Journey of Life

 One Sunday morning, a wealthy man sat in his balcony enjoying sunshine and his coffee when a little ant caught his eye which was going from one side to the other side of the balcony carrying a big leaf several times more than its size. The man watched it for more than an hour. He saw that the ant faced many obstacles during its journey, paused, took a diversion and then continued towards destination. At one point the tiny creature came across a crack in the floor. It paused for a little while, analyzed and then laid the huge leaf over the crack, walked over the leaf, picked the leaf on the other side then continued its journey.

The man was captivated by the cleverness of the ant, one of God’s tiniest creatures.

The incident left the man in awe and forced him to contemplate over the miracle of Creation. It showed the Greatness of the Creator. In front of his eyes there was this tiny creature of God, lacking in size yet equipped with a brain to analyze, contemplate, reason, explore, discover and overcome.

A while later the man saw that the creature had reached its destination – a tiny hole in the floor which was entrance to its underground dwelling. And it was at this point that the ant’s shortcoming that it shared with the man was revealed.

How could the ant carry into the tiny hole the large leaf that it had managed to carefully bring to the destination? It simply couldn't!

So the tiny creature, after all the painstaking and hard work and exercising great skills, overcoming all the difficulties along the way, just left behind the large leaf and went home empty-handed.

The ant had not thought about the end before it began its challenging journey and in the end the large leaf was nothing more than a burden to it. The creature had no option, but to leave it behind to reach its destination. The man learned a great lesson that day.

That is the truth about our lives too.

We worry about our family, we worry about our job, we worry about how to earn more money, we worry about where we should live, what kind of vehicle to buy, what kind of dresses to wear, what gadgets to upgrade......only to abandon all these things when we reach our destination....

The Grave.

We don’t realize in our life’s journey that these are just burdens that we are carrying with utmost care and fear of losing them, only to find that at the end they are useless and we can’t take them with us.

Keep Smiling. :-) :-) :-)

Fate or Destiny!

 One day Krishna & Arjuna were taking their usual walk, when they came across an old Brahmin begging.

Taking pity on his condition, Arjuna gave him a bag of gold coins.

The man was overjoyed, but on his way to home, he was robbed by a thief in the forest. He cursed his fate and the next day set off to beg again.

Arjuna & Krishna saw him again & got to know his story. Arjuna once again took pity and gave him a large diamond.

The man took it home and kept it in an old pot which had been unused for many years in order to keep it safe and went to sleep.

The next morning before he could wake up, his wife went to fetch water from the river & on her way back, she slipped and her pot broke.

She immediately remembered the pot at home which lay unused and brought it to fill it with water. Just as she dipped the pot in  the river, the diamond escaped the pot and went in to the river.

When she returned home the Brahmin was desperately searching the house for the pot & when he saw it in his wife's hands, he got to know what had happened.

Dejected with what had happened, he once again left to go begging.

Once again Arjuna and Krishna saw him and when Arjuna heard of the unfortunate incident that had happened, he told Krishna ,

" I don't think this man is destined to be blessed at all, I don’t think I can help him anymore".

Krishna then gave the man two pennies and the man took them and walked away.

Arjuna then asked Krishna,

" My Lord, if gold coins and diamond could not change his condition, what good can two pennies do to him?".

Krishna smiled and replied, "let us see".

As the man walked home he was cursing his fate when he saw a fish that had just been caught by a fisherman and was struggling for its life, he took pity on it and thought to himself, " these two pennies cannot fetch me food anyway, let me at least save the life of this creature" and he purchased the fish and was about to throw it in the river when he saw that the breathlessness of the fish was caused due to some large obstruction in its mouth and when he removed it, he realised it was the very diamond he had lost in the river. 

He was overjoyed and started shouting "Look what I found! Look what I found".

At this very time the thief that had robbed him in the forest was passing by and heard his shouts, he recognized the man and thought that man too recognized him and was thus shouting. 

Fearing that the Brahmin may take him to be executed, he rushed to him and begged for his forgiveness and returned all the gold coins he had stolen from him.

The Brahmin was happy and walked away joyfully with all his wealth.

