath. Everybody knows that, I mean, that’s just a given. And when we got to David and Goliath, you know, as I was dramatizing –you know, talking about a big ol’ nine foot plus Goliath and little bity David who hadn’t even started shaving yet– and he runs up there and he says to his brother, “What’s that fella doing?” And they said, “Why David, can’t you see? He’s challenging us!” Now you understand for forty days and forty nights Goliath had been brain-washing them. “You dirty dogs, I’ll kill you! Send somebody out to fight!” And David said, “I’ll take him on.”
And they said, “David, you’re crazy. People get hurt fighting fellas like that!” They looked at Goliath, you know, and figured he was too big to hit. David looked at him and knew he was too big to miss. It’s the way you look at things. They looked at Goliath and compared him to them and that made him big. David looked at him and compared Goliath to God and that made Goliath awfully small.
I’m here to tell you, I was telling that story to my boy and I said, “Son, wasn’t David a brave boy?” And you got to kind of reverse our ages now –you got to make him 45 and me seven– as he said, “Yeah Dad, David was brave but Goliath was the brave one.” I said, “Oh, how do you figure that, boy?” And he said, “Well Dad, you got to understand. Goliath was out there right by himself. David had God with him.” I said, “Boy, you know I never thought about it like that.”
Now I got a smart son, but he ain’t that smart. That was God’s Holy Spirit that was speaking through my son.
God manifested himself in another way. I’d been invited to send in some information with a major national company to use in their international sales manual. I sent them all the stuff, wrote them a glowing report on myself. Pointed out how marvelous I would be as their presenter, you know, and just knew I was going to get the deal. I obviously was the best qualified, and surely they would invite me.
About a month later I got a letter. It said, “We’re sorry, we decided to get somebody else.” Well, you know I’m always of a stiff upper lip. I tell you, I put up that good front –you know– you win some, you lose some, some are rained out. But I really was disappointed. On the trip to Corpus Christi I called back and talked with my office and they said this company has called you. The man they had originally selected to do some of their regional conventions has filthy language. They cannot and will not use him. They want you.
And it seems that God almost interrupted the conversation and said, “You see there, boy, when you leave it up to me I’ll handle things for you.” Now understand, God handles Himself and manifests Himself differently in different ways. Don’t ever think for one moment that everybody has the same experience. Each one of us are individuals –God deals with us differently.
Almost immediately after I became a Christian, a need arose in our family. And understand I was broke and in debt at that particular point. And something happened and we immediately needed an extra $500 a week. And I want to emphasize that in 1972, $500 represented a considerable sum of money. We were already struggling.
Something amazing happened. This major corporation, one of the fortune 500 –I had done a series with them. And about that time they wrote me a letter and said, “We want you to do another series, but if you don’t mind we would like to pay you in advance so that we can get it in this year’s budget.” Well, because of my gracious understanding nature, I, you know, agreed to go along with their request –regretfully, of course– but I agreed to go through with it.
Now here’s the interesting thing: In all of the years before, and all of the years since, that has never happened again –where anybody wanted to pay me for a series in advance (Occasionally for a fee they would pay me in advance). That met our needs. We have a great God, ladies and gentlemen. My picture of what a Christian is changed immediately. My picture of faith changed immediately.
You see, I believe that faith is a football game and a car payment. I don’t know how many of you are football fans, but do you remember a few years ago when the Dallas Cowboys were playing Minnesota for the NFC championship up in Minneapolis? How many of you remember that particular game? Well, any casual observer of the game — and I’m going to tell this in a completely non-biased, unprejudiced way. I will simply give you the facts in the matter, as any dedicated diehard loyal Dallas Cowboy fan would give it.
Now it was obvious to anybody that the Cowboys was the vastly superior team. We should’ve had them about 68 to nothing going down at the end. But there it was, we had 54 seconds to play. The Cowboys were behind. It was fourth down, nineteen to go, we were on our own 22-yard-line, and incredibly enough some of the Dallas Cowboy faithful at that point lost their faith. There was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. They said, “Same old Cowboys –we don’t get beat, we beat ourselves.” I sat there in astonishment. I said, “Hey, don’t worry about a thing. Hey, we just got nineteen yards to go for a first-down. We still got 54 seconds left. Starbuck is good and healthy. No problem.”
Well you remember the very first play. He sent Drew Pearson straight ahead. He got down to the 49-yard-line of the Vikings, headed for the sideline. And just as he got to the sideline Starbuck hit him with a perfect pass. Now while Pearson was up in the air, one of those Vikings pushed him out of bounds –Now that ain’t right. And they caught him at it. And so we got the ball right there, and the stadium erupted. Everybody jumped up and down and started whooping and shouting and hollering and acting like a bunch of teenagers. I just sat there, never moved. Calm, cool, and collected. Ol’ Icewater Ziglar. I’m telling you –there was no doubt in my mind who was going to win that ball game. No way were the Cowboys going to lose.
Well, on the very next play –our center had gotten hurt on the last one– the substitute center dribbled the ball back to Starbuck on the frozen turf. Starbuck had to grab it up. He had sent Preston Pearson over the center –bad pass, incomplete– everybody moaned and groaned and I said, “Hey don’t worry about a thing. We’ve still get nearly forty seconds left. It’s only second down. Starbuck is still in control. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Well, you remember the next play. He sent Drew Pearson straight for the end-zone. Little bity guy, four feet eleven, weighed about 78 pounds. And Starbuck put the ball up in the air and it stayed there two minutes and 29 seconds. By the time it got down, Pearson was surrounded by nine of those Vikings, kicking and scratching and clawing –one of them even bit him. Pearson ignored the crowd, and caught the touchdown pass, wins the game –the stadium erupted! I never left my seat. Never was there any doubt in my mind about the outcome of that game. Now, I gotta confess one of the reasons that I was so confident is because I was watching… a replay.
And you say, “Ziglar, you dirty dog. The game was over; your team had already won. You had absolutely nothing to worry about!”
You see, that’s what being a Christian is. I never played football. I was too little, too slow, too scared. I have a low threshold of pain. I didn’t play football, but they tell me that there’s a big book of rules. And they tell me that regardless of how good you are, if you break enough of the rules that you’re going to lose the game. Well, in the game of life there’s also a book. But this is a book of love. And I have read this book. I read the last chapter. I know how the game ends. I know I’ve already won it. Now if you know how the game ends, and you know you’ve already won it, doesn’t that remove an incredible amount of doubt, and fear, and frustration, and worry out of your life? That’s what is exciting to me about it, knowing Christ.
You see, I believe faith really is a car payment. I get so amused at the number of people who say, “Well Zig, you know, I have no trouble at all with Genesis 1:1 ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ I have no trouble at all believing that Christ broke the bread and fishes and fed the multitude. I have no trouble believing that God split the Red Sea and over two million Jews walked through on dry land. I have no trouble whatever believing those mighty miracles of the Bible. But Zig, you see I have a car payment, and it’s due next Thursday. Now God can split all that water He wants to, but He’s never dealt with one of these finance companies before.”
You think of the absurdity in that! Yes, Lord I know you created the universe but let me tell about that woman I married. Lord I don’t believe you could get along with her. Or, Lord let me tell you about that man I’m married to. Or let me tell you about that teenager, that child of mine. Lord, I know you did all of these other things but let’s face it –you can not get personal and solve our day to day problems. How absurd can we get?
As Mary Crowley used to say, so often, “God can mend any broken heart, provided you’ve given Him all of the pieces.”
We got to Dallas. I went to the bookstore; I got a copy of Taylor’s Bible stories. And I started reading the stories to him –at age seven, you know– I thought he could relate to that more nearly than he could the old King James, which was so popular in those days. And as some of you might suspect by now, I kind of –you know– bring a little extra to the stories. Now I don’t add to the Bible, don’t misunderstand, but I kind of dramatize, you know.
And everybody’s favorite story is David and Goliath. Everybody knows that, I mean, that’s just a given. And when we got to David and Goliath, you know, as I was dramatizing –you know, talking about a big ol’ nine foot plus Goliath and little bity David who hadn’t even started shaving yet– and he runs up there and he says to his brother, “What’s that fella doing?” And they said, “Why David, can’t you see? He’s challenging us!” Now you understand for forty days and forty nights Goliath had been brain-washing them. “You dirty dogs, I’ll kill you! Send somebody out to fight!” And David said, “I’ll take him on.”
And they said, “David, you’re crazy. People get hurt fighting fellas like that!” They looked at Goliath, you know, and figured he was too big to hit. David looked at him and knew he was too big to miss. It’s the way you look at things. They looked at Goliath and compared him to them and that made him big. David looked at him and compared Goliath to God and that made Goliath awfully small.
I’m here to tell you, I was telling that story to my boy and I said, “Son, wasn’t David a brave boy?” And you got to kind of reverse our ages now –you got to make him 45 and me seven– as he said, “Yeah Dad, David was brave but Goliath was the brave one.” I said, “Oh, how do you figure that, boy?” And he said, “Well Dad, you got to understand. Goliath was out there right by himself. David had God with him.” I said, “Boy, you know I never thought about it like that.”
Now I got a smart son, but he ain’t that smart. That was God’s Holy Spirit that was speaking through my son.
God manifested himself in another way. I’d been invited to send in some information with a major national company to use in their international sales manual. I sent them all the stuff, wrote them a glowing report on myself. Pointed out how marvelous I would be as their presenter, you know, and just knew I was going to get the deal. I obviously was the best qualified, and surely they would invite me.
About a month later I got a letter. It said, “We’re sorry, we decided to get somebody else.” Well, you know I’m always of a stiff upper lip. I tell you, I put up that good front –you know– you win some, you lose some, some are rained out. But I really was disappointed. On the trip to Corpus Christi I called back and talked with my office and they said this company has called you. The man they had originally selected to do some of their regional conventions has filthy language. They cannot and will not use him. They want you.
