STORY OF THE DAY

[Ramesh Ramnani]

JAI SAI RAM!!!

My dearest Sunita...When we start with some ultimately it becomes more.  In BABA SAI's kingdom some will become HIS abundance...

One more thing all of us already have the company of these gracious ladies in our homes but we seldom recognise them instead unseen guys like 'Krodh', 'Lallach', 'Bhay' and 'Rog' have encroached their place silently without our knowing and in our ignorance we go on feeding those unseen guests time and again.  In that feeding we go on fattening them so much that hardly any space is left for our gracious friendly ladies for even breathing.[]  Isn't?

MAY BABA SAI BLESS US WITH THAT VISION TO RECOGNISE THOSE UNSEEN REAL ANEMIES...

OM SAI RAM!!!

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Don’t Put An Oak Tree In A Flower Pot

A monkey, which leaves the tree and swims in a lake is inferior to fish. A race horse kept in a beautiful and posh apartment is inferior to a rat. A good swordsman wielding a plough to cultivate a piece of land is inferior to a peasant. In the same way, people who are not summoned to a higher self are rendered inferior.

“I am uncomfortable talking to people, I feel shy, I can’t mix with people, I feel diffident in getting jobs done by others, I am an introvert. How can you help me?” A woman once asked. Living right is about striking the right balance. We have to balance our work and home, body and mind. We should balance between being outer winners and inner winners.

A woodcutter had to struggle hard to earn two meals a day. He met a monk. The monk advised him, “Don’t stop at the edge of the forest, go right in. One day’s work will fetch you one month’s food”. The woodcutter followed the advice. Deep within the forest, he found sandalwood trees. He was very happy. He expressed his gratitude to the monk.

The monk advised again, “Take the risk of going still deeper into the forest. A day’s work will fetch you food for six months. This time he found a silver mine. He thanked the monk again. The monk said, “If you trust me and go still deeper into the forest, one day’s work will make you earn enough to fetch your food for a lifetime”. This also turned out to be true. For he found a gold mine.

   The woodcutter wondered, “Why then does the monk still stay at the edge of the forest and not venture into the forest, as he has been advising me?” He expressed his doubts to the monk. The monk replied, “If you want to be eternally happy, sit under this tree and I will teach you to go within. Then you will be eternally happy”.
   
To be an outer winner, one has to explore the outside world. To be an inner winner, one has to go within oneself. The kingdom of heaven is within us. The balance between being an outer winner and being an inner winner is what would make us feel good.
   
Why are you shy? You are shy because you are not feeling good or you are preoccupied in looking good. When you are not feeling good, even if you try to do a good act, it might turn out to be the other way.
   
You say you are uncomfortable being with people. Your discomfort may be due to the lack of people skills. You should help people to bring out their best and that is possible only if your best comes out. Your best comes out if you balance being an outer and an inner winner. Learn to motivate yourself and others. Learn to be at peace with the imperfection in yourself and others. Shed your ego.
   
Don’t be shy, for shyness could be a form of ego, So reject the games that ego plays with you.

A woodpecker was pecking at an oak tree. A lightning struck the tree and felled it. The woodpecker flew away and boasted, “I never knew I was so strong. I can make a tree fall”.

Drop your ego. You will find people as God’s messengers conveying divine messages to you, teaching you through their failures and successes. Most of us are like an oak tree in a flowerpot. The flowerpot is like the ego and our being is like the oak tree. Do not confine yourself to the ego. Drop your lower self and let your higher self guide you. This is the meaning of yoga; being yoked to the higher self.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Spiritual realisation is everybody’s birthright....  

Anyone can be a Gautam Buddha, but not everybody can be a Michelangelo or Nietzsche. This is because spiritual realisation is everybody’s birthright. It is not a talent like painting, music, poetry, or dancing; it is not genius either. A genius has tremendous intelligence, but it is still of the mind.