He went straight to Krishna & Arjuna to narrate the turn of events and thanked them for all his help and went away.

Arjuna then asked Krishna,

"My Lord, how is it that my gold and diamond could not help him but your meager two pennies did?

Krishna replied," when he had the gold and diamonds he was only thinking of himself and his needs, but when he had the two pennies he put the needs of another creature before his and so I took care of his needs.

The truth is Arjuna, "when you think of the pain and needs of others and work to help them, you are doing God's work and hence God Himself takes care of you".

Do God’s work, help others, share and care and Stay Blessed forever 😊

Contact And Conenction

It was April 2009.   I was returning from Delhi by flight with a monk of the RamaKrishna Mission sitting next to me and a journalist from the US sitting on the third seat . The journalist started
interviewing  the monk as planned earlier.

Journalist - Sir , in your last lecture, you  told us about Jogajog ( contact ) &  Sanjog (connection ). It's really confusing. Can you explain ?

The Monk smiled and apparently deviating from the question   asked the journalist:Are you from New York?
Journalist - Yeh...
Monk - Who are there at home ?
The Journalist felt that the  Monk was trying to avoid answering his question since  this was a very personal and unwarranted question. Yet the  journalist  said:    "Mother has expired. Father is there. Three brothers and one sister. All married..."
The Monk, with a smile on his  face,   asked again: - "Do you talk to your father?"
The  journalist looked visibly annoyed...
The Monk  - "When did you talk to him last?"
The journalist, supressing his annoyance said:  "May be a month ago."
The Monk:  "Do you brothers and sisters meet often ? When did you meet last as a family gathering?"

At this point, I saw  sweat on the forehead ok the journalist. I wondered who was conducting the interview, the Monk or the Journalist. It seemed that the   Monk was interviewing the Journalist.

With a sigh , the Journalist said: "We met last at Christmas two  years  ago."
The Monk: " How many days did you all stay together ?"

The Journalist ( wiping the sweat on his brow) said : "Three days..."
Monk: "How much time did you  spend with your Father, sitting right  beside him ?"
I saw the journalist looking  perplexed and embarassed and scribbling something on a paper...
The Monk:  "Did you have breakfast, lunch or dinner together ? Did you ask how he was? Did you ask how his days are passing after your mother's death ?"
I saw drops of tears coming out from the eyes of the journalist.

The Monk held the hand of the journalist and said: "Don't be embrassed, upset or sad. I am sorry if I have hurt you unknowingly...
But this is basically the answer to your question about "contact and connection ( jogajog and Sanjog)".  You have 'contact'  with your father but you don't have 'connection' with him. You are not connected to him. Connection is between heart and heart... sitting together , sharing meals and caring for  each other ; touching , shaking hands, having eye contact,  spending some time together...You  brothers and sisters have 'contact'  but you have no  'connection' with each other...."

The journalist wiped his eyes and said : "Thanks for teaching me a fine and unforgettable lesson"

This is the reality today.
Whether at home or in the society everybody has lots of contacts but there is no connection. No communication...   . Everybody is in his or her own world.

Let us not maintain just "contacts" but let us remain "connected" ; caring , sharing and spending time with all our dear ones.


- Unknown

God's Calculation

Once two persons were sitting near a temple and chit chatting. It was getting dark and cloudy. By then another person came there and asked if he can join them. They said 'oh with pleasure'.

They were talking as friends. Then it started to rain. They were stuck. The third guy felt hungry and told the other two. Oh, we too are hungry they said.

He has 3 rotis (Breads) and I have 5 rotis (Breads) - Let all of us share -  said the second guy. Then a question arose as to how to share 8 rotis among three of them.

The first person suggested that let's make three pieces out of each roti. Then 3x8 we will have 24 pieces. Then we three can have 8 pieces each.

Everyone liked the idea. They made 24 pieces and ate 8 pieces each and satisfied their hunger and all slept off.

In the morning the third person thanked the two persons for allowing him to spend time with them and felt grateful to them for sharing rotis and being helpful. Out of happiness he gave 8 gold coins to them and left his way.