And it seems that God almost interrupted the conversation and said, “You see there, boy, when you leave it up to me I’ll handle things for you.” Now understand, God handles Himself and manifests Himself differently in different ways. Don’t ever think for one moment that everybody has the same experience. Each one of us are individuals –God deals with us differently.
Almost immediately after I became a Christian, a need arose in our family. And understand I was broke and in debt at that particular point. And something happened and we immediately needed an extra $500 a week. And I want to emphasize that in 1972, $500 represented a considerable sum of money. We were already struggling.
Something amazing happened. This major corporation, one of the fortune 500 –I had done a series with them. And about that time they wrote me a letter and said, “We want you to do another series, but if you don’t mind we would like to pay you in advance so that we can get it in this year’s budget.” Well, because of my gracious understanding nature, I, you know, agreed to go along with their request –regretfully, of course– but I agreed to go through with it.
Now here’s the interesting thing: In all of the years before, and all of the years since, that has never happened again –where anybody wanted to pay me for a series in advance (Occasionally for a fee they would pay me in advance). That met our needs. We have a great God, ladies and gentlemen. My picture of what a Christian is changed immediately. My picture of faith changed immediately.
You see, I believe that faith is a football game and a car payment. I don’t know how many of you are football fans, but do you remember a few years ago when the Dallas Cowboys were playing Minnesota for the NFC championship up in Minneapolis? How many of you remember that particular game? Well, any casual observer of the game — and I’m going to tell this in a completely non-biased, unprejudiced way. I will simply give you the facts in the matter, as any dedicated diehard loyal Dallas Cowboy fan would give it.
Now it was obvious to anybody that the Cowboys was the vastly superior team. We should’ve had them about 68 to nothing going down at the end. But there it was, we had 54 seconds to play. The Cowboys were behind. It was fourth down, nineteen to go, we were on our own 22-yard-line, and incredibly enough some of the Dallas Cowboy faithful at that point lost their faith. There was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. They said, “Same old Cowboys –we don’t get beat, we beat ourselves.” I sat there in astonishment. I said, “Hey, don’t worry about a thing. Hey, we just got nineteen yards to go for a first-down. We still got 54 seconds left. Starbuck is good and healthy. No problem.”
Well you remember the very first play. He sent Drew Pearson straight ahead. He got down to the 49-yard-line of the Vikings, headed for the sideline. And just as he got to the sideline Starbuck hit him with a perfect pass. Now while Pearson was up in the air, one of those Vikings pushed him out of bounds –Now that ain’t right. And they caught him at it. And so we got the ball right there, and the stadium erupted. Everybody jumped up and down and started whooping and shouting and hollering and acting like a bunch of teenagers. I just sat there, never moved. Calm, cool, and collected. Ol’ Icewater Ziglar. I’m telling you –there was no doubt in my mind who was going to win that ball game. No way were the Cowboys going to lose.
Well, on the very next play –our center had gotten hurt on the last one– the substitute center dribbled the ball back to Starbuck on the frozen turf. Starbuck had to grab it up. He had sent Preston Pearson over the center –bad pass, incomplete– everybody moaned and groaned and I said, “Hey don’t worry about a thing. We’ve still get nearly forty seconds left. It’s only second down. Starbuck is still in control. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Well, you remember the next play. He sent Drew Pearson straight for the end-zone. Little bity guy, four feet eleven, weighed about 78 pounds. And Starbuck put the ball up in the air and it stayed there two minutes and 29 seconds. By the time it got down, Pearson was surrounded by nine of those Vikings, kicking and scratching and clawing –one of them even bit him. Pearson ignored the crowd, and caught the touchdown pass, wins the game –the stadium erupted! I never left my seat. Never was there any doubt in my mind about the outcome of that game. Now, I gotta confess one of the reasons that I was so confident is because I was watching… a replay.
And you say, “Ziglar, you dirty dog. The game was over; your team had already won. You had absolutely nothing to worry about!”
You see, that’s what being a Christian is. I never played football. I was too little, too slow, too scared. I have a low threshold of pain. I didn’t play football, but they tell me that there’s a big book of rules. And they tell me that regardless of how good you are, if you break enough of the rules that you’re going to lose the game. Well, in the game of life there’s also a book. But this is a book of love. And I have read this book. I read the last chapter. I know how the game ends. I know I’ve already won it. Now if you know how the game ends, and you know you’ve already won it, doesn’t that remove an incredible amount of doubt, and fear, and frustration, and worry out of your life? That’s what is exciting to me about it, knowing Christ.
You see, I believe faith really is a car payment. I get so amused at the number of people who say, “Well Zig, you know, I have no trouble at all with Genesis 1:1 ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ I have no trouble at all believing that Christ broke the bread and fishes and fed the multitude. I have no trouble believing that God split the Red Sea and over two million Jews walked through on dry land. I have no trouble whatever believing those mighty miracles of the Bible. But Zig, you see I have a car payment, and it’s due next Thursday. Now God can split all that water He wants to, but He’s never dealt with one of these finance companies before.”
You think of the absurdity in that! Yes, Lord I know you created the universe but let me tell about that woman I married. Lord I don’t believe you could get along with her. Or, Lord let me tell you about that man I’m married to. Or let me tell you about that teenager, that child of mine. Lord, I know you did all of these other things but let’s face it –you can not get personal and solve our day to day problems. How absurd can we get?
As Mary Crowley used to say, so often, “God can mend any broken heart, provided you’ve given Him all of the pieces.”
ZIG ZIGLAR'S LIFE STORY - PAGE 1
In 1970, Zig Ziglar shifted gears, moved into overdrive and sought new heights to scale. After all, he had finished second in national sales in an organization with over 7,000 sales people and first in another with over 3,000. Today, as a motivational teacher and trainer, Zig Ziglar is again number one. He is rated by his peers as well as audiences everywhere as one of the best and most versatile. Eight of his ten books have reached bestseller lists as soon as they were published. His appearances on the Today show, the Phil Donahue Show, CBS’s 60 Minutes, and ABC’s 20/20 have given him world wide recognition. His appearance on the Hour of Power and the 700 Club have given us a unique glimpse of his personal life and faith. Happily over-married to the “red head,” whom he lovingly calls “Sugar-baby”, he is a committed family man. He is an avid jogger, and an enthusiastic golfer. And when Zig Ziglar was ten days old –well, let’s have Zig tell that story himself:
Today I’m going to be sharing with you my spiritual journey. Interestingly enough, it started when I was ten days old. I died that day. Ten days earlier the doctor had delivered me to my mother and said, “You have a perfectly healthy baby boy.” Ten days later, he laid me on the bed and said to my mother, “He is no more.”
My grandmother reached down and picked up this lifeless body. And they said she started talking to me. But you of course know that she was not talking to me, she was talking to her heavenly father. She was pleading for my life. God responded to that prayer, and obviously I did survive.
As a child, I watched a widowed mother who lost her husband who left her with six children too small to work –there were twelve of us, all told. She lost her daughter just a few days later. And so it was a pretty tough childhood. I watched –I watched my mother’s incredible faith.
Now, as a child every week we were in church. As a matter of fact, Mrs. L.S. Jones from down the street drove an old Dodge. And she would come in front of our house and sound her horn and I can see my mother to this day as she would do two things simultaneously: She would reach over and pick up her navy blue hat and put it on the bun on the back of her head (her long hair was rolled up), and she would reach and get her head pin and in the same motion she would put it all together and say, “Let’s go, boys.” And I’m telling you, we headed for the car. It never occurred to us to not go. We didn’t think we had a choice. And reflecting on it, we didn’t have a choice. It was clearly understood: we were going to church.
On Sunday evening we went to what the Baptist call, you know, BYPU in those days. And as boys we thought BYPU stood for “Buy your preacher’s underwear.” I mean, that’s why we were there. We were in church on Sunday night. We were in prayer meeting on Wednesday night. When the church doors opened, we were there.
On a number of occasions –and incidentally I was baptized when I was twelve years old. I was as lost as a human being could get. I don’t know why I was baptized. I don’t know whether it was because my mother wanted me to, the preacher expected me too, or all of my buddies were being baptized. All I know is, I was baptized.
I well remember one evening. I did a lot of my work at night in those days. I was in the cookware business, putting on demonstrations. I was coming in late one night from, I believe, Lancaster South Carolina (we lived in Columbia, a little town called Dent, just outside of Columbia). And I remember that evening turning left, right there at Dent, crossing the railroad tracks and turning right –I remember that.
The next thing I remembered I was being flagged down by the military police in Fort Jackson. I had driven straight for about six miles, I had turned left and the military police said I passed the outpost doing somewhere between 50 and 60 mph. I was so deep up into the Fort Jackson complex that they literally had to lead me out. I was absolutely lost.
Now there are a lot of people who will say, “Well, you know, you weren’t really asleep.” But when I got home that night the Redhead said to me, “Honey, I was praying unusually hard for you tonight.” And those who would say, “You know you didn’t really go to sleep.” But I’m totally convinced that not only was I sound asleep, but I had the greatest chauffeur that any human being could ever have. God sent my angel, and he was driving that car. And he drove it beautifully.
Now you would have thought that with something like that, that at that point I would really make my commitment to Christ. But you see, I wanted to have some fun in life. I wanted to be successful. I wanted to make a lot of money. And obviously, Christians just don’t do those things. I mean, let’s face it –Christians go around with long faces and short pocketbooks– now, everybody knows that. That was the image; that was the picture that I had of my own.
But on July the 4th, 1972, thanks to an elderly black lady, who spent the weekend in our home –we learned that number one she was scripturally inaccurate. She claimed to be an angel, claimed to be a faith healer, claimed to be a prophet –we discovered she was none of those things. But there were two things we absolutely knew. Number one, she loved the Lord. And she loved me.
She walked into our home talking about Christ. She walked out of our home talking about Christ. And all during that weekend, all she talked about was Jesus Christ. My savior came into my life in a very real way that weekend. I’ve always been grateful that she was not prejudiced. Now almost immediately, my picture of being a Christian totally changed.