Enlightenment is not of the mind, it is not intellect; it is intelligence of a totally different order. People like Friedrich Nietzsche who have missed the journey towards their own selves were great intellectuals, geniuses unparalleled — but all that belongs to the mind. And to be a Gautam Buddha, Guru Nanak or BABA SAI is to get out of the mind. It does not matter whether you had a big mind or small mind, a mediocre mind, or you are a genius; the point is that you should be out of the mind. The moment you are out of the mind, you are in yourself.

So the strange thing is that the more a person is intellectual, the farther he goes away from himself. His intellect takes him to faraway stars. He is a genius, he may create great poetry, great sculpture. But as far as you are concerned, you are not to be created, you are already there.

The genius creates, the meditator discovers. Consciousness has nothing to do with creativity, it has nothing to do with inventiveness, it has nothing to do with science or art; it has something to do with tremendous silence, peace, a centring.
   
When an ordinary man meditates, he comes to the same space of blissfulness as Nietzsche, Einstein or Russell. That space of blissfulness will not be different, will not be richer for Bertrand Russell because he is a great intellectual. Those values don’t matter outside of the mind.
 
It is as if you all fall asleep here; you will be dreaming. Somebody may have a very beautiful dream, and somebody may have a nightmare. But both are dreams. And when they wake up, they will know that the beautiful dream and the nightmare are not different — they are both dreams. They are nonexistential, mind projections.
   
This is great and good news because it means a woodcutter or a fisherman can become Gautam Buddha. An uneducated Jesus, an uneducated Kabir or BABA SAI, who doesn’t show any indication of genius, can still become enlightened, because enlightenment is not a talent, it is discovering your being. And the being of everyone is absolutely equal. Suddenly all distinctions, talents of the mind, disappear. There is only pure sky where you cannot make any distinctions of higher and lower.

Enlightenment is the very nature of things. But it has never been said that way; on the contrary, people’s minds have been corrupted by creating a goal against nature, giving it beautiful names, “supernature”. And man was caught in this because of a very simple reason: The nature of things is already where you are. It is not an excitement and it is not a challenge to your ego. It is not a faraway star. Mind wants for its nourishment something very difficult, something almost impossible. Only if you can achieve the impossible can you feel you are somebody special.

Enlightenment is not a talent. It is not like somebody being born a painter or a poet or a scientist — those are talents. Enlightenment is simply everybody’s very source of life; it is realising the fact that “I am that which I have always wanted to be, and I have never been anything else and I cannot be anything else, ever”.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

For all my beloved brothers and sisters...

I sometime don't understand if so many people in the world were loving, where does war come from? From where is all kinds of violence continuously coming? From where is hatred arising if everybody is so loving?

You have to love your children, your wife, your husband, your parents, your gurus, elders, neighbors -- there are even teachers like Jesus who say you have to love your enemies too.

Just don't love yourself! This strange logic has destroyed your very roots of loving.
 
I say unto you: first and foremost, love yourself. And if you can love yourself, others will start getting your love very naturally, without any pretensions, very spontaneously. A man full of love soon starts overflowing. You cannot contain your love into the small space you have within you; your love is far greater than you are. Your love can fill the whole earth. A single man's love can fill the whole universe. It is so vast that you can go on sharing with everybody.

But if your very source remains closed, then all that is left is to pretend. Everybody is pretending; that's why there is so much talk about love, so much poetry, so much literature. And if you look around, you don't find love anywhere, you never encounter it.

I want the whole universe to be a loving, rejoicing universe. But I see where humanity has failed, where its teachers, messengers of God and saviors have taken a wrong route. They listened to logic and they forgot that logic is absolutely man-made; it has nothing to do with your nature.

Nature has no obligation to fulfill logical conclusions. If your nature can be heard, it will become a simple thing to understand.
 
Love yourself, so that all your loving sources become open, all blocks are removed. And if you can love yourself -- with all your frailties, with all your weaknesses, with all your errors -- you can love anybody in the world. You will have tremendous compassion and understanding, because you commit the same mistakes; the same are your errors, the same are your frailties.