After he left first person said ok, let's share 4 coins  each and let's go. The second person said since I shared 5 rotis I should get 5 gold coins and you gave 3 rotis you should get only  3 gold coins. Slowly the arguments grew and ended up in big fight. They went to the Village Head for justice. The Head said leave the coins with me and I will think over and give judgement next day.

In the night God appears in the dream of the Village head and asks him what justice he is going to deliver in the morning. Village head said the second person's stand of 5:3 appears logical to him. 

To that God laughed and said you did not carefully  analyse their narration. God said as per My justice first person must get one gold coin only  and second person must get 7 gold coins!!  Village head was surprised.

God explained first person no doubt made nine pieces out of his three rotis but  ate off 8 pieces himself and shared one piece only. Second person made 15 pieces and gave away 7 pieces for sharing. Hence 1:7 sharing is My calculation and My Justice. Next day Village Head accordingly delivered the Justice and explained the rationale.

From the above story we need to understand the way we look at things and God looks at things is totally different. From what we have and from out of it  how much we are willing to share with others is what God looks at.

The Star Fish : A step towards changing the World

Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing.He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.

Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”

The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

- from The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)

“A single, ordinary person still can make a difference – and single, ordinary people are doing precisely that every day.”
— Chris Bohjalian

King and The Parrot

Once upon a time, there was a king who had gone to visit neighboring kingdoms. He was gifted a pair of baby Macaw Parrots by the king of the last kingdom where he was visiting. They were the most beautiful birds he had ever seen. So, upon returning to his kingdom, he called for a bird trainer and asked him to train macaw parrots.

The king also arranged a place in the palace garden for the parrots. He often looked at them from his palace window. As time passed, one day the trainer came to the palace and informed the king that though one of the parrots was flying majestically high in the sky, the other one was not moving from its branch since the day it had arrived.

Upon hearing this, the king summoned trainer and healers from the nearby kingdoms. They all tried their best, but couldn't make the parrot fly! He even asked his courtiers to try to find a way to make the parrot fly but they all failed. The parrot was not moving from his branch at all. Finally, after trying everything, the king thought that maybe he needs someone who may be more familiar with natural habitat. He asked his courtier to get a farmer from the countryside and take him to the parrot to see if he can understand the problem with the parrot.

The next morning, the king was thrilled to see the parrot flying high above the palace gardens. He asked his servant to call that farmer to meet him. The servant quickly went and located the farmer, who came and stood before the king. The king asked him, “How did you make the parrot fly?”

With his hands folded with respect, the farmer said to the king, “It was very easy, your majesty. I simply cut the branch where the bird was sitting.”

 We are all gifted with energy to find a success in our life, but fail to gather a courage which is required to reach heights of success and end up clinging to the things that are familiar to us. We need to free ourselves from our comfort zone to explore new opportunities and find a success beyond our capacity.

Bokuju

He used to live alone in a cave.

Sometimes during the day, or even the night, he would call loudly, “Bokuju” – his own name, and then he would say, “Yes, I am here.” And no one else was there.



His disciples used to ask him, “Why are you calling ‘Bokuju’, your own name, and then saying, ‘Yes sir, I am here’?”

His answer, “Whenever I get into thinking, I have to remember to be alert, and so I call my own name. The moment I call ‘Bokuju’ and I say, ‘Yes sir, I am here,’ the thinking, the anxiety disappears.”


During his last days, for two or three years, he never called his name, and never had to reply, “Yes sir, I am here.”

The disciples asked, “Master, now you never do this.”

The Master replied,, now Bokuju is always there and there is no need to call. Earlier I used to miss him. Sometimes the anxiety would take me, cloud me all over, and Bokuju was not there. So I had to remember ‘Bokuju,’ and the anxiety would disappear....”

Try your name. When you feel deep anxiety, just call your name – not “Bokuju” or any name, but your name – and then reply to it, “Yes, I am here,” and feel the difference.

Anxiety will disappear.

At least for a moment, you will have a glimpse beyond the clouds, and that glimpse can be deepened

Once you know that if you become alert anxiety is not there, it disappears; you have come to a deep knowing of your own self and the mechanism of inner working.



Happy Morning. Keep Smiling.😊😊😊