Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Tell me your company!!!



A master; a guru taught his disciple all that he knew. Having taught all the scriptures, he told the disciple that for the final teaching he would have to go to a nearby ashram. He told the disciple to go to another guru there for the final teaching. The disciple was wondering why his guru would send him to another guru. He was much more knowledgeable than the other guru.

Though in a dilemma; he decided to obey his guru and went to the nearby ashram to meet the other guru. To his surprise; the other guru had stopped teaching. He was engrossed in serving food to his disciples with love, cleaning up the left overs as well as washing the dishes.

The disciple saw this and learnt what it meant to serve out of love. Later he noticed something profound. The guru himself washed the dishes and kept them in order before he went to sleep.

Next morning, he used to take out the dishes, washed them again and started cooking. The disciple was wondering as to why the guru should wash the dishes all over again in the morning while they were already been washed thoroughly earlier in the night and that dishes were not dusty either. He observed all such details and came back to narrate to his earlier guru.

He narrated, ‘I cannot understand this strange fact of why should the guru in the ashram wash the already cleaned vessels again in the morning, why should he do that?”

To which his guru replied, “Yes, this is the understanding that I wanted you to observe and get totally.”

You cleanse your mind regularly but your mind starts collecting dust along the way in the form of a clutter, foggy and unclear understanding. Please do not say that you do meditation once and stop at that. So long as your mind gathers dust it has to be cleansed. It is a constant process of cleansing and purifying our mind.

Essence

Goal of every human is to realize his/her true self and finally merge in Him or the source. When we are so much entangled in our daily duties, relationships and other activities of the world; we seldom have time or even bother to ponder about our actual self. We always associate ourselves with our body and relationships we have built around us. Later when we lose these relationships or even when this body suffers we are so unhappy.

This is because we chase after something which is impermanent. True, it is no easy to understand this and it is easier said than done. But ‘satsang’ or company of good, wise people at least propels us to think about who we are and what is the ultimate goal of life? Without a Master or good company it is not easy for one to proceed into this self inquiry. So company of good is the first step towards the path of self realization. If we begin now; we know not when or in how many lifetimes we will achieve our goal. But we would have at least begun the journey on this path.

For Students

It is said; “Tell me your company and i will tell who you are”. It is very important to have good company and friends from young age. One rotten fruit can spoil the entire basket of fruits. So one must be careful in choosing their friends. The values which children develop at a younger age remains with them throughout their lives. Hence company of good friends and value based education from an early age is very vital

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Charity wrapped in Dignity!


 

She asked him, "How much are you selling the eggs for?"
The old seller replied to her, "Rs.5/- for one egg, Madam."

She said to him, "I will take 6 eggs for Rs.25/- or I will leave."

The old seller replied, "Come take them at the price you want. May God bless us, and maybe this is a good beginning because I have not yet sold to anyone."

She took it and walked away feeling she has won. She got into her fancy car and went to pick her friend, and invited her to a restaurant.

She and her friend sat down and ordered what they like. They ate a little and left a lot of what they ordered.

Then she went to pay the bill. The bill was Rs.1,200/-. She gave him Rs. 1,300/- and said to the owner of the restaurant: "Keep the change."

This story may seem normal to the owner of the restaurant. But it is very painful for the eggs' seller.

 
​​Flash
 
​Why do we always show that we have the power when we buy from the needy and the poor? And we are generous with those who do not need our generosity ?

Every time a poor child comes to me to sell something simple, I remember a tweet from the son of a rich man who said, "After every prayer my father used to buy simple goods for very expensive prices, even though he did not need them. Sometimes he used to pay more for them. I used to get concerned by this act and I told him about it. Then my father told me: 'It is a charity wrapped with dignity, my son.'"

Compare these two stories of social hypocrisy.

The first one is disappointing and the second one is inspiring.

_May God enlighten our vision_.