The people who have never loved themselves have never come in contact with themselves. Yes, they are in contact with others, but it is a very strange situation: if you are not in contact with yourself, how can you be in contact with others?

Who is going to be in contact with others?

Who are you?

At that point you simply don't know. You know that you have a contact with your friend, you have a contact with your children, you have a contact with your mother -- but who are you? And the same is the situation of your mother, your friend, your children -- they don't know who they are. Nobody knows who he is, and everybody is in contact with everybody else. Can you think of any greater insanity than this situation?

Once you become an outsider, settled, confirmed, you will be surprised that now authentic contacts start happening, because now you are in contact with your own being.

You have such a magnetic pull that those who are seeking, those who are searching, those who are longing for something to happen in their life -- those who don't want to live an empty and meaningless life will start coming in contact with you.

This contact will have some great significance. You will be fulfilling each other without destroying each other. You will be loving but not possessive. You will help but you will not enslave. You will support -- but not to exploit; just out of your love, friendliness, out of your understanding, whatever happens will be right.

Of course you will not be part of the big world of retarded people whose mental age is not more than fourteen. This is enough for being a postman or a stationmaster or a president -- any trivia. I don't see any difference between a stationmaster and a president of a country: both are small flies pretending to be something great. You will not be in contact with these psychologically retarded people, but you will come in contact with real, authentic, intelligent, loving human beings who have understanding, who have compassion. And because they can love themselves, they can also love you.

My experience, is very different. The moment my blindness disappeared, the moment I found my own being, I could not believe how my life has changed.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Heaven and Hell

A man once asked if he could visit heaven and hell.

When he reached hell, he was amazed to find people seated around a huge banquet table. The finest foods were piled high on the table. “What a feast! Perhaps hell wasn’t so bad after all!” he thought.

Then he looked more closely at the diners. They were all starving! You see, each diner had been given chopsticks which were three feet long! There was no way they could carry the food to their mouths with these long chopsticks. No one could eat a bite.

What a hell indeed, to sit so close to a banquet and yet be unable to taste even a bite.

The man was then taken to heaven to observe life there.

To his surprise he saw people seated around a banquet table in exactly the same situation. Each person had been given three foot long chopsticks in heaven too!

But here, everyone was happily eating the delicious food.

The residents of heaven were using their yard long chopsticks to feed each other!

Some people look at a glass of water declaring it half full. While others insist it is half empty. It has been said that a fool can make a Hell out of Heaven.

It is also true that a wise one knows how to make Heaven anywhere he or she goes.

[OmSaiRamNowOn]

Add the God Principle in our daily lives

One rich man owned 19 horses when he died. In his last will and teastament he had written that upon his death, half the horses he owned should go to his only son; one fourth to the village temple and one fifth to the faithful servant.
The village elders could not stop scratching their heads. How can they give half of the 19 horses to the son? You cannot cut up a horse. They puzzled over this dilemma for more than two weeks and then decided to send for a wise man who was living in a neighbouring village.
The wise man came riding on his horse and asked the villagers if he can be of any help to them. The village elders told him about the rich man's last will and testament which stated that half of the (19) horses must be given to his only son, one fourth must go to the temple and one fifth to the faithful servant.
The wise man said he will immediately solve their problem without any delay whatsoever. He had the 19 horses placed in a row standing next to one another. Then he added his own horse as the 20th horse. Now he went about giving half of the 20 horses – that is ten horses to the son. One fourth of 20- that is 5 horses were given to the temple committee. One fifth of twenty- that is 4 horses were given to the faithful servant. Ten plus five plus four made 19 horses. The remaining 20th horse was his own which he promptly mounted, spoke a few inspiring words, and rode back home.
The villagers were simply dumfounded, full of disbelief and filled with admiration. And the parting words of the wise man were inscribed in their hearts and minds which they greatly cherished and passed on to their succeeding generations till today.
The wise man said: In our daily lives, in our daily affairs, simply add God’s name and then go about facing the day’s happenings. Ever come across problems in life that are seemingly insurmountable? (Like the villagers, do we feel that such problems cannot be solved?).
The wise man continued: Add the God Principle in our daily lives and the problems will become lighter and eventually will disappear. In the manner of the ice which, with the addition of the heat principle will turn into water, and that will eventually evaporate as steam and disappear. And how do we add God’s name (God principle) in our daily lives? Through prayers, filled with true love and devotion with sincerity of purpose and dedication that only total faith can bring about. Meditation is a powerful means of directing the mind Godward.
But without true love and devotion entering into it, it remains like a boat without water. It is not difficult to push a boat that is floating in water, but extremely hard to drag the same boat on dry land. In the same way, if our life’s boat floats on the waters of true love and devotion, we can sail easily in it. The principle of love of God and devotion with total faith, (like water) makes easy the voyage of our lives. When the mind is pure and the heart full of simplicity and holiness, such a devotee becomes an instrument in the service of the Lord.
May we all add Sai in everything, become instruments in HIS service, so our life boat floats successfully and sails to destination.