You know, I tell folks today, Christians ought to be kind of like the story of the Mama skunk and the Baby skunks going by the paper mill. How many of you have ever been close to a paper mill? Okay, you’ll get the drift of this. One of the babies kind of sniffed the air and filled his nostrils with that pungent paper mill odor and said, “Mama, what on earth is that?” Well, the Mama skunk filled her nostrils with that pungent paper mill odor and said, “I don’t know, but we sure got to get some of it!”
Now, you know, I believe –I believe that when people are Christians that somebody ought to have some way of knowing they are Christians. You know, you don’t walk around looking like the cruise director for the Titanic—I mean, that is not my picture of what knowing Christ is all about. No, and I don’t believe that either, that you’re always grinning so wide you could eat a banana sideways –I don’t believe that is in the picture either.
But there’s an absolute joy that comes from knowing Christ that you will not experience anywhere else. When you know Christ, things are absolutely different. Christ manifested Himself in so many different ways almost immediately. It was almost as if He were saying, “Now I’ve let you fool around forty-five years of your life. Now I’ve got some things I want you to do, so I’m going to remove any doubt from your mind that your salvation is real.”
Now I want to give you a little warning. Different people have different salvation experiences. Yours might be totally different from mine. You see, for mine, there was no “magic moment” on that weekend. I do not remember one minute being lost and the next minute being saved. But when I awakened on that Monday morning, I knew beyond any reasonable doubt that Christ was in my heart, that I’d made my commitment to Him –that I was a totally different human being.
Now the first thing I did on that morning was I went to my cabinet –now I was, at that time, a casual, social drinker. Now when I say “casual, social” I mean a maximum of three times a month and that was unusual. But in those days they used to give you the little small bottles on an airplane when you flew. If you didn’t drink on the plane they’d give you two of them. I had a cabinet full of those things. I don’t know if any of you remember seeing that airline movie where one of the flight attendants opened her closet and there were hundreds of those little bottles like mine. I had a case of champagne somebody had given to me. I had several other bottles and when I opened my cabinet door that morning I then headed for the sink with every one of those bottles and I dumped them down. No, now I don’t believe drinking is going to send you to hell. I really don’t. I don’t believe smoking will –with smoking you smell like you’ve been there in advance. But anyhow –and you will get there quicker, you know, and so forth.
But you see, you don’t go to hell because of what you do –you go to hell because of what you don’t. And that simply is, believe. And I want to tell you now God used my son, who was seven years old, as a harassment committee of one to make absolutely certain that I walked a straight and narrow path. I well remember our anniversary that November after I committed my life to Christ. We went out to a restaurant that was owned by the Redhead’s hair-dresser. And he knew it was our anniversary –we got there and he gave us a bottle of wine.
Now I knew about my commitment that “never again.” But I did not have the courage at that point to say to him, “No, we don’t drink.” And so the Redhead and I had a sample of that wine. I got home and that seven-year-old boy said to me, “Dad, did you drink any wine or anything?” And I said, “Yes, I did, son.” And if I lived to be a thousand I’d never forget his exact words. He looked right at me and softly said, “Dad, I can’t begin to tell you how disappointed I am in you.”
I looked at my boy and I said, “Son, I’m going to make you a promise: If you’ll forgive Dad this time, I promise you for the rest of my life I will never have to ask you to forgive me again.” And I’ve kept that promise. Not in my strength, but in His.
After I was saved, I well remember, I was out in my swimming pool. I was looking up into the heavens. Really, I was praising God, and as I lay there I said, “God I know you put this whole big, beautiful universe together and I know that one of these days you’re going to take it down.” And at that precise moment, a star fell. God, I felt so close to, was speaking to me, “You’re absolutely right boy, and don’t you ever forget it.” And I never have.
A few days later I had some time off. We decided to go down on a little trip. We drove down to Corpus Christi. And we spent a day there and then decided to go over to San Antonio. And as we headed to San Antonio my son said, “Dad, give me a Bible story.” Well, you’ve got to understand that here’s a boy whose dad had not been taken him to church, who has not been reading him the Bible, and had not been praying with him.
You see, when we moved to Dallas in August of 1968 from Columbia, South Carolina, we didn’t have any friends here. Nobody to say, “Well, let’s go to church.” Now in Columbia and other places we always had friends and always went to church, and we went to church because that was the thing to do. On several occasions, as I said earlier, I almost made a commitment. But now we come to Dallas, and no friends –and Sunday was the only day I had! I mean, you know, I want to do something for myself. And so we didn’t go to church.
And now my boy says, “Dad, give me a Bible story.” Well, fortunately, having been raised in the church I knew some Bible stories so I gave him one and he said, “Give me another one, Dad.” I gave him another one. “Give me another one, Dad.” I gave him another one. He said, “Give me another one, Dad.” And about that time I was beginning to run out. And I said, “Well, boy, when we get to San Antonio I’ll get the book out and I’ll give you more stories.”
We got to San Antonio, checked in, went up to about the umpteenth floor and as the bellman set the bag down he said, “Okay Dad, get the book out and give me a story.” I got the book out and I did remember enough about the Bible. I went to the book of Exodus so I could get me a continuance story there. And I read, and finally I said, “Boy, I’m hungry. We got to go get something to eat.” And he said, “Okay, Dad. We’ll take it up when we get back.” Well we went to dinner and we came in, and the minute we walked in he said, “Okay, Dad. Get the book out and give me some more stories.”
I read until I absolutely got sleepy. I said, “Boy, I got to go to sleep.” He said, “Okay, Dad. We’ll take it up tomorrow.” We got up the next day, we were going to drive back to Dallas and normally I drive. But as we headed for the car he said, “Dad, I’ll tell you what. Let’s let Mom drive. You get the book out; I want you to give me a story.” God really was using him. You see, when you take that move toward God, you’ll find He’s already headed in your direction; He’s been waiting for you all of your life.
Today I’m going to be sharing with you my spiritual journey. Interestingly enough, it started when I was ten days old. I died that day. Ten days earlier the doctor had delivered me to my mother and said, “You have a perfectly healthy baby boy.” Ten days later, he laid me on the bed and said to my mother, “He is no more.”
My grandmother reached down and picked up this lifeless body. And they said she started talking to me. But you of course know that she was not talking to me, she was talking to her heavenly father. She was pleading for my life. God responded to that prayer, and obviously I did survive.
As a child, I watched a widowed mother who lost her husband who left her with six children too small to work –there were twelve of us, all told. She lost her daughter just a few days later. And so it was a pretty tough childhood. I watched –I watched my mother’s incredible faith.
Now, as a child every week we were in church. As a matter of fact, Mrs. L.S. Jones from down the street drove an old Dodge. And she would come in front of our house and sound her horn and I can see my mother to this day as she would do two things simultaneously: She would reach over and pick up her navy blue hat and put it on the bun on the back of her head (her long hair was rolled up), and she would reach and get her head pin and in the same motion she would put it all together and say, “Let’s go, boys.” And I’m telling you, we headed for the car. It never occurred to us to not go. We didn’t think we had a choice. And reflecting on it, we didn’t have a choice. It was clearly understood: we were going to church.
On Sunday evening we went to what the Baptist call, you know, BYPU in those days. And as boys we thought BYPU stood for “Buy your preacher’s underwear.” I mean, that’s why we were there. We were in church on Sunday night. We were in prayer meeting on Wednesday night. When the church doors opened, we were there.
On a number of occasions –and incidentally I was baptized when I was twelve years old. I was as lost as a human being could get. I don’t know why I was baptized. I don’t know whether it was because my mother wanted me to, the preacher expected me too, or all of my buddies were being baptized. All I know is, I was baptized.
I well remember one evening. I did a lot of my work at night in those days. I was in the cookware business, putting on demonstrations. I was coming in late one night from, I believe, Lancaster South Carolina (we lived in Columbia, a little town called Dent, just outside of Columbia). And I remember that evening turning left, right there at Dent, crossing the railroad tracks and turning right –I remember that.
The next thing I remembered I was being flagged down by the military police in Fort Jackson. I had driven straight for about six miles, I had turned left and the military police said I passed the outpost doing somewhere between 50 and 60 mph. I was so deep up into the Fort Jackson complex that they literally had to lead me out. I was absolutely lost.
Now there are a lot of people who will say, “Well, you know, you weren’t really asleep.” But when I got home that night the Redhead said to me, “Honey, I was praying unusually hard for you tonight.” And those who would say, “You know you didn’t really go to sleep.” But I’m totally convinced that not only was I sound asleep, but I had the greatest chauffeur that any human being could ever have. God sent my angel, and he was driving that car. And he drove it beautifully.
Now you would have thought that with something like that, that at that point I would really make my commitment to Christ. But you see, I wanted to have some fun in life. I wanted to be successful. I wanted to make a lot of money. And obviously, Christians just don’t do those things. I mean, let’s face it –Christians go around with long faces and short pocketbooks– now, everybody knows that. That was the image; that was the picture that I had of my own.
But on July the 4th, 1972, thanks to an elderly black lady, who spent the weekend in our home –we learned that number one she was scripturally inaccurate. She claimed to be an angel, claimed to be a faith healer, claimed to be a prophet –we discovered she was none of those things. But there were two things we absolutely knew. Number one, she loved the Lord. And she loved me.
She walked into our home talking about Christ. She walked out of our home talking about Christ. And all during that weekend, all she talked about was Jesus Christ. My savior came into my life in a very real way that weekend. I’ve always been grateful that she was not prejudiced. Now almost immediately, my picture of being a Christian totally changed.
You know, I tell folks today, Christians ought to be kind of like the story of the Mama skunk and the Baby skunks going by the paper mill. How many of you have ever been close to a paper mill? Okay, you’ll get the drift of this. One of the babies kind of sniffed the air and filled his nostrils with that pungent paper mill odor and said, “Mama, what on earth is that?” Well, the Mama skunk filled her nostrils with that pungent paper mill odor and said, “I don’t know, but we sure got to get some of it!”
