Bharthi Krupa Rao, Former principal HAL School, You are the gardener of your life.

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love - Buddha

You decide whether you want a garden full of beautiful, healthy plants or an unruly, poisonous patch of weeds. Pure thoughts are like healthy plants which give fruits, flowers and shade as they grow.

Cultivate them, nourish them and take care that they flourish under your loving care. If you put all your energy into pulling out weeds and searching for them only, you will neglect taking care of the good plants. There is good and bad in all human beings.

Don't waste too much time picking on negative traits and attitudes, judging and criticising. Instead try to find good in people and automatically the bad in them reduces. As a great follower of Buddha, I always give my children, grandchildren and students a small example -- once a great man told Buddha, 'I want happiness’.

Buddha replied, “first you remove 'I' that is ego, next remove 'want' that is desire, now you are only left with happiness”. In this most simple and uncomplicated way we can understand that true happiness is not found is pursuing it, but by making others happy.

The best medicine in the world for any ailment is not just laughter, it lies in our ability to make a person smile and laugh. Once you understand the immense happiness you get by doing at least one unselfish and good deed a day, you will be nourishing and feeding the Swachh Soch in you. Automatically negative weeds will die out.

When you speak, speak in such a way that people wait for your words to flow out of your mouth. Once a word is let out from inside your universe to the external universe, you have set an irreversible action of deeds in motion. Every word has repercussions. Speak well, speak less, speak Swachh - the result will always be fruitful.

Whether you belong to the present generation, or the past, the future can always be made better if you stop aging in your mind and allow the eternal fountain of purity cleanse your mind.