[SaiServant]

Jai Sai Ram!

A beautiful story and message Anju ji. Thank you. May Baba bless you always!!

Om Sai Ram!
Om Sai Ram!
[]

Sunita Raina

[OmSaiRamNowOn]

Thank you Sunita Dear, May Sai bless you always. Have a nice day.

Aum Sai Ram !
SAI SAI SAI SAI SAI
SAI SAI SAI SAI
SAI SAI

-Anju

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Vasant or Spring is King of All Seasons

When winter comes, can spring be far behind? asked Shakespeare. Post-Makara Sankranti, when the earth begins to get closer to the sun, the cold winter begins to yield to delightful spring. Vasant Panchami marks the beginning of Vasant or spring, when it is time for every bush and bower to spring to life with blooms and bursts of colour and fragrance, vibrant as sparklers in festive display.

   The flower is a beautiful symbol of life and regeneration for it leads to seed and then another plant, bush or tree. Hence Vasant is propitiated as Kusumakar or Rituraj, the king of seasons.

   On another plane, it is said that the finest flower of human life is gyan, which is not just information gathering but understanding of the fundamentals of existence — our own and that of the entire universe — which is essential for achieving the goal of human life, that is, achieving perfection and liberation. Scriptures call this tatwa gyan. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that in seasons He is Vasant, ‘Ritunam Kusumakarah’.

   The festival of Vasant is celebrated on the fifth day of the Shukla Paksha and so is called Vasant Panchami; but the concept behind it goes deeper than mere calculation of the days of the moon. To understand the true significance of the festival it would be instructive to understand the essence of Goddess Saraswati, the presiding deity of learning, aesthetics and creativity. Offering prayers to her is customary on Vasant Panchami.

   For most people, Saraswati is a memory of their past, like an old teacher, respectable but irrelevant today. According to legend, she was one of the five children of Brahma, who represents the primeval creative power of the Supreme Being; creation of the world is ascribed to him. The remaining four children of Brahma are the Vedas, representing that corpus of timeless knowledge, principles and systems that regulate the functioning of the Universe. As Brahma’s daughter, Saraswati is represented as the goddess of vidya or applied knowledge; she represents the spread of fundamental knowledge, its principles and systems through the process of application — in short, technology.

   The essence of the concept of Saraswati is in the power that provides the insight for facilitating the application of fundamental knowledge, to make it useful for all. From this perspective Saraswati represents not just technology but also creativity and, therefore, she is regarded as the presiding deity of the five arts. The significance of five or panch affirms this understanding of the nature of Saraswati. The root word ‘panch’, in Sanskrit, implies elaboration, extension or manifestation.

   Appropriately, therefore, Vasant is celebrated on the Panchami of the Shukla Paksha, the day that signifies spread of knowledge through application in practice, innovation and creative adaptation. In earlier times this day was earmarked for the beginning of formal education. The receding severity of the winter at this time of the year made it conducive for holding the upanayan samskar, which was, in turn, sanctified as the commencement of the process of developing authentic insight into the nature of existence.

