STORY OF THE DAY

[SS91]

Simplicity...It is Grace, it is a Benediction.......

SaiRam Rameshji

I really enjoyed reading

 Simplicity...It is Grace, it is a Benediction.......

It is wonderful.

Tomorrow waiting for something new from you.

Happy Baba's Day  Rameshji.

Jaisairam.

subhasrini
OM SAI SRI SAI JAYA JAYA SAI!!!
Let us pray at the feet of Sai Baba who is the incarnation of all gods and protector of all, to show mercy on us, and increase our devotion towards him.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

This earth is a resting place only. Do not make your house in it.

A friend came to visit Picasso when he was making a picture. He was so lost in his work that the friend thought it best not to disturb him. When the painting was put up for sale the friend bought it; it was worth millions of rupees. One day he took the painting along with him when he visited Picasso and asked him to authenticate it. Many fake copies were sold in the market as Picasso's own works, but this one the friend had seen him paint with his own eyes. Picasso replied, "I have made it all right, but it is not genuine." The friend was puzzled, for an authentic painting according to him was one that the painter paints himself. "It is authentic," explained Picasso, "in the sense that I have made it, but it is inauthentic insofar as it is only a reflection of my earlier paintings. I was copying my own style. The creator in me was not present at the time."

"What do you mean by the creator in you?" asked the friend.

"I am the creator when I make a unique painting, when I am totally original."

Therefore poets, painters, sculptors are closest to God when they produce something really original; they are as near God as a saint or devotee.
 
A sculptor carving the images at the caves at Ajanta or Ellora was as close to God when he created these as even Buddha was.

Whenever you create something that is not a copy, not an imitation, there is no prayer that is greater. For you are nearest to God; in fact, in the moment of creation you are like Him! You too are a creator. Therefore creativity gives so much joy. How happy and satisfied you feel when you create something, however small, however insignificant.

A small child makes a house of cards and tells everybody, "I have built a house." Another builds a sand castle that he knows will be blown away by the breezes, but how happy he feels! He dances with joy. All moments of bliss in life are moments of creativity. Whenever you make something you get pleasure out of it. And those whose lives pass without any creativity find nothing but sorrow and suffering.

Why is it so? Why do you feel happy when you make something? Because in the act of creativity you get a glimpse of the creator. He is the creator but you too are a creator of sorts in that moment. You plant a seed in your garden. When the plant appears and bears leaves and flowers, how much pleasure it gives you. This joy is the same joy that God feels when He sees the earth bloom. There is only a difference of quantity, not quality.

Nanak says, He has created lives in many colors and forms; and their names are many, infinite.

If you were only able to recognize this creativity, this expanse of creation that spread to eternity! But it is difficult to recognize God. He is forever hidden, but if you can recognize His visible performance then you have made the first acquaintance; the first step is taken. Look at the universe. It is filled with a deep and profound arrangement. The moon rises, so does the sun. The stars revolve, seasons come and go, the morning comes and flowers open, the birds sing. The brooks bubble down the rocks, rivers rush to meet the sea. Clouds gather and pour down the waters that rise by evaporation into the skies. The water goes back again to the stream. It is all a well-organized arrangement. The world is a cosmos, not a chaos... if you understand this significant arrangement of nature.

The more you begin to understand this order of things in the world, and the more you begin to perceive the flow of this order, to the same extent will you begin to remember the hand that directs all things in this world. For no arrangement works without a source of direction, and the hand that directs this vast arrangement must be infinitely vast and powerful. This is why the Hindus say: He has a thousand hands. He has an infinite number of hands, for this is no small work. The infinite existence can be guided only by infinite hands.

Nanak says, He made the day, He made the night.

He made the seasons, the air, the water, the fire, the earth and the netherworld. He has made all -- All! And in the midst of it all He made the earth for you to rest awhile in your journey to the infinite.

This earth is a resting place only. Do not make your house in it. People make all kinds of houses, forgetting it is a resting place. Imagine if a man puts up in a traveler's bungalow for the night, and in the morning he forgets and takes the place as home, takes all its involvements upon himself, all its worries. Weighted down with sorrow and suffering, he goes about asking the way to peace and quiet.