Now, you know, I believe –I believe that when people are Christians that somebody ought to have some way of knowing they are Christians. You know, you don’t walk around looking like the cruise director for the Titanic—I mean, that is not my picture of what knowing Christ is all about. No, and I don’t believe that either, that you’re always grinning so wide you could eat a banana sideways –I don’t believe that is in the picture either.
But there’s an absolute joy that comes from knowing Christ that you will not experience anywhere else. When you know Christ, things are absolutely different. Christ manifested Himself in so many different ways almost immediately. It was almost as if He were saying, “Now I’ve let you fool around forty-five years of your life. Now I’ve got some things I want you to do, so I’m going to remove any doubt from your mind that your salvation is real.”
Now I want to give you a little warning. Different people have different salvation experiences. Yours might be totally different from mine. You see, for mine, there was no “magic moment” on that weekend. I do not remember one minute being lost and the next minute being saved. But when I awakened on that Monday morning, I knew beyond any reasonable doubt that Christ was in my heart, that I’d made my commitment to Him –that I was a totally different human being.
Now the first thing I did on that morning was I went to my cabinet –now I was, at that time, a casual, social drinker. Now when I say “casual, social” I mean a maximum of three times a month and that was unusual. But in those days they used to give you the little small bottles on an airplane when you flew. If you didn’t drink on the plane they’d give you two of them. I had a cabinet full of those things. I don’t know if any of you remember seeing that airline movie where one of the flight attendants opened her closet and there were hundreds of those little bottles like mine. I had a case of champagne somebody had given to me. I had several other bottles and when I opened my cabinet door that morning I then headed for the sink with every one of those bottles and I dumped them down. No, now I don’t believe drinking is going to send you to hell. I really don’t. I don’t believe smoking will –with smoking you smell like you’ve been there in advance. But anyhow –and you will get there quicker, you know, and so forth.
But you see, you don’t go to hell because of what you do –you go to hell because of what you don’t. And that simply is, believe. And I want to tell you now God used my son, who was seven years old, as a harassment committee of one to make absolutely certain that I walked a straight and narrow path. I well remember our anniversary that November after I committed my life to Christ. We went out to a restaurant that was owned by the Redhead’s hair-dresser. And he knew it was our anniversary –we got there and he gave us a bottle of wine.
Now I knew about my commitment that “never again.” But I did not have the courage at that point to say to him, “No, we don’t drink.” And so the Redhead and I had a sample of that wine. I got home and that seven-year-old boy said to me, “Dad, did you drink any wine or anything?” And I said, “Yes, I did, son.” And if I lived to be a thousand I’d never forget his exact words. He looked right at me and softly said, “Dad, I can’t begin to tell you how disappointed I am in you.”
I looked at my boy and I said, “Son, I’m going to make you a promise: If you’ll forgive Dad this time, I promise you for the rest of my life I will never have to ask you to forgive me again.” And I’ve kept that promise. Not in my strength, but in His.
After I was saved, I well remember, I was out in my swimming pool. I was looking up into the heavens. Really, I was praising God, and as I lay there I said, “God I know you put this whole big, beautiful universe together and I know that one of these days you’re going to take it down.” And at that precise moment, a star fell. God, I felt so close to, was speaking to me, “You’re absolutely right boy, and don’t you ever forget it.” And I never have.
A few days later I had some time off. We decided to go down on a little trip. We drove down to Corpus Christi. And we spent a day there and then decided to go over to San Antonio. And as we headed to San Antonio my son said, “Dad, give me a Bible story.” Well, you’ve got to understand that here’s a boy whose dad had not been taken him to church, who has not been reading him the Bible, and had not been praying with him.
You see, when we moved to Dallas in August of 1968 from Columbia, South Carolina, we didn’t have any friends here. Nobody to say, “Well, let’s go to church.” Now in Columbia and other places we always had friends and always went to church, and we went to church because that was the thing to do. On several occasions, as I said earlier, I almost made a commitment. But now we come to Dallas, and no friends –and Sunday was the only day I had! I mean, you know, I want to do something for myself. And so we didn’t go to church.
And now my boy says, “Dad, give me a Bible story.” Well, fortunately, having been raised in the church I knew some Bible stories so I gave him one and he said, “Give me another one, Dad.” I gave him another one. “Give me another one, Dad.” I gave him another one. He said, “Give me another one, Dad.” And about that time I was beginning to run out. And I said, “Well, boy, when we get to San Antonio I’ll get the book out and I’ll give you more stories.”
We got to San Antonio, checked in, went up to about the umpteenth floor and as the bellman set the bag down he said, “Okay Dad, get the book out and give me a story.” I got the book out and I did remember enough about the Bible. I went to the book of Exodus so I could get me a continuance story there. And I read, and finally I said, “Boy, I’m hungry. We got to go get something to eat.” And he said, “Okay, Dad. We’ll take it up when we get back.” Well we went to dinner and we came in, and the minute we walked in he said, “Okay, Dad. Get the book out and give me some more stories.”
I read until I absolutely got sleepy. I said, “Boy, I got to go to sleep.” He said, “Okay, Dad. We’ll take it up tomorrow.” We got up the next day, we were going to drive back to Dallas and normally I drive. But as we headed for the car he said, “Dad, I’ll tell you what. Let’s let Mom drive. You get the book out; I want you to give me a story.” God really was using him. You see, when you take that move toward God, you’ll find He’s already headed in your direction; He’s been waiting for you all of your life.
હે સવાર!
હે સવાર! રોઝ નિત્ય નવા તુજ દર્શન થાય છે.
તુઝ થકી જ નિત્ય નવા જીવનની શરુઆત થાય છે.
જોઉ છુ તને તો વિશ્વ કંઇક નવુ દષ્ટિગોચર થાય છે.
ચારેય દિશામા તારા વિસ્તારથી વિશ્વચક્રની શરુઆત થાય છે.
હે સવાર! તુજ થકી જ કડીમા પુષ્પના દર્શન થાય છે.
તુઝ થકી જ શાન્ત ગગન મા પંખીઓના કલરવની ગુંઝ શરુ થાય છે.
તુઝ થકી જ નિશાળે ભણવા જતા ભુલકાઓના સાદની શરુઆત થાય છે.
તુઝ થકી જ ગામના પાદરે ગોવાળની વાંસળીના સુરની શરુઆત થાય છે.
તુઝ થકી જ ગામના કુવાઓ ને વાવડીઓ ઉપર પનિહારીઓની હરોળની શરુઆત થાય છે.
તુઝ થકી જ દુર ડુંગર ઉપરના મંદિરમા શંખનાદ ને ઘંટરાવના સાદ શરુ થાય છે.
તુઝ થકી જ જગતના તાતના ખેતર તરફના મંડરાણ શરુ થાય છે.
તુઝ થકી જ ચારેય દિશામા સુર્વણ ચાદરના પથરાવની શરુઆત થાય છે.
હે સવાર! તુજ થકી જ રોજ મારો પુનઃજનમ શરુ થાય છે.
તુઝ થકી જ નિત્ય નવા જીવનની શરુઆત થાય છે.
જોઉ છુ તને તો વિશ્વ કંઇક નવુ દષ્ટિગોચર થાય છે.
ચારેય દિશામા તારા વિસ્તારથી વિશ્વચક્રની શરુઆત થાય છે.
હે સવાર! તુજ થકી જ કડીમા પુષ્પના દર્શન થાય છે.
તુઝ થકી જ શાન્ત ગગન મા પંખીઓના કલરવની ગુંઝ શરુ થાય છે.
તુઝ થકી જ નિશાળે ભણવા જતા ભુલકાઓના સાદની શરુઆત થાય છે.
તુઝ થકી જ ગામના પાદરે ગોવાળની વાંસળીના સુરની શરુઆત થાય છે.
તુઝ થકી જ ગામના કુવાઓ ને વાવડીઓ ઉપર પનિહારીઓની હરોળની શરુઆત થાય છે.
તુઝ થકી જ દુર ડુંગર ઉપરના મંદિરમા શંખનાદ ને ઘંટરાવના સાદ શરુ થાય છે.
તુઝ થકી જ જગતના તાતના ખેતર તરફના મંડરાણ શરુ થાય છે.
તુઝ થકી જ ચારેય દિશામા સુર્વણ ચાદરના પથરાવની શરુઆત થાય છે.
હે સવાર! તુજ થકી જ રોજ મારો પુનઃજનમ શરુ થાય છે.
હે સવાર! રોઝ નિત્ય નવા તુજ દર્શન થાય છે.
Monday, September 29, 2008
wellcome to Sajjanpur
if u want to see complete Masala entertainment movie.
there is "Wellcome to Sajjanpur" is complete match of your desire.
I think it is 1st commercial movie of Shyam Benegal.
You'll must see it.
It is really nice movie.
Shreyash Tadpade have done his best performance.
there is "Wellcome to Sajjanpur" is complete match of your desire.
I think it is 1st commercial movie of Shyam Benegal.
You'll must see it.
It is really nice movie.
Shreyash Tadpade have done his best performance.
It is my 1st Poem
रुकी रुकी सी Life अब चलने लगी है.
जिंदगी अब ज़ोर से अपने Track पर दोड़ने लगी है.
आँखों में Dreams लिए अब बढ़ने लगी है.
जिंदगी अब ओर Fast सी होने लगी है.
ख्वाबो को Fulfill करने लगी है.
राहों की Speed अब बढ़ने लगी है.
रुकी रुकी सी Life अब चलने लगी है.
जिंदगी अब ज़ोर से अपने Track पर दोड़ने लगी है.
मुजको तो अब यह जन्हा Beautiful लगने लगा है.
दिल में एक Flower सा खिलने लगा है.
अब तो Moon भी नजदीक दिखने लगा है.