   What Saraswati represents remains and shall remain relevant for mankind as long as there is need for acquiring knowledge and extending it in practice through creativity. In veneration of this spirit of learning — to achieve nothing less than the aim of life itself — Vasant is an appropriate time to revive our bonding with the tatwa, the element symbolised by Saraswati.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Never Judge anyone by appearance.....

One beautiful spring day a red rose blossomed in a forest. Many kinds of trees and plants grew there. As the rose looked around, a pine tree nearby said, "What a beautiful flower. I wish I was that lovely." Another tree said, "Dear pine, do not be sad, we can not have everything."
 
The rose turned its head and remarked, "It seems that I am the most beautiful plant in this forest."
 
A sunflower raised its yellow head and asked, "Why do you say that? In this forest there are many beautiful plants. You are just one of them." The red rose replied, "I see everyone looking at me and admiring me." Then the rose looked at a cactus and said, "Look at that ugly plant full of thorns!" The pine tree said, "Red rose, what kind of talk is this? Who can say what beauty is? You have thorns too."
 
The proud red rose looked angrily at the pine and said, "I thought you had good taste! You do not know what beauty is at all. You can not compare my thorns to that of the cactus."
 
"What a proud flower", thought the trees.

The rose tried to move its roots away from the cactus, but it could not move. As the days passed, the red rose would look at the cactus and say insulting things, like: This plant is useless? How sorry I am to be his neighbor."
 
The cactus never got upset and he even tried to advise the rose, saying, "God did not create any form of life without a purpose."
 
Spring passed, and the weather became very warm. Life became difficult in the forest, as the plants and animals needed water and no rain fell. The red rose began to wilt. One day the rose saw sparrows stick their beaks into the cactus and then fly away, refreshed. This was puzzling, and the red rose asked the pine tree what the birds were doing. The pine tree explained that the birds got water from the cactus. "Does it not hurt when they make holes?" asked the rose.
 
"Yes, but the cactus does not like to see any birds suffer," replied the pine.

The rose opened its eyes in wonder and said, "The cactus has water?"
 
"Yes you can also drink from it. The sparrow can bring water to you if you ask the cactus for help."

The red rose felt too ashamed of its past words and behavior to ask for water from the cactus, but then it finally did ask the cactus for help. The cactus kindly agreed and the birds filled their beaks with water and watered the rose's roots.
 
Lesson to learn from the Story : Thus the rose and all of us learned a lesson that never judged anyone by their appearance again.

[Kavitaparna]

A small story

One man busy with his routine longs to visit the Triveni Sangamam in vain. One day somehow, he gets rid of all his responsibilities temporarily (aged parents, wife, small children, cattle, etc) – by entrusting them to neighbourers and proceeds to the Sangamam. Those were olden days and one had to walk thru dense forests etc.

He proceeds his journey enquiring the route. At some place, he learns that there, in one of the forests, lives a young man who is a Mahathma. He decides to take rest at his place for a day and proceed since that should be the last day of his journey.

He enters the hut of this young man and finds him busy serving his old parents. The traveller asks him the route to Sangamam and expresses his wish to halt in his hut for a day. The young man would not bother to reply and would be busy assisting his aged parents in brushing the teeth, bathing, dressing up, feeding them and finally putting them to relaxation. Then finally answers the Traveller “ You may please stay here as long as you wish. As regards, Triveni Sangamam, I have no idea since all the day I am busy with my parents and my routine – arranging for food items fetching firewood etc.
However, people say it should be some where here nearby only”.

This is a great shock to the traveller since that was the last stage in his journey, he thought this young man would guide him. How foolish is this Young man? I am coming all the way from several miles for this Sangamam while, this young man being so near the Sangamam did not ever bother to even know the route. How he can be called a Mahatma? With these thoughts, the traveller spends that night there. Early morning around 3.00 am, when all were asleep, the traveler notices three ladies – looking ugly coming in side the hut. They come in and touch the feet of the young man (who would be in deep sleep) and their appearance changes from ugly to angels like. Then start to return.