If he is asked, "Why have you made a home of your dharmashala?" he replies, "It is difficult to leave so abruptly. I also understand having made a mistake, but it will take me time. I shall leave gradually."

The question is not of leaving gradually. The question is not of leaving at all. It only requires right perception, and that takes time. You can perceive in a moment if you are ready and willing. You can see clearly that where you stand is no more than a waiting room, for you were not always here. Where were you before birth? Where will you be after death? This is a fancy fete that lasts only a few days. In this short span you have clung so tightly to things that are and also to things that are not. A man clings to his wealth or possessions but he also clings to his desires, his dreams of the future.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

"The Ocean is never made dirty by Rivers. It remains undefiled." - Part-I

I would like to tell you a beautiful story.

There was a man, thousands of years before. His name was Valmik; his profession was robbery. And if needed, he had no hesitation in killing people. If they resisted giving him their money, their valuable things, he had no hesitation for a single moment to kill them. He was a strong man.

At that time he was not known as Valmik, he was known as Valya Bhil -- the bhils are aboriginal, primitive tribes. And who would call Valya Bhil "Valmik"? -- because Valmik means the same, but becomes respectable. He was a robber and a murderer, and everybody knew it.
 
It was very rare that people would pass through the forest where he lived. The road had almost become unusable, because whoever passed that way was going to be robbed or killed.
 
A musician, a poet, and a very beautiful man, Narada, who always, even while moving, continued to play on a very simple musical instrument -- and remember, the more simple the instrument the more difficult it is to create great music out of it.
 
He used to carry a simple instrument, an ektara -- a one-stringed sitar. It is easy when there are many strings to create music, because you can create different notes on different strings. The ektara has only one string -- that is the meaning of ektara. Ek means one; tara means string. It has become almost the symbol of Narada. You will not find a statue or a painting of him without his ektara.

He was a master musician, and a great poet -- and perhaps the only man in India who knew the hilariousness of existence, who used to laugh....
 
When he was leaving, people told him: "Don't go -- otherwise you will lose your ektara. That Valya does not care who you are, and if you try to save your ektara you will lose your head. Better is to follow another route, although that route is a little longer."
 
Narada said, "If I had not known I might have gone by the other route, but now it is a challenge, between Valya and Narada. I would love to see this man, who has made you all cowards, so afraid. Just a single man, and the whole traffic on the road has disappeared. Must be a lion, living in the forest... and thousands of people used to pass on this road. Now nobody goes there; the road is closed -- not for repair!"

Narada went, because he trusted in music more than in the murderousness of a man. What kind of music it is that cannot transform the murderous animal instinct in a man?

Valya heard the music -- it was enchanting, it had a magic.

And when he saw Narada alone -- with no weapons, with no possessions, just one ektara ... the man was even more beautiful than his music. It has to be so, because the creator of anything is always greater than his creation; the creation cannot be greater than the creator. For the first time Valya felt hesitant, indecisive whether to let this beautiful man pass. But to make an exception would not be right -- this was his fame, that nobody could pass on that road without being robbed or killed.

Contd.....

[Ramesh Ramnani]

"The Ocean is never made dirty by Rivers. It remains undefiled." - Part-II

So he warned the great musician and seer: "I pray to you, go back. If you don't go back I will have to take your possessions, whatever they are. If you resist you may lose your life. And I don't want to do anything with you -- neither do I want to take your instrument nor do I want to deprive you of life. And don't say later on that I did not warn you."

But Narada went on playing on his ektara. And rather than going on the road he came and sat by the side of Valya, who was sharpening his sword. Narada said, "You are a beautiful man; but why do you do such a thing?"

He said, "What else can I do? I don't have any education; I am an untouchable, the lowest and most condemned class of the Hindus. I cannot go to a temple, I cannot go in the city -- but I have to look after my wife, my old mother, my father, my children."

Narada said, "If that is the case, I would like to go to your home and ask everybody -- you are committing things which are inhuman.

Who is going to be punished for them? You are committing all those things for your old mother and father -- ask them, `Will you share my punishment too?' Ask your wife, ask your children: `Whatever I am doing I am doing for you -- are you going to share my punishment?"'

Valya laughed, and he said, "You seem to be very clever and cunning!

I will go home and you will disappear. Nobody can cheat Valya."