ओर Sky भी छोटा लगने लगा है.
रुकी रुकी सी Life अब चलने लगी है.
जिंदगी अब ज़ोर से अपने Track पर दोड़ने लगी है.
सिने में अब एक Passion सा बढ़ रहा है.
मेरा हर रूप अब एक Fashion सा लग रहा है.
अब तो मेरा Logic भी यह कह रहा है की,सारा जहा अब Magik सा लग रहा है.
रुकी रुकी सी Life अब चलने लगी है.
जिंदगी अब ज़ोर से अपने Track पर दोड़ने लगी है.
जिंदगी अब ज़ोर से अपने Track पर दोड़ने लगी है.
आँखों में Dreams लिए अब बढ़ने लगी है.
जिंदगी अब ओर Fast सी होने लगी है.
ख्वाबो को Fulfill करने लगी है.
राहों की Speed अब बढ़ने लगी है.
रुकी रुकी सी Life अब चलने लगी है.
जिंदगी अब ज़ोर से अपने Track पर दोड़ने लगी है.
मुजको तो अब यह जन्हा Beautiful लगने लगा है.
दिल में एक Flower सा खिलने लगा है.
अब तो Moon भी नजदीक दिखने लगा है.
ओर Sky भी छोटा लगने लगा है.
रुकी रुकी सी Life अब चलने लगी है.
जिंदगी अब ज़ोर से अपने Track पर दोड़ने लगी है.
सिने में अब एक Passion सा बढ़ रहा है.
मेरा हर रूप अब एक Fashion सा लग रहा है.
अब तो मेरा Logic भी यह कह रहा है की,सारा जहा अब Magik सा लग रहा है.
रुकी रुकी सी Life अब चलने लगी है.
जिंदगी अब ज़ोर से अपने Track पर दोड़ने लगी है.
New song Release by D H Malviya
सिने में कंही किसी ओर एक आग सी जल रही है.
जेसे घने अँधेरे में एक चिनगारी सी जल रही है.
आँखों में कंही किसी ओर एक चमक सी बढ़ रही है.
जेसे कड़ी धुप में एक ठंडक सी हो रही है.
मन में एक हलकी उम्मीद सी जग रही है.
जेसे कंही दूर किसी ओर तूफानी हवाएँ सी उठ रही है.
दिल में एक हलचल सी मच रही है.
कोई बात जुबा पे आ के रूक सी रही है.
सिने में कंही किसी ओर एक आग सी जल रही है.
जेसे घने अँधेरे में एक चिनगारी सी जल रही है.
चहरे पे तेरे एक चमक सी दिख रही है.
जेसे हवाओ में एक महक सी उठ रही है.
कानो में एक हलकी सी आवाज़ गूंज रही है.
जेसे राहे मंजिल तक ठहरती सी दिख रही है.
कदमो में एक पहल सी हो रही है.
जेसे थोडी दूर कंही एक धुंधली तस्वीर बनती सी दिख रही है.
सिने में कंही किसी ओर एक आग सी जल रही है.
जेसे घने अँधेरे में एक चिनगारी सी जल रही है.
जिंदगी अब एक गाडी सी लग रही है.
जो मंजील तक पहोंचती हुई सी लग रही है.
जेसे घने अँधेरे में एक चिनगारी सी जल रही है.
आँखों में कंही किसी ओर एक चमक सी बढ़ रही है.
जेसे कड़ी धुप में एक ठंडक सी हो रही है.
मन में एक हलकी उम्मीद सी जग रही है.
जेसे कंही दूर किसी ओर तूफानी हवाएँ सी उठ रही है.
दिल में एक हलचल सी मच रही है.
कोई बात जुबा पे आ के रूक सी रही है.
सिने में कंही किसी ओर एक आग सी जल रही है.
जेसे घने अँधेरे में एक चिनगारी सी जल रही है.
चहरे पे तेरे एक चमक सी दिख रही है.
जेसे हवाओ में एक महक सी उठ रही है.
कानो में एक हलकी सी आवाज़ गूंज रही है.
जेसे राहे मंजिल तक ठहरती सी दिख रही है.
कदमो में एक पहल सी हो रही है.
जेसे थोडी दूर कंही एक धुंधली तस्वीर बनती सी दिख रही है.
सिने में कंही किसी ओर एक आग सी जल रही है.
जेसे घने अँधेरे में एक चिनगारी सी जल रही है.
जिंदगी अब एक गाडी सी लग रही है.
जो मंजील तक पहोंचती हुई सी लग रही है.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
After Namastey London......
After film Khakee the dare devil Akshay Kumar and beautiful talented sultry actress Ash never been seen together another film . But now akki and Ash again seen together talented veteran director none other than Vipul Shah’s next.
After Namastey London, Sing Is King ,welcome we all know that hot babe Katrina and Akshay are hit Jori In industry but director producer Bharat Shah this time go with Ash . Another actor Arjun Rampal is also in film and shooting wiil be start February. In the film will show the period of 1950’s so Nitin Desai recreated the period . so we all waiting to watch the pair after so many years.
After Namastey London, Sing Is King ,welcome we all know that hot babe Katrina and Akshay are hit Jori In industry but director producer Bharat Shah this time go with Ash . Another actor Arjun Rampal is also in film and shooting wiil be start February. In the film will show the period of 1950’s so Nitin Desai recreated the period . so we all waiting to watch the pair after so many years.
“Welcome To Sajjanpur” is enormously high on simplicity.
Film: “Welcome to Sajjanpur”; Cast: Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Rao, Ravi Kishan, Rajeshwari Sachdeva, Ravi Jhankal, Ila Arun, Divya Dutta, Yashpal Sharma; Director: Shyam Benegal; Rating: *** ½
Welcome to Shyam Benegal’s world of enchanting social comment. Every character in this village of the damned, the doomed and remarkably redeemed is a stereotype. And yet, miraculously, every character is an individual, eccentric, quirky, blemished and yet so full of vitality vigour and energy that you wonder which came first…life, or life as seen through the eyes of Benegal’s camera of innocence, candour and credibility.
This isn’t Benegal’s first broadly-designed, warmly-panoramic ensemble film. Earlier, the prolific director excelled in depicting the life of a specific community in “Mandi” and “Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda” as a microcosm of a larger reality.
“Welcome To Sajjanpur” is enormously high on simplicity. To be simple in cinema is the most difficult thing in the world - especially when you attempt a film that subsumes an entire ethos of socio-political and cultural ideas on a rural society in tricky, torrential transition from blind faith to globalisation.
Welcome to Shyam Benegal’s world of enchanting social comment. Every character in this village of the damned, the doomed and remarkably redeemed is a stereotype. And yet, miraculously, every character is an individual, eccentric, quirky, blemished and yet so full of vitality vigour and energy that you wonder which came first…life, or life as seen through the eyes of Benegal’s camera of innocence, candour and credibility.
This isn’t Benegal’s first broadly-designed, warmly-panoramic ensemble film. Earlier, the prolific director excelled in depicting the life of a specific community in “Mandi” and “Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda” as a microcosm of a larger reality.
“Welcome To Sajjanpur” is enormously high on simplicity. To be simple in cinema is the most difficult thing in the world - especially when you attempt a film that subsumes an entire ethos of socio-political and cultural ideas on a rural society in tricky, torrential transition from blind faith to globalisation.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Drona is my Biggest Film: Abhishek Bachchan
Sounds surprising though, for someone whose career is almost a decade old. But Abhishek Bachchan who has worked in a lot of big movies, claims that Drona is his biggest film so far.
“It’s my biggest and best film so far,” says Abhishek with confidence. “I don’t speak like this, do I? But DRONA is different. It’s the most expensive film I am associated with. Besides, Goldie (Behl; the director) has executed the subject remarkably,” he states.
“Goldie was disheartened after his debut film failed. Later, he diversified into television; he wanted to make his company secure before he announced his next film,” Abhishek reminisces. “If at all DRONA works — and I hope it does — Goldie should get the credit for it. He has worked very, very hard. I am sure, the Indian audiences haven’t seen an adventure film like DRONA before,” he says confidently.
We hope so too… All the best Aby Baby.
Naomi Campbell gets the Moss Chop.........
Naomi Campbell Gets The Moss Chop…
Naomi Campbell joined the likes Dita Von Teese, Monica Bellucci and Matthew McConaughey when we spotted her arriving at the Dolce & Gabbana fashion show in Milan yesterday. The supermodel, who is rumoured to have just signed a £1million deal to front D&G’s worldwide advertising campaign, was sporting a new do, which looked remarkably similar to Kate Moss’s recent chop, or the scraggly bob as we’d like to call it.
Naomi Campbell joined the likes Dita Von Teese, Monica Bellucci and Matthew McConaughey when we spotted her arriving at the Dolce & Gabbana fashion show in Milan yesterday. The supermodel, who is rumoured to have just signed a £1million deal to front D&G’s worldwide advertising campaign, was sporting a new do, which looked remarkably similar to Kate Moss’s recent chop, or the scraggly bob as we’d like to call it.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The Golden Age Of Greece
The Golden Age of Greece
The Classical Period or Golden age of Greece, from around 500 to 300 BC, has given us the great monuments, art, philosophy, architecture and literature which are the building blocks of our own civilization.
The two most well known city-states during this period were the rivals: Athens and Sparta. It was the strengths of these two societies that brought the ancient world to its heights in art, culture and with the defeat of the Persians, warfare. It was the same two Greek states whose thirst for more power and territory, and whose jealousy brought about the Peloponesian wars which lasted 30 years and left both Athens and Sparta mere shadows of their former selves.
The seeds of the classical period were sown in the 8th century with the commiting of Homer to writing which in a way created a code of conduct and an ethnic identity for the Greeks. The heroic exploits of Odysseus, Achilles and the other Achaeans served as role models for the Greeks which told them how to behave, (and in some cases,how not to behave) in many situations, particularly on the field of battle and in competition. Just as important in the creating of a Greek identity was the emergence of the Olympic games and the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi both of which had their roots in the 8th century.