Our traveller stops them outside the hut and asks them who they were. One of them says, “I am Ganga and these two are my sisters – Yamuna and Saraswati. Daily several sinners take bath in us; dip in us and leave all their sins in us. By the end of the day we three get saturated with all these sins and our form becomes ugly. To get rid of these sins and get back our original divinity, we come for darshan of this young man who does not know anything other than serving his aged parents. This task alone is his routine, pooja and everything”. They vanish. The traveler without a second thought rushes back to his place for taking back the charge of his responsibilities.

Thus, a person who serves aged/ sick / needy himself becomes resepectable even to Gods and Godesses.


Om Sri  Sai Ram!  Om Sri  Sai Ram!  Om Sri  Sai Ram!  Om Sri  Sai Ram!  Om Sri  Sai Ram!
Om Sri  Sai Ram!  Om Sri  Sai Ram!  Om Sri  Sai Ram!  Om Sri  Sai Ram!  Om Sri  Sai Ram!
Om Sri  Sai Ram!  Om Sri  Sai Ram!  Om Sri  Sai Ram!  Om Sri  Sai Ram!  Om Sri  Sai Ram!

kavita

[Ramesh Ramnani]

The Emperor

An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his children, he decided something different. He called young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you."

The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it and come back here after one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor!"

One boy named Ling was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks went by. Still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed.

Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But honest about what happened, Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try."

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "What great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!" All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"

When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!" Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?

Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds, which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"

If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.
If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.
If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.
If you plant perseverance, you will reap victory.
If you plant consideration, you will reap harmony.
If you plant hard work, you will reap success.
If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.
If you plant openness, you will reap intimacy.
If you plant patience, you will reap improvements.
If you plant faith, you will reap miracles.

But
If you plant dishonesty, you will reap distrust.
If you plant selfishness, you will reap loneliness.
If you plant pride, you will reap destruction.
If you plant envy, you will reap trouble.
If you plant laziness, you will reap stagnation.
If you plant bitterness, you will reap isolation.
If you plant greed, you will reap loss.
If you plant gossip, you will reap enemies.
If you plant worries, you will reap wrinkles.
If you plant sin, you will reap guilt.

So be careful what you plant now, It will determine what you will reap tomorrow, The seeds you now scatter, Will make life worse or better, your life or the ones who will come after. Yes, someday, you will enjoy the fruits, or you will pay for the choices you plant today

[SaiServant]

Jai Sai Ram!!

A nice story dear Ramesh Bhai!

Centuries ago, Saint Francis wrote this beautiful prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury, let me sow pardon
Where there is doubt, let me sow faith
Where there is despair, let me sow hope
Where there is darkness, let me sow light
Where there is sadness, let me sow joy

Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled, as to console
To be understood, as to understand,
To be loved, as to love

For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Om Sai Ram!
Om Sai Ram!


[]

Sunita Raina

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Enrich Yourself With Your Mistakes

Mistakes cannot be avoided, but we can learn how to become rich by them. Unless we teach ourselves to fail wisely, we cannot succeed in life gracefully.

Our gratitude should free us; not bind us. Four people were carrying a boat on their head. Someone asked them why they were carrying it. They said, “We are grateful to the boat that helped us cross the river. Our gratitude does not allow us to abandon the boat”.

Religion should set us free and not bind us. Many people use religion to hold people in bondage and so kill the spirit of religion. A man fell into a well. He did not drown, as the well was not full. He cried out for help. A Buddhist monk passing by said to him: “Buddha’s last sermon was, we should be a light unto ourselves; since you are not, you have fallen. If I save you, the darkness in you will make you fall again into the well; so create light within and that light will help you come out”. He went away without helping. A little later, a Hindu renunciate passing by said to him: “It is because of your past deeds that you have fallen. Even if I help you now, your past deeds will make you fall again. Perform a noble act and earn divine approval. Good deeds will help you come out”. He, too, walked away.