Narada said, "There is no question of cheating. You can tie me with a rope to a tree -- and you know nobody comes here; I will wait. And whatever you want to do after, you can do. But first bring me the answer."

He had never thought about it. He went home. He asked his father, mother, his wife, his children -- nobody was ready to share the punishment. They said, "That is not our business. It is your responsibility to take care of your family; we are not concerned with how you are taking care. What you are doing is totally your responsibility."

It was a great shock. He could not believe that the parents he loved so much, the wife he loved so much... his own children, for whom he was committing all kinds of crimes... flatly refused: "It is your duty to take care of us. The question of sharing in your punishment does not arise."

He came back with tears in his eyes, untied Narada, touched his feet, and said, "Just by a single question you have transformed me.

I don't have a family. If they cannot share my punishment they don't love me -- I was living in an illusion. They loved all the money that I was bringing to them, but when the question of punishment was raised not a single one answered that `I will share with you.' Now I don't have any family."

And he threw his sword away in the forest and asked

Narada, "Initiate me so that one day I can also feel the same music and the same poetry and the same joy that I see on your face."

Narada said, "Much is not needed -- just the name of God. You have to start chanting the name of God, RAM."

Remember -- this is very confusing in a way -- this is not the same name as I discussed before, the king, Rama, who behaved with his wife in a very primitive, crude, ugly way. Ram is older than the Rama I discussed with you -- in fact he was named Rama because the name ram existed before him. It is the Hindu equivalent of God.

Narada said, "This will do: sit silently and repeat, ram, ram, ram, so that all that goes on in your mind slowly slowly is replaced by Ram. And this is the beauty of it -- that once it has replaced everything, it also disappears. In the same way you light a candle... the flame is not possible without the candle but slowly slowly, first the flame will burn the candle, and once the candle is finished the flame will disappear automatically."

Contd....

[Shammi]

SAIRAM

Dear Ramesh bhai  please can i complete the rest ........of the story
(if you permit me... )

And so Valya gratefully accepted Sage Narada’s advice and started following it immediately. ..
So ...he forgot about food or water and even his own body, as he sat still in the
forest for many days.

And finally .. as a result, ants started climbing on him, thinking him to be a
still object, and soon, he was covered in an anthill that made him look like a
mountain of ants.

But Valya was not aware of it and kept chanting The Lord’s Name.
Many years passed like this.

And so one fine day Sage Narada came back to His beloved devotee, removed the anthill
and said...., " O devotee, wake up. " From now on you will be known
as Sage Valmiki – the Sage, who was born in an anthill!”

Thus, robber Valya got over his past deeds by chanting devotedly and became
spiritually pure like a Sage.

Valmiki is one of the great Sages of Indian history. He wrote the Holy Scripture ‘Ramayan’ – the story of Lord Rama’s life.
 
Moral: The above story shows the power of chanting The Lord’s Name, which can change even a criminal.
Imagine the benefits of chanting for a normal, crime-free person!

So, from this moment itself let us start chanting* God’s..

We can chant anytime and anywhere, just before getting out of bed in the morning and
going to sleep at night. We can also chant while doing other things like eating,
walking, getting ready for work and so on.  Absolutlely there is no time constraint to do
gods work .. and chant his name


SAIRAM  


Bow to Sri Sai - Raksha Karo Deva !!!

[Ramesh Ramnani]

JAI SAI RAM!!!

What a pleasant surprise to see my little sister back with a bang and completed the "Story of the Day".....But our stories can'nt be completed in days....Our story which BABA SAI has written for all us will take many twists and turns.....Our story will be Mega Story....with all Love, Love and Love......amongst each other...BABA SAI is waiting for that day.....We have to bring that day together....with BABA SAI's blessing....and that day is not far off!!

OM SAI RAM!!!

[Ramesh Ramnani]

"The Ocean is never made dirty by Rivers. It remains undefiled." - Concluding Part

This is something very significant.

So he said, "You do simple things. Don't get involved in any complex thing because you are a simple man, a courageous man. And after a few months I will be coming back to see what is happening. If some other help is needed I will always be available to you."

But he was uneducated, aboriginal, a primitive man -- uncivilized, uncultured. He started with trust -- because this kind of simple person is always trusting. He started repeating, RAM... RAM... RAM... RAM... And Narada had told him, "Go on repeating faster and faster -- don't leave any gap between two RAM'S."

