Destination Of Life

During the time of the Buddha, a young man approached and asked the Buddha: “O, Lord, my father has died. Please come and say some prayers for him. Raise up his soul so that he can go to heaven. The Brahmins perform such rites but you Buddha are so much more powerful than them. If you were to do it, my father’s soul is sure to fly straight to heaven.”

The Buddha replied: “Very well, please go to the market and fetch me two earthen pots and some butter.” The young man was very happy that the Buddha had condescended to perform some powerful magic to save his father’s soul. He hurried to town and got what was required. Then the Buddha instructed him: “Put the butter in one pot and stones in the other pot. Then throw both pots into the pond.” The man did so, and both pots sank to the bottom of pond.

Then the Buddha continued: “Now, take a staff and strike the pots at the bottom of the pond.” The man did so. The pots broke and the butter, being light, floated up while the stones, being heavy, remained where they were at the bottom.

Then the Buddha said, “Now, quick, go and summon all the priests. Tell them to come and chant so that the butter can go down and the stones can come up.” The young man looked at the Buddha, flabbergasted. “Lord” he said, “You can’t be serious. Surely you can’t expect the butter being light to sink and the stones being heavy to rise up. That would be against the law of nature.”

The Buddha smiled and said, “Even so, my son, don’t you see that if your father had led a good life, then his deeds would be as light as the butter, so that no matter what he will rise up to heaven.
Nobody can prevent that, not even me. For nobody can go against the natural law of kamma. But if your father had led a bad life, then, just like the stones that are heavy, he would sink to hell. No amount of prayers by all the powerful priests in the world can cause it to happen otherwise."

Mythology of Religion

"Mom, I am a genetic scientist. I am working in the US on the evolution of man. Theory of evolution, Charles Darwin, have you heard of him? " Vasu asked.

His Mother sat down next to him and smiled, "I know Darwin, Vasu. I also know that what you think he discovered is old news in India."

" Yeah sure Mom!" Vasu said with sarcasm.

"Well if you are too smart then listen to this, " his Mother countered." Have you heard of Dashavatar? The ten avatars of Vishnu?" Vasu nodded.

"Then let me tell you what you and Mr. Darwin don't know. The first avatar was the Matsya avatar, it means the fish. That is because life began in the water. Is that not right?" Vasu began to listen with a little more attention.

"Then came the Kurma Avatar, which means the tortoise, because life moved from the water to the land. The amphibian. So the Tortoise denoted the evolution from sea to land.

Third was the Varaha, the wild boar, which meant the wild animals with not much intellect, you call them the Dinosaurs, correct? " Vasu nodded wide eyed.

"The fourth avatar was the Narasimha avatar, half man and half animal, the evolution from wild animals to intelligent beings.

Fifth the Waman avatar, the midget or dwarf, who could grow really tall. Do you know why that is? Cause there were two kinds of humans, Homo Erectus and the Homo Sapiens and Homo Sapiens won that battle." Vasu could see that his Mother was in full flow and he was stupefied.

"The Sixth avatar was Parshuram, the man who wielded the axe, the man who was a cave and forest dweller. Angry, and not social.

The seventh avatar  was Ram, the first thinking social being, who laid out the laws of society and the basis of all relationships.

 The eight avatar was Krishna, the statesman, the politician, the lover who played the game of society and taught how to live and thrive in the social structure.

The Ninth avatar, the Buddha, the man who rose from Narasimha and found man's true nature. The nature of Buddha, he identified man's final quest of enlightenment.

And finally, my boy, will come Kalki, the man you are working on. The man who will be genetically supreme."

Vasu looked at his Mother speechless. "This is amazing Mom, how did you.. This makes sense!"

"Yes it does Vasu! Now have your idlis."
.........................................
Mythology makes sense. Its just the way you look at it - Religious or Scientific. Your call.

Peace of Mind

Once Buddha was traveling with a few of his followers.

While they were passing a lake, Buddha told one of his disciples,
"I am thirsty.
Do get me some water from the lake."

The disciple walked up to the lake.

At that moment,
a bullock cart started crossing through the lake.
As a result,
The water became very muddy and turbid.

The disciple thought,
"How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink?"

So he came back and told Buddha,
"The water in there is very muddy.
I don't think it is fit to drink."

After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back
to the lake.

The disciple went back,
and found that the water was still muddy.

He returned and informed Buddha about the same.

After sometime,
again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back.

This time, the disciple found the mud had settled down, and the water was clean and clear.

So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said,
"See what you did to make the water clean.
You let it be,
and the mud settled down on its own,
and you have clear water."

Your mind is like that too ! When it is disturbed,
just let it be.
Give it a little time.
It will settle down on its own.

You don't have to put in any effort to calm it down.
It will happen.
It is effortless."

Having 'Peace of Mind' is not a strenuous job,

it is an effortless process👌so keep your mind cool and have a great life ahead...