The Spartans
The Spartans who were founded by Lycurgus around 800 BC were known for their militaristic society. These Spartans, known as the Lacedemonians controlled the Peloponessos. The Spartans had no always lived in such a society. Earlier in their history they had produced art, poetry and music and seemed to be on the same course as the rest of Greek civilization which might have led them to give us some of the famous names that have been passed down through history. But from the late 8th Century Sparta fought a war with their neighbors in Messinia to the west and unlike other wars in ancient Greece where an invading army fought, won, worked out a treaty and left (to fight again someday), the Spartans subjugated the entire population of Messinia, reducing them to slaves or helots. These helots were no more than serfs and worked the land for the Spartans. Because the helots vastly outnumbered them, the Spartans had to create a society that would protect them not just from external enemies but from a revolt from within. Men lived in barracks and male children were taken from their mothers at a young age to learn how to serve the state, meaning the art of warfare. Unhealthy children were killed or left to die. Life had one purpose. To defend the state.
The Spartan Constitution was credited to Lycurgus who in his travels had studied governments in Crete and Ionia, had read the epics of Homer which strongly influenced his ideas on how a nation should be run. Lycurgus travels to Delphi for guidance. Told by the Oracle that his laws would make Sparta famous, he returns to convince first his influential friends and eventually all the Spartans that his reforms will bring power and glory to Sparta. The system of government he created included two Kings, five ephors (executives), a council of thirty elders and a general assembly which was made up of all male citizens. Full citizenship was reserved for the elite, known as the Spartiates who spent much of their time training for and fighting in wars, while their helots worked the land to provide food for the communal mess halls known as syssitia. This is where the Spartiates ate their meals and each was expected to contribute a certain quota of produce every month. Those who could not keep up with their commitment were kicked out and became part of the inferior classes. Children served and then listened to the men discuss state affairs and other topics, as part of their education. Girls were required to exercise and be strong so that they would give birth to strong men. They were also required to dance naked in front of the men to teach them bravery and to be too ashamed to let themselves get fat. The boys learned to read and write but their primary educational goal was to learn to be brave and strong.
Maybe the most frightening of the Spartan institutions were the Crypteia, where young boys were sent to the countryside to live off the land similar to 'Outward Bound' except for a critical difference. These boys were permitted to kill any helot they ran into. This pretty much kept the helots at home.
The Spartans not only feared their own subjugated population but they also feared ideas (like democracy for instance) entering and polluting their system. They would occasionally expell all foreigners and they discouraged commerce and trade by banning ownership of silver and gold, instead using heavy iron coins which were then dipped in vinegear to make brittle. This eliminated the import of luxury items, robbery, bribary, prostitution, jewelry and the amassing of property and resulted in a society where it was impossible to get richer than your neighbor, creating equality, among the Spartan elite anyway.
Though it is easy to get the impression that the Spartans were a society of militaristic robots this is not the case. The Spartans were known for their wit and their ability to say a lot without wasting words. Because the helots did all the work the Spartans had plenty of time for leisure and it is a myth that they spent every free moment in training. Nonetheless much of their time was spent in training in the art of war and discipline and their soldiers were feared by all their enemies and even some of their 'friends'. Marching into battle to the sound of flutes and inspirational music the Spartans seemed to be completely comfortable and at ease which of course made their adversary uncomfortable and uneasy. They used mercy as a tactic as well. The Spartans would not pursue and slaughter a retreating enemy, considering such behavior disgraceful and not befitting a true warrior. This gave their adversaries the option of not fighting to the death but turning around and running and living to fight another day. It was a policy of Lycurgus not to fight too many wars with the same opponent since that gives him a chance to learn your style and strategies and defeat you.
In his final act as leader Lycurgus informed the Spartans that there was one thing more that had to be done and that he needed to go to Delphi to ask the Oracle how best to implement this final piece of the puzzle. He made the Kings and the people of Sparta take an oath that they would not change any of his laws until he returned. He left the city and disappeared forever.
The Classical Period or Golden age of Greece, from around 500 to 300 BC, has given us the great monuments, art, philosophy, architecture and literature which are the building blocks of our own civilization.
The two most well known city-states during this period were the rivals: Athens and Sparta. It was the strengths of these two societies that brought the ancient world to its heights in art, culture and with the defeat of the Persians, warfare. It was the same two Greek states whose thirst for more power and territory, and whose jealousy brought about the Peloponesian wars which lasted 30 years and left both Athens and Sparta mere shadows of their former selves.
The seeds of the classical period were sown in the 8th century with the commiting of Homer to writing which in a way created a code of conduct and an ethnic identity for the Greeks. The heroic exploits of Odysseus, Achilles and the other Achaeans served as role models for the Greeks which told them how to behave, (and in some cases,how not to behave) in many situations, particularly on the field of battle and in competition. Just as important in the creating of a Greek identity was the emergence of the Olympic games and the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi both of which had their roots in the 8th century.
The Spartans
The Spartans who were founded by Lycurgus around 800 BC were known for their militaristic society. These Spartans, known as the Lacedemonians controlled the Peloponessos. The Spartans had no always lived in such a society. Earlier in their history they had produced art, poetry and music and seemed to be on the same course as the rest of Greek civilization which might have led them to give us some of the famous names that have been passed down through history. But from the late 8th Century Sparta fought a war with their neighbors in Messinia to the west and unlike other wars in ancient Greece where an invading army fought, won, worked out a treaty and left (to fight again someday), the Spartans subjugated the entire population of Messinia, reducing them to slaves or helots. These helots were no more than serfs and worked the land for the Spartans. Because the helots vastly outnumbered them, the Spartans had to create a society that would protect them not just from external enemies but from a revolt from within. Men lived in barracks and male children were taken from their mothers at a young age to learn how to serve the state, meaning the art of warfare. Unhealthy children were killed or left to die. Life had one purpose. To defend the state.
The Spartan Constitution was credited to Lycurgus who in his travels had studied governments in Crete and Ionia, had read the epics of Homer which strongly influenced his ideas on how a nation should be run. Lycurgus travels to Delphi for guidance. Told by the Oracle that his laws would make Sparta famous, he returns to convince first his influential friends and eventually all the Spartans that his reforms will bring power and glory to Sparta. The system of government he created included two Kings, five ephors (executives), a council of thirty elders and a general assembly which was made up of all male citizens. Full citizenship was reserved for the elite, known as the Spartiates who spent much of their time training for and fighting in wars, while their helots worked the land to provide food for the communal mess halls known as syssitia. This is where the Spartiates ate their meals and each was expected to contribute a certain quota of produce every month. Those who could not keep up with their commitment were kicked out and became part of the inferior classes. Children served and then listened to the men discuss state affairs and other topics, as part of their education. Girls were required to exercise and be strong so that they would give birth to strong men. They were also required to dance naked in front of the men to teach them bravery and to be too ashamed to let themselves get fat. The boys learned to read and write but their primary educational goal was to learn to be brave and strong.
Maybe the most frightening of the Spartan institutions were the Crypteia, where young boys were sent to the countryside to live off the land similar to 'Outward Bound' except for a critical difference. These boys were permitted to kill any helot they ran into. This pretty much kept the helots at home.
The Spartans not only feared their own subjugated population but they also feared ideas (like democracy for instance) entering and polluting their system. They would occasionally expell all foreigners and they discouraged commerce and trade by banning ownership of silver and gold, instead using heavy iron coins which were then dipped in vinegear to make brittle. This eliminated the import of luxury items, robbery, bribary, prostitution, jewelry and the amassing of property and resulted in a society where it was impossible to get richer than your neighbor, creating equality, among the Spartan elite anyway.
Though it is easy to get the impression that the Spartans were a society of militaristic robots this is not the case. The Spartans were known for their wit and their ability to say a lot without wasting words. Because the helots did all the work the Spartans had plenty of time for leisure and it is a myth that they spent every free moment in training. Nonetheless much of their time was spent in training in the art of war and discipline and their soldiers were feared by all their enemies and even some of their 'friends'. Marching into battle to the sound of flutes and inspirational music the Spartans seemed to be completely comfortable and at ease which of course made their adversary uncomfortable and uneasy. They used mercy as a tactic as well. The Spartans would not pursue and slaughter a retreating enemy, considering such behavior disgraceful and not befitting a true warrior. This gave their adversaries the option of not fighting to the death but turning around and running and living to fight another day. It was a policy of Lycurgus not to fight too many wars with the same opponent since that gives him a chance to learn your style and strategies and defeat you.
In his final act as leader Lycurgus informed the Spartans that there was one thing more that had to be done and that he needed to go to Delphi to ask the Oracle how best to implement this final piece of the puzzle. He made the Kings and the people of Sparta take an oath that they would not change any of his laws until he returned. He left the city and disappeared forever.
Greece's History
The most ancient primitive Greeks somewhere between 10000 and 3000 BC were known as the Pelasgians. They inhabited areas of Thrace, Argos, Crete, and Halkidiki and are known to us through the writings of Homer, Herodotus, and Thucydides.
The remnants of the Pelasgasian civilization are found mostly in the form of scattered stones which were used as tools and the foundations of dwellings which just look like a bunch of rocks to anyone but those with a trained eye. In the Argolis, in the Frankthi Cave there are excavations which show that these early inhabitants were already trading with their ancient Greek cousins on the islands. Other Neolithic settlements in Central Greece, notably Sesklo and Dimini are evidence that their inhabitants from the fourth millenia BC already had a complex society with walls protecting the towns and a central building which suggests a leader of some sort. The Photo is an early Cycladic figure found on the island of Sifnos from the National Museum of Athens. We know very little about the culture that produced these marble figurines between 2800 and 2300 BC.