The poor fellow got into trouble. If you repeat, "ram, ram, ram..." and he was uneducated, he had never heard the name. So he got mixed up; he started repeating "Mara, Mara, Mara..." ram means God, but if you repeat it, two Ram's join -- and the change is possible for an uneducated man. Mara means "dying, dying, dying..."

But in a way it is significant, the story. If you really want to achieve the state of godliness, the death of your ego is absolutely necessary. So although it was just a mistake, when after three months Narada came back, Valya was a transformed being. He was radiating light, pulsating the whole atmosphere with a new energy.

Even Narada felt defeated. His whole life he had been repeating, chanting, singing the name of God, playing on his musical instrument, but his gain had not been as much as Valya's.

He was almost a light unto himself. Around him an aura of light... Narada could not call him valya again, because that would be disrespectful. He changed valya into Valmik, and told him, "You have done a miracle, because the same name I have been repeating for my whole life and just in three months you have left me far behind. It will take lives for me to catch hold of you."

He said, "I have not done anything except whatever you have told me. I have been repeating, `mara, mara, mara..."'

Narada said, "My god! I never told you that -- I told you ram.

He said, "I am an uneducated man, absolutely unaware of any religion or anything. My whole life has been just of robbery and murder. I forgot -- instead of ram the order changed; the M of ram came ahead of R. Forgive me."

Narada said, "There is no need to forgive you. You are so innocent: without any greed, without any desire to be rewarded in heaven, even repeating mara, mara, you are a new man. Don't be worried. You continue -- whatever you have been doing is right."
 
"But," he said, "how can it be? What about my acts of murder? Because I cannot count so I cannot say how many people I have murdered. What about my robberies?"

Narada said to him, "Forget it all. You have reached the ocean of your being. It is radiating all over; even a blind man may be able to see it or, at least feel it -- the joy, the fragrance.

And don't think at all about what you have been doing. Those are small acts. Small rivers, muddy, dirty, have fallen into the ocean, and the ocean is never made dirty by these rivers. It remains undefiled."
 

The End..

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Life is not a riddle to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived......Part-I

Once it happened, a great prime minister of a very great emperor died. The prime minister was rare, very intelligent, almost wise, very cunning, shrewd, a great diplomat, and it was very difficult to find a substitute. The whole kingdom was searched. All the ministers were sent to find at least three people; then the final decision will be taken and one of them will be chosen.

For months the search was on. The whole kingdom was searched; every nook and corner was searched. Then three persons were found. One was a great scientist, a great mathematician. He could solve any mathematical problem, and mathematics is really the only positive science -- all sciences are its branches -- so he was at the root.

Another was a great philosopher, he was a great system-maker: out of nothing he could create all. Just out of words, he could create such beautiful systems -- it is a miracle, only philosophers can do it. They have nothing in their hands; they are the greatest magicians. They create God, they create the theory of creation, they create everything -- and nothing is there in their hands. But they are clever artisans of words: they join words together in such a way that they give you a feeling of substance -- and nothing is there.

And the third one was a religious man, a man of faith, prayer, devotion. And the people who were searching for these three men must have been very wise, because they had found three.

These three represent the three dimensions of consciousness. These are the only possibilities: a man of science, a man of philosophy and a man of religion -- these are the basis. A man of science is concerned with experiments: unless something is proved through experiment, it is not proved. He is empirical, experimental; his truth is the truth of experiment.

A man of philosophy is a man of logic, not of experiments. Experiment is not the question; just through logic he proves, disproves. He is a pure man, purer than the scientist, because the scientist has to bring experiments in, then the laboratory comes in. A man of philosophy works without a lab -- just in the mind, with logic, with mathematics. His whole lab is in his mind. He can prove and disprove just through logical arguments. He can solve any riddle or he can create any type of riddle.

Contd.....

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Life is not a riddle to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived......Part-II

And the third is the religious dimension. This man does not look at life as a problem. Life is not a problem for a religious man. It is nothing to be solved, it is something to be lived.