A disciple of Confucius saw the man in distress. He assured him, “I will definitely help, but first I will go and tell the village authorities how important the teaching of Confucius is. Confucius teaches that society is more important than individuals. Meanwhile, you keep screaming; it will warn others of the danger of falling into wells. Then the village authorities will ensure that every well is covered properly”. He too went away.

The person who happened to come next immediately helped the man out of the well. Then he made a request, “Any time you fall into a well, please call only me and no one else. Not only should you fall, but you should also ask others to fall. I will definitely come and help; thus doing good service to you all, I can go to heaven”.

Can we serve without being selfish? Prayer without service is not prayer; Service without prayer is not service. True prayer and sincere service are the two wings of spirituality. In the southern part of India, people plant coconut trees. There is a saying, “Water the plant for five years, reap coconuts for life”.

Do good deeds, have trust and patience; the higher centre will open up in you and you will witness a miracle of life. If a cup is placed upside down, even if it rains, the cup will not fill up. But if the cup is kept properly, it can fill up. You can really serve others only when you have compassion in your heart. A heart without compassion cannot serve.

There was an enlightened monk, and he was an embodiment of goodness. His disciples could not understand one thing about him. He used to rob, get intentionally caught, and go to jail. On being released, he would do the same.

When asked why he did that, he would say, “I have no other way to enter jail, and the prisoners need my teaching”. Compassion has its own logic. Let compassion, service, goodness be your living gods. God does not exist in temples, churches, mosques... God is in love, goodness, and service. In the name of service, do not forget yourself. In serving yourself, do not forget others.


मेरा साँई प्यारा साँई सबसे न्यारा मेरा साँई

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Discover Your Potential Through Practice of Yoga

If there are two piles, one of gold and one of dirt, we will always choose the pile of gold. If the dirt and gold are mixed, we will separate the gold from the dirt. But are we able to do that with ourselves? Our personality is a combination of both rubbish and gold, and generally we are affected by the rubbish and we ignore the gold. Despite having so much to give, so much to receive, and with so many positive qualities within, we identify with the negative.

The purpose of yoga is to create the awareness to separate the negative from the positive. We have to reject the negative and connect with the positive. Why do we react? Why do we desire one thing and not another? Reactions are a result of identification with negativity and dislikes. Actions follow positivity.

Neither meditation nor performance of asanas is important. We can practise asanas only as long as we are fit. We practise meditation only as long as there is the desire. If there is no desire to practise yoga, we give it up. If we just revolve around our likes and dislikes, actions and reactions, desires and rejections all our life, it means we have not learned the lesson to bring out the positivity. That positivity has to be expressed in every situation whether it is an exam, a human relationship, social living or reclusive living. This is the understanding that yoga tries to give. This understanding cannot be intellectual. It has to be an experiential understanding of the process that leads to self-development and infuses one with contentment, peace and tranquillity.

We go through various experiences, some good, some bad. Whenever we react, it is a bad experience and whenever we accept and act, it is a positive experience. Positivity and acceptance have to be our focus if we want to succeed in life. If this focus is lost, we cannot claim to be practitioners of yoga, only practitioners of asana, or meditation.

Change has to come from within. This is not a momentary gain, but a gain of positivity in life. The satisfaction or fulfilment we experience within is due to harmony, which is both external and internal. If we only identify with the inner experience of happiness, but react externally in our attitudes, behaviour, relationships and communication, then that experience can never be complete. That is the true meaning of yoga. In the third sutra of the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali discusses being established in one’s own nature as the seer, the drashta. To be established in one’s own nature means there has to be harmony, a flow in life. This optimism and balance does not encounter nor is affected by blocks.

A river will simply flow around a large rock on the river bed and carry on with its journey. It does not come into conflict with an immovable object. We all need to learn this lesson, because personal attainment is only a selfish subjective attainment, which can be lost at any time. It is easy to attain and also easy to lose because life follows a principle of give and take. This is the flow of life with which yoga identifies.

At this stage yoga becomes a way of life, not just a practice. There is identification with and expression of nature which is balanced, positive and optimistic, and one attains physical health, mental health and spiritual wealth.