In Crete people from Anatolia came to the island sometime around 6500 BC and settled in the area around Knossos. These people were mostly farmers and lived in small communities. This changed in about 2400 to 1500 BC when the Minoan civilization, named for the legendary King Minos flourished. Life in Bronze Age Crete revolved around a series of palaces, scattered around the island whose design and complexity is unlike anything that preceded it in Greece. All of the Cretan palaces share a similar design with the largest one in Knossos, which had been discovered by Sir Arthur Evans, an amateur archaeologist, in the nineteenth century. Palaces are also in Malia, Palekastro, Phaestos and Zakro, and numerous other places on the island. These palaces were the part of a system which included a number of sanctuaries in caves, on the mountains and in houses. Though little is known about the belief system of this ancient religion, (since no sacred texts have been discovered, so far) from the figurines and shrines it can be assumed that the Cretans, if they did not worship nature and human beauty, held it in a very high regard. The legend of the minotaur, the half-man, half-bull off-spring of Pasiphae, the wife of King Minos and a bull, and other archaeological finds seem to confirm the worship of the bull as some sort of divine being or symbol. It has also been suggested that this could refer to the constellation of Taurus and perhaps the commemoration of some event that occured. It is also interesting that Zeus, the king of the Gods, is said to have arrived in Greece from Crete.
The Palaces themselves were also the centers for economic production with storehouses for grain, wool, oil, and international trade. From artifacts found in excavations we know that the Minoans had contact with some of the other ancient civilizations like the Summarians and the Egyptians. The fact that the palaces were unfortified shows a confidence in their naval power as their defense against aggression.
The island of Santorini, or Thira, was one of Crete's primary outposts. Much of this civilization we know from the ruins of Akrotiri as well as the ruined palaces in Knossos and around Crete. These were supposedly destroyed by the eruption of the volcano in Santorini at around 1600 BC which created a massive tidal wave. Some believe it was this wave which destroyed the Minoan civilzation, however advances in technology, such as carbon-dating, show that the Minoan civilization did not collapse until around 1450 BC, one hundred and fifty years after the eruption of Thira. So while the calamity may have led to a decline in the fortune of the Minoans (there was certainly plenty of damage and they did lose a trading partner) this was not what destroyed them. According to Plato it was this same wave which wrecked a Greek fleet as it was returning from conquering the Egyptians, which he learned about from Solon. This is all tied in with the theory that Santorini is ancient Atlantis, another story altogether. Besides the large population centers of Crete and Santorini there were smaller independent civilizations on the Aegean islands which were rich in minerals and precious metals.
The problem with understanding the Minoan Civilization is that despite the buildings and artifacts that have been left behind we have no written history or literature of the inhabitants of Crete in the Second Millenium. We can only look at the stones, statues, pottery and painting and try to guess what their society was like and how it came to an end. In short, the Minoan Civilzation is still a mystery and there is a lot more that we don't know then what we do know.
During the same time-period of the Minoans another group, known as the Achaean or Mycenaean Civilization centered in the Argolis of the Peloponessos. During the bronze age between 2100 and 1900 BC this area was invaded by people from the east who introduced an advanced culture to the primitive local people who had been there since Neolithic times. These ancient Hellenes had fortresses as far west as Pylos and as far north as Iolcus in Thessaly. The Mycenaean princes used the Linear B script to keep track of possessions and their enterprises throughout the Mediterranean. The walls to their fortresses were made of stones so large that it was difficult to imagine a mortal man lifting them and were therefore dubbed Cyclopean walls, named after the race of one-eyed giants of Homer's Odyssey. The Myceneans and the Minoans were probably economic competitors in the Mediterranean. Sir Arthur Evans believed that the Minoans had colonized the mainland and the Myceneans were really part of that civilzation. Others believed that the Myceneans were a totally different culture and the artifacts that suggest Minoan influences were actually aquired in trade. In 1952 Michael Ventris, an English architect and classical scholar, deciphered the Linear B tablets found in by Evans in Crete which Evans himself had spent much energy trying to decipher while at the same time insisting they were not Greek but a 'Minoan' language. Ventris discovered that the language actually was Greek which proved that at least the later period of Minoan civilization came from the Myceneans. So instead of the Myceneans being an offshoot of the Minoans, the most likely scenario seems to be that they were contemporaries. If the lack of fortifications around the Minoan cities suggests that their walls were their fleets which ruled the seas, maybe the eruption of Thira which caused great damage to their cities with its tsunami, also destroyed their ships. With the Cretan fleet decimated there was little to keep the Myceneans from invading, occupying and closing out the last period of what we call Minoan Civilization.
It was the Hellenic people from this period who were the Achean heroes of Homer's Illiad and Odyssey. The Illiad is the epic poem about the abduction by Paris, a Trojan prince, of Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, and the alliance of Greeks, led by King Agememnon who traveled to the city of Troy (Illium) in Asia Minor and fought for 10 years, eventually destroying the city, just to get her back. The Odyssey is the story of King Odysseus of the island of Ithaki, and his journey home. For many years these stories were thought to have been myth but in 1870 Henrich Schliemann found the ruins of the ancient city and evidence of its destruction during the time period that Homer's epic would have taken place. Truth or fiction, the two books are a fascinating window on a very early period of human history. Preserved orally they were committed to writing in the 8th Century and created a sense of identity among the Greeks, connecting them with their heroic past.
The Mycenaean civilization came to an end sometime around 1200 BC and as was taught to us in our history books was followed by the invasion of the Dorians, who though warlike, brought with them a new culture and what came to be known as The Iron Age. Experts now are no longer so sure that this is exactly what happened. What is known from the artifacts found in Myceneae is that they were wealthy culture who loved gold and objects of beauty. What is also known is that there was a city of Troy which guarded the straits of the Dardenelles, the entrance to the Black Sea and as about the time of the epic war described in the Illiad this city was destroyed. It is possible that this ten year war which ended in the defeat of the Trojans, also led to the weakening and destruction of the Myceneans not by invaders but by their own working class. So maybe what we have been calling the Dorian Invasion was an uprising of the peasants and the lower class who saw an opportunity to change the social order. Why not? It has only happened thousands of times since then and will probably happen again many times more.
While the Dorians were invading or uprising, the Pelasgians were leaving for the islands and the coast of Asia Minor where they created new cities like Smyrna, Halicarnassus, Samos, Ephesus and Miletus. These city-states brought to mankind science and philosophy as for the first time people had time to reflect on the nature of themselves and their place in the world. As these city-states prospered through trade, more outposts sprung up from the Black Sea to the Western Mediterranean and gave birth to what is known as the Classical period or Golden age of Greece. But before that great awakening is a period known as the Dark Ages which was probably not as bleak as it seems. Instead of imagining Mordor-like scenes of humans living like wild animals it is more likely that people headed for the hills to escape the dangers in a collapsing society, becoming shepherds and farmers and relying on the extended family instead of the palaces. These clans or households were known as 'oikos' from the word for household in Greek. These clans grew larger and began to develop crafts and trade once again, not just with their neighbors but across the sea. By the 8th century the Greeks are living in cities again, known as polis or city-states. Though autonomous by nature these city-states could come together during a crisis when outsiders threatened the Greeks and it is during these periods that the ancient Greeks emulated the heroes of the Illiad and the Odyssey who were just as ancient to them as the classical Greeks are to us. As nuclear families became clans which became villages, towns and cities the problem that has plagued Greece through the 20th century appeared: lack of quality farm land and natural resources to support the population. So the Greeks began to export the commodity that they had plenty of and which even up to the twentieth century has been their primary export. They exported themselves, creating colonies as far away as what is now Spain in the west and the Ukraine in the East. Concentrating mostly in the Black Sea, North Africa and the Western Mediterranean these colonies were founded in places rich in farm land, fresh water and were always close to the sea. As the colonies grew and developed economically the trade routes between them turned the Mediterranean into highways of ships as the Greeks took to the seas. They have been sailors ever since. Where trade routes intersected more colonies were built most notably in Italy and Sicily which became more wealthy than the mother country.
It was through colonization and trade that the Greeks came into contact with other cultures such as the Phoenician traders who they crossed paths with in Italy and the eastern Mediterranean. The Greeks had pretty much abandoned writing in the dark ages but during this period of growth used the semitic alphabet of the Phoenicians to symbolize the sounds of the Greek language. Other ideas filtered into Greek culture from the colonies and their interaction with the local people including the introduction of Eastern Mythology and religious ideas into the Greek myths, notably in the writings of Hesiod whose Theogony is probably the most important evidence of what the ancient Greeks believed, a sort of family-tree of the Gods written in verse form. (For more info see Richard Caldwell's Translation of Hesiod's Theogony which is probably the best unraveling of the poem). This is known as the orientalizing period and evidence of this can be found in their art. For an interesting theory on the influences from the east on Greek art and culture with thousands of photos comparing Greek-Chinese and other cultures visit the website of Theresa Mitsopoulou.
Another interesting theory concerns the Palestinians or as they are known in the Bible, the Philistines. The theory is that the Philistines were in fact the survivors of the Greek-Dorian conquest of Crete in 1200 BC and that these Minoans fled by sea to the Libyan coast and from there tried to gain a foothold in Egypt and failed and then went on to Canaan where they arrived just about the time that the Israelites moved in as well. Another theory is that they were survivors of the Troy expedition who lost their way home. Neither theory has real base and are only theories actually…but it is interesting as essentially it means that if the Palestininas failed to get what they wanted in Gaza they could always start claiming that Crete was their national homeland! Imagine what a mess that would be. Theory or reality it could explain the affinity the Greeks have for the Palestinans and vice-versa.
The remnants of the Pelasgasian civilization are found mostly in the form of scattered stones which were used as tools and the foundations of dwellings which just look like a bunch of rocks to anyone but those with a trained eye. In the Argolis, in the Frankthi Cave there are excavations which show that these early inhabitants were already trading with their ancient Greek cousins on the islands. Other Neolithic settlements in Central Greece, notably Sesklo and Dimini are evidence that their inhabitants from the fourth millenia BC already had a complex society with walls protecting the towns and a central building which suggests a leader of some sort. The Photo is an early Cycladic figure found on the island of Sifnos from the National Museum of Athens. We know very little about the culture that produced these marble figurines between 2800 and 2300 BC.