The religious man is the man of experience, the scientist is the man of experiment, the philosopher is the man of thinking. The religious is the man of experience, he looks at life as something to be lived. If there is any solution, it will come through experience, it will come through living. Nothing can be decided beforehand through logic, because life is greater than logic. Logic is just a bubble in the vast ocean of life, so it cannot explain all. And experiments can be done only when you are detached, experiments can be done only with objects.

Life is not an object, it is the very core of subjectivity. When you experiment you are different; when you live you are one.

So the religious man says, "Unless you are one with life, you can never know it." How can you know it from the outside? You may go about and about, around and around, but you will never hit the target. So neither experiment, nor thinking, but experience; simple, trusting -- a man of faith.

They searched and they found these three men, and then they were called to the capital for the final judgment. The king said, "For three days you rest and get ready. On the morning of the fourth day will be the examination, the final. One of you will be chosen and he will become my prime minister -- the one who is proved to be the most wise."

They started working in their own ways. Three days were not enough! The scientist had to think of many experiments, and work it out -- who knows what type of examination there is going to be? So he couldn't sleep for three days, there was no time: and there was his whole life to sleep once he was chosen, so why bother about sleep? He would not sleep, he would not eat -- there was not time enough, and many things were to be done before the examination.

Contd...

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Life is not a riddle to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived......Part-III

The philosopher started thinking, many problems were to be solved "Who knows what type of problem is going to be asked?" Only the religious man was at ease. He ate, and ate well. Only a religious man can eat well,because eating is an offering, it is something sacred. He slept well.

He would pray, sit outside, go for a walk, look at the trees, and be thankful to God; because for a religious man there is no future and there is no final examination. Every moment is the examination, so how can you prepare for it? If something is in the future you can prepare; but if something is right now, here, how can you prepare for it? You have to face it. And there was no future.
 
Sometimes the scientist said, "What are you doing? Wasting time -- eating, sleeping, prayer. You can do your prayers later on." But he would laugh and he would not argue, he was not a man of argument.
 
The philosopher would say, "You go on sleeping, you go on sitting outside in the garden, you go on looking at the trees. This is not going to help. Examination is not a child's play, you have to be ready for it."
 
But he would laugh. He believed more in laughter than in logic.

And on the morning of the fourth day, when they started for the palace for the final examination, the scientist was not even in a position to walk. He was so tired with his experiments, as if his whole life had oozed out. He was dead tired, as if any moment he would fall and go to sleep. His eyes were sleepy and his mind was troubled. He was almost crazy. [/left]

Contd.....

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Life is not a riddle to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived......Part-IV

And the philosopher? He was not so tired, but he was more uncertain than ever, because he had thought and thought and argued and argued, and no argument can become the conclusion.

He was muddled, in a mess, he was a chaos. The day he had arrived he could have answered many things, but now, no. Even his certain answers had become uncertain. The more you think, the more philosophy becomes useless. Only fools can believe in certainties. The more you think, the more intelligence comes to you, you can see these are all just words, there is no substance. Many times he wanted to go back because this was not going to be of any use. He was not in the right shape. But the scientist said, "Come on! Let us try. What are we going to lose? If we win, it is okay. If we don't win, it is okay. But let us try. Don't be so discouraged."

Only the religious man was walking happily, singing. He could hear the birds in the trees, he could see the sun rising, he could see the sunrays on the dewdrops. The whole life was such a miracle. He was not worried because there was no examination -- he would go and face the thing, he would simply go and see what happens. And he was not asking for anything, he was not expecting, he was fresh, young, alive -- and that's all. That's how one should approach God; not with readymade formulas, not with readymade theories, not with many experimental research works, not with many PhD's. No, it is not going to help. This is the way one should go -- singing and dancing to the temple. And if you are alive, then whatsoever comes you can respond to it, because response is through life, it is through the heart, and the heart is ready when it is singing, when it is dancing.

They arrived. The emperor had made a very special device. They were taken into a room where he had fixed a lock, a mathematical puzzle. Many figures were on the lock, but there was no key. Those figures were to be fixed in a certain way: the secret was there, but one had to search for it and find it. If those figures were fixed in a certain way the door would open. The emperor took them in and said, "This is a mathematical puzzle, one of the greatest ever known. Now you have to find the clue -- there is no key. If you can find the clue, the answer to this mathematical problem, the lock will open. And the person who comes out of this room first will be chosen. So now start." He closed the door and went out.
 
Immediately the scientist started working out many experiments, many things, many problems on paper. He looked -- observed the figures on the lock. There was no time to lose, it was a question of life and death. The philosopher closed his eyes, started thinking in mathematical terms what to do, how this puzzle can be solved. The puzzle was absolutely new.

That is the problem with the mind: if something is old the answer can be found, but if something is absolutely new, how can you work it out through the mind? The mind is quite efficient with the old, the known, the routine. Mind is absolutely inefficient when the unknown faces it.

Contd...

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Life is not a riddle to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived......Concluding Part

The religious man never went to the lock, because what can he do? He does not know any mathematics, he does not know any experimental science.

What can he do? He just sat in a corner. He sang a little, prayed to God, closed his eyes. Those two others were thinking that he is not a competitor at all. "In a way it is good, because the thing has to be decided between us two." Then suddenly they became aware that he had left the room, he was not there. The door was open.

The emperor came in and he said, "What are you doing now? It is finished. The third man is out."

But they asked, "How?... because he never did anything."

So they asked the religious man. He said, "I was just sitting. I prayed and I was just sitting and a voice said within me, 'You fool. Just go and see. The door is not locked.' And I just went to the door; it was not locked. There was no problem at all to be solved, so I went out."

Life is not a problem. If you are trying to solve it you will miss it. The door is open, it has never been locked. If the door was locked, then scientists would find the solution. If the door was locked, then philosophers may find a system to open it. But the door is not locked, so only faith can go -- without any solution, without any readymade answer. Push the door open and get out.

Life is not a riddle to be solved, it is a mystery to be lived. It is a deep mystery, so trust and allow yourself to enter into it. No debate can be of any help -- with somebody else, or with yourself inside the mind -- no debate.

The End....

[Ramesh Ramnani]

All will be gone in a single moment and you will be left alone....Part-I

One day the Lord Vishnu was sitting in a deep cave within a far mountain meditating with his disciple. Upon the completion of the meditation the disciple was so moved that he prostrated himself at Vishnu's feet and begged to be able to perform some service for his Lord in gratitude. Vishnu smiled and shook his head, "It will be most difficult for you to repay me in actions for what I have just given you freely." "Please Lord," the disciple said, "allow me the grace of serving you." "Very well," Vishnu relented, "I would like a nice cool cup of water." "At once Lord," the disciple said, and he ran down the mountain singing in joy.

After a while he came to a small house at the edge of a beautiful valley and knocked at the door. "May I please have a cool cup of water for my Master," he called. "We are wandering sannyasins and have no home on this earth." A wondrous maiden answered his call, and looked at him with undisguised adoration. "Ah," she whispered, "you must serve that holy saint upon the far mountain. Please, Good sir, enter my house and bestow your blessing therein." "Forgive my rudeness," he answered, "but I am in haste.

I must return to my Master with his water immediately." "Surely, just your blessing won't upset him. After all he is a great holy man, and as his disciple you are obligated to help those of us who are less fortunate. Please," she repeated, "just your blessing for my humble house. It is such an honor to have you here and to be enabled to serve the Lord through you."

So the story goes, he relented, and entered the house and blessed all therein. And then it was time for dinner, and he was persuaded to stay and further the blessing by partaking of her food (thereby making it also holy), and since it was so late -- and so far back to the mountain, and he might slip in the dark and spill the water -- he was persuaded to sleep there that night and get an early start in the morning. But in the morning, the cows were in pain because there was no one to help her milk them, and if he could just help her this once (after all, cows are sacred to the Lord Krishna, and should not be in pain) it would be so wondrous.

And days became weeks, and still he remained. They were married, and had numerous children. He worked the land well and brought forth good harvests. He purchased more land and put it under cultivation, and soon his neighbors looked to him for advice and help, and he gave it freely. His family prospered. Temples were built through his effort, schools and hospitals replaced the jungle, and the valley became a jewel upon the earth.

Harmony prevailed where only wilderness had been, and many flocked to the valley as news of its prosperity and peace spread throughout the land. There was no poverty or disease there, and all men sang their praises to God as they worked. He watched his children grow and have their own children, and it was good.