In Crete people from Anatolia came to the island sometime around 6500 BC and settled in the area around Knossos. These people were mostly farmers and lived in small communities. This changed in about 2400 to 1500 BC when the Minoan civilization, named for the legendary King Minos flourished. Life in Bronze Age Crete revolved around a series of palaces, scattered around the island whose design and complexity is unlike anything that preceded it in Greece. All of the Cretan palaces share a similar design with the largest one in Knossos, which had been discovered by Sir Arthur Evans, an amateur archaeologist, in the nineteenth century. Palaces are also in Malia, Palekastro, Phaestos and Zakro, and numerous other places on the island. These palaces were the part of a system which included a number of sanctuaries in caves, on the mountains and in houses. Though little is known about the belief system of this ancient religion, (since no sacred texts have been discovered, so far) from the figurines and shrines it can be assumed that the Cretans, if they did not worship nature and human beauty, held it in a very high regard. The legend of the minotaur, the half-man, half-bull off-spring of Pasiphae, the wife of King Minos and a bull, and other archaeological finds seem to confirm the worship of the bull as some sort of divine being or symbol. It has also been suggested that this could refer to the constellation of Taurus and perhaps the commemoration of some event that occured. It is also interesting that Zeus, the king of the Gods, is said to have arrived in Greece from Crete.
The Palaces themselves were also the centers for economic production with storehouses for grain, wool, oil, and international trade. From artifacts found in excavations we know that the Minoans had contact with some of the other ancient civilizations like the Summarians and the Egyptians. The fact that the palaces were unfortified shows a confidence in their naval power as their defense against aggression.
The island of Santorini, or Thira, was one of Crete's primary outposts. Much of this civilization we know from the ruins of Akrotiri as well as the ruined palaces in Knossos and around Crete. These were supposedly destroyed by the eruption of the volcano in Santorini at around 1600 BC which created a massive tidal wave. Some believe it was this wave which destroyed the Minoan civilzation, however advances in technology, such as carbon-dating, show that the Minoan civilization did not collapse until around 1450 BC, one hundred and fifty years after the eruption of Thira. So while the calamity may have led to a decline in the fortune of the Minoans (there was certainly plenty of damage and they did lose a trading partner) this was not what destroyed them. According to Plato it was this same wave which wrecked a Greek fleet as it was returning from conquering the Egyptians, which he learned about from Solon. This is all tied in with the theory that Santorini is ancient Atlantis, another story altogether. Besides the large population centers of Crete and Santorini there were smaller independent civilizations on the Aegean islands which were rich in minerals and precious metals.
The problem with understanding the Minoan Civilization is that despite the buildings and artifacts that have been left behind we have no written history or literature of the inhabitants of Crete in the Second Millenium. We can only look at the stones, statues, pottery and painting and try to guess what their society was like and how it came to an end. In short, the Minoan Civilzation is still a mystery and there is a lot more that we don't know then what we do know.
During the same time-period of the Minoans another group, known as the Achaean or Mycenaean Civilization centered in the Argolis of the Peloponessos. During the bronze age between 2100 and 1900 BC this area was invaded by people from the east who introduced an advanced culture to the primitive local people who had been there since Neolithic times. These ancient Hellenes had fortresses as far west as Pylos and as far north as Iolcus in Thessaly. The Mycenaean princes used the Linear B script to keep track of possessions and their enterprises throughout the Mediterranean. The walls to their fortresses were made of stones so large that it was difficult to imagine a mortal man lifting them and were therefore dubbed Cyclopean walls, named after the race of one-eyed giants of Homer's Odyssey. The Myceneans and the Minoans were probably economic competitors in the Mediterranean. Sir Arthur Evans believed that the Minoans had colonized the mainland and the Myceneans were really part of that civilzation. Others believed that the Myceneans were a totally different culture and the artifacts that suggest Minoan influences were actually aquired in trade. In 1952 Michael Ventris, an English architect and classical scholar, deciphered the Linear B tablets found in by Evans in Crete which Evans himself had spent much energy trying to decipher while at the same time insisting they were not Greek but a 'Minoan' language. Ventris discovered that the language actually was Greek which proved that at least the later period of Minoan civilization came from the Myceneans. So instead of the Myceneans being an offshoot of the Minoans, the most likely scenario seems to be that they were contemporaries. If the lack of fortifications around the Minoan cities suggests that their walls were their fleets which ruled the seas, maybe the eruption of Thira which caused great damage to their cities with its tsunami, also destroyed their ships. With the Cretan fleet decimated there was little to keep the Myceneans from invading, occupying and closing out the last period of what we call Minoan Civilization.
It was the Hellenic people from this period who were the Achean heroes of Homer's Illiad and Odyssey. The Illiad is the epic poem about the abduction by Paris, a Trojan prince, of Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, and the alliance of Greeks, led by King Agememnon who traveled to the city of Troy (Illium) in Asia Minor and fought for 10 years, eventually destroying the city, just to get her back. The Odyssey is the story of King Odysseus of the island of Ithaki, and his journey home. For many years these stories were thought to have been myth but in 1870 Henrich Schliemann found the ruins of the ancient city and evidence of its destruction during the time period that Homer's epic would have taken place. Truth or fiction, the two books are a fascinating window on a very early period of human history. Preserved orally they were committed to writing in the 8th Century and created a sense of identity among the Greeks, connecting them with their heroic past.
The Mycenaean civilization came to an end sometime around 1200 BC and as was taught to us in our history books was followed by the invasion of the Dorians, who though warlike, brought with them a new culture and what came to be known as The Iron Age. Experts now are no longer so sure that this is exactly what happened. What is known from the artifacts found in Myceneae is that they were wealthy culture who loved gold and objects of beauty. What is also known is that there was a city of Troy which guarded the straits of the Dardenelles, the entrance to the Black Sea and as about the time of the epic war described in the Illiad this city was destroyed. It is possible that this ten year war which ended in the defeat of the Trojans, also led to the weakening and destruction of the Myceneans not by invaders but by their own working class. So maybe what we have been calling the Dorian Invasion was an uprising of the peasants and the lower class who saw an opportunity to change the social order. Why not? It has only happened thousands of times since then and will probably happen again many times more.
While the Dorians were invading or uprising, the Pelasgians were leaving for the islands and the coast of Asia Minor where they created new cities like Smyrna, Halicarnassus, Samos, Ephesus and Miletus. These city-states brought to mankind science and philosophy as for the first time people had time to reflect on the nature of themselves and their place in the world. As these city-states prospered through trade, more outposts sprung up from the Black Sea to the Western Mediterranean and gave birth to what is known as the Classical period or Golden age of Greece. But before that great awakening is a period known as the Dark Ages which was probably not as bleak as it seems. Instead of imagining Mordor-like scenes of humans living like wild animals it is more likely that people headed for the hills to escape the dangers in a collapsing society, becoming shepherds and farmers and relying on the extended family instead of the palaces. These clans or households were known as 'oikos' from the word for household in Greek. These clans grew larger and began to develop crafts and trade once again, not just with their neighbors but across the sea. By the 8th century the Greeks are living in cities again, known as polis or city-states. Though autonomous by nature these city-states could come together during a crisis when outsiders threatened the Greeks and it is during these periods that the ancient Greeks emulated the heroes of the Illiad and the Odyssey who were just as ancient to them as the classical Greeks are to us. As nuclear families became clans which became villages, towns and cities the problem that has plagued Greece through the 20th century appeared: lack of quality farm land and natural resources to support the population. So the Greeks began to export the commodity that they had plenty of and which even up to the twentieth century has been their primary export. They exported themselves, creating colonies as far away as what is now Spain in the west and the Ukraine in the East. Concentrating mostly in the Black Sea, North Africa and the Western Mediterranean these colonies were founded in places rich in farm land, fresh water and were always close to the sea. As the colonies grew and developed economically the trade routes between them turned the Mediterranean into highways of ships as the Greeks took to the seas. They have been sailors ever since. Where trade routes intersected more colonies were built most notably in Italy and Sicily which became more wealthy than the mother country.
It was through colonization and trade that the Greeks came into contact with other cultures such as the Phoenician traders who they crossed paths with in Italy and the eastern Mediterranean. The Greeks had pretty much abandoned writing in the dark ages but during this period of growth used the semitic alphabet of the Phoenicians to symbolize the sounds of the Greek language. Other ideas filtered into Greek culture from the colonies and their interaction with the local people including the introduction of Eastern Mythology and religious ideas into the Greek myths, notably in the writings of Hesiod whose Theogony is probably the most important evidence of what the ancient Greeks believed, a sort of family-tree of the Gods written in verse form. (For more info see Richard Caldwell's Translation of Hesiod's Theogony which is probably the best unraveling of the poem). This is known as the orientalizing period and evidence of this can be found in their art. For an interesting theory on the influences from the east on Greek art and culture with thousands of photos comparing Greek-Chinese and other cultures visit the website of Theresa Mitsopoulou.
Another interesting theory concerns the Palestinians or as they are known in the Bible, the Philistines. The theory is that the Philistines were in fact the survivors of the Greek-Dorian conquest of Crete in 1200 BC and that these Minoans fled by sea to the Libyan coast and from there tried to gain a foothold in Egypt and failed and then went on to Canaan where they arrived just about the time that the Israelites moved in as well. Another theory is that they were survivors of the Troy expedition who lost their way home. Neither theory has real base and are only theories actually…but it is interesting as essentially it means that if the Palestininas failed to get what they wanted in Gaza they could always start claiming that Crete was their national homeland! Imagine what a mess that would be. Theory or reality it could explain the affinity the Greeks have for the Palestinans and vice-versa.
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