One day as an old man, as he stood upon a low hill facing the valley, he thought of all that had transpired since he had arrived: farms and happy prosperity as far as the eye could see. And he was pleased.

Contd...

[Ramesh Ramnani]

All will be gone in a single moment and you will be left alone....Concluding Part

Suddenly there was a great tidal wave, and as he watched, it flooded the whole valley, and in an instant all was gone. Wife, children, farms, schools, neighbors -- all gone. He stared, bewildered, at the holocaust that spread before him.

And then he saw riding upon the face of the waters his Master, Vishnu, who looked at him and smiled sadly, and said, "I'm still waiting for my water!"


This is the story of man. This is what has happened to everybody. We have completely forgotten why we are here, why we came in the first place, what to learn, what to earn, what to know, who we are and from whence and to where, what is our source and the cause of our journey into life, into body, in the world, and what we have attained up to now. And if a tidal wave comes -- and it is going to come, it always comes; its name is death -- all will be gone: children, family, name, fame, money, power, prestige.
 
All will be gone in a single moment and you will be left alone, utterly alone. All that you had done will be undone by the tidal wave. All that you had worked for will prove nothing but a dream, and your hands and your heart will be empty. And you will have to face the Lord, you will have to face existence.

And the existence has been waiting for you; long, long it has been waiting for you to bring something for which you had been sent in the first place. But you have fallen asleep, and you are dreaming a thousand and one dreams. All that you have been doing up to now is nothing but a dream, because death comes and all is washed away.

Reality cannot be washed away by death. Reality knows no death. Reality is undying. Reality is deathless. Reality is eternal. All that dies simply proves by its death that it was unreal, that it was illusory, maya, a dream -- maybe a nice dream, but a dream all the same.

You may be dreaming of hell or you may be dreaming of heaven; it does not make much difference. The moment you will be awakened you will find yourself utterly empty.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Habits - You are a victim..........you are imprisoned in it!

It happened that one Hindu mystic, Eknath, was going for a pilgrimage. The pilgrimage was going to last for at least one year because he had to visit all the sacred places of the country. Of course, it was a privilege to be with Eknath, so many people, a thousand people, were travelling with him. The thief of the town also came and said, 'I know that I am a thief and not worthy enough to be a member of your religious group, but give me a chance also. I would like to come for the pilgrimage.' Eknath said, 'It will be difficult, because one year is a long time and you may start stealing people's things. You may cause trouble. Please drop this idea.' But the thief was insistent. He said, 'For one year I will drop stealing, but I have to come. And I promise you that for one year I will not steal a single thing from anybody.' Eknath agreed.

But within a week trouble started, and the trouble was this: things started disappearing from people's luggage, and even more puzzling -- because nobody was stealing them -- things would disappear from somebody's bag and they would be found in somebody else's bag after a few days. The man in whose bag they would be found would say, 'I have not done anything. I really don't know how these things have come to be in my bag.'

Eknath suspected, so one night he pretended to sleep but he was awake, he watched.

The thief appeared near about midnight, in the middle of the night, and he started changing things from one person's luggage to another person's. Eknath caught him red handed and he said, 'What are you doing? And you had promised!' He said, 'I am following my promise. I have not stolen a single thing. But this is my old habit. In the middle of the night if I don't do some mischief, it is impossible for me to sleep. And for one year, not to sleep? You are a man of compassion. You should be compassionate towards me. And I am not stealing, things are found again and again. They don't go anywhere but are just exchanged from one person to another. And moreover, after one year I have to start my stealing again, so it will be good practice also.'

Habits force you to do certain things; you are a victim. Hindus call it the theory of karma: each action that you repeat, or each thought -- because thought is also a subtle action in the mind -- becomes more and more powerful. Then you are in the grip of it. Then you are imprisoned in the habit. Then you live the life of an imprisoned man, a slave. And the imprisonment is very subtle: it is of your habits and conditioning and the actions that you have done. It is all around your body and you are entangled in it, but you go on thinking and befooling yourself that you are doing it. When you get angry, you think you are doing it. You rationalize it and you say that the situation demanded it:'I had to be angry, otherwise the child would go astray; if I were not angry then things would go wrong, then the office would be in a chaos, then servants won't listen; I had to be angry to manage things, to discipline the child.