STORY OF THE DAY

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Unfold The Universe With Storytelling

In early cultures the world over, the storyteller had a special place. Before written language was used, historic, religious, and cultural knowledge was passed from generation to generation orally, and as the keeper of all this collective knowledge, the storyteller was one of the most important people in the community.
   
A story from Kazakhstan shows the value placed on storytelling and storytellers: It was the seventh day. God had finished making the world. Tired but happy, he suddenly realised he had forgotten to give human beings their brains. Calling some angels, he handed them jugs filled with this important ‘ingredient’ and said, “Go quickly, and make sure you give all humans their brains”. The angels flew down to Earth and found so many people, there were not enough brains to go round! So they made sure they gave each one a little.
   
God looked down on creation and was really sad to see wars, poverty, hunger selfishness and tears. “I think i know why”, he declared, “human beings have only got a bit of brain each”. So God created a few more people, making sure he filled their brains right up to the top. He filled those brains with sparkling words — stories, songs, poetry and music. These were storytellers God sent down to Earth, to tell and sing wisdom into foolish human hearts.
   
While some stories can be deliberately told to perpetuate a narrow world view, most traditional stories can provide the ‘larger context’ within which we are invited to move beyond conflict. Conflict comes from a limited view that looks like you and i are separate. Story has the capacity to hold differing perspectives in the same story, and offer the wide-angle view that invites us to transcend our differences. Most significantly, even if it doesn’t solve our differences; it creates something that’s bigger than our differences. In the power to tell a story lies the power to shape our reality, to alter our perceptions, to create new worlds of experience.
   
The best storytellers are those who also listen, because inputs can come from many sources. In Stories From The Mountains and Beyond, Granny Sue reminds us: “...We must first hear stories from some source, whether it be another person, a book, our own inner voice, or the physical world around us. We need to be listening and aware to hear the stories being gifted to us daily... stories told with a glance, in a song, in children playing a game. Stories in the wind in the trees, birds calling, water trickling over rocks, the soft swish of snow falling...”. All these have stories for those willing to listen.
   
David Spangler says, “We are a storytelling, story-loving species. Let someone be spinning a good tale at a gathering and watch a crowd collect to listen... If, as St John says, in the Beginning was the Word, then the Story followed directly after, unfolding the universe from the imagination of God. In emulation of the divine, we have sought to duplicate that moment of creation by being storytellers, too”.
   
Reading a story is wonderful, but being in the presence of a storyteller who gifts you a story from her heart is a truly wondrous experience. A kind of ‘field’ is created between the storyteller and listeners that creates a space to learn, change and grow.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

LOVE IS A GARDEN....

Prem means love.  Love is a garden: much care has to be taken of it. It is not just weeds that grow on their own -- if you want rose bushes and lotuses, then much care and attention is needed.

A garden has to be created. It is an art, and the greatest art about it is that it should not know that it has been created, that the hands of man should remain hidden, that the hands of man should only be instruments in the hands of God. They should not interfere; they should only bring the message of the divine. They should in no way hinder; they should only be silent, co-operative, empty vehicles.

A tree has to be helped, watered, taken care of, but allowed to be its own. It is not to be tampered with; it has to be allowed to grow in its own natural way. The most beautiful garden is that which looks like a forest. It is not a forest, it is a garden; it has been created with great tenderness. It is poetry composed of trees, but composed in such a way that the poet is invisible. If the poet is too visible, he has destroyed the whole thing. The garden has to be made but it should not be -- at least not on the surface -- man-made.

It should be natural, not artificial.

There is a great story of a Zen master who was a great gardener; the emperor used to learn from him. The emperor was creating a big garden so that one day the master could be invited to see. If he approved, that meant that the king had learned the art -- that was going to be the king's examination.

The master came. The king had really prepared hard; thousands of people were involved in the garden. Everything was so clean, so perfect, that the king was absolutely certain that the master would not be able to find any fault. But when the master came, the king became afraid, scared. The master wouldn't smile; he looked at the whole garden and he was very serious.
 
That was rare; he had never been seen so serious. Finally he said 'I don't see any dead leaves in the garden. Where are the dead leaves?' The king said 'We have thrown them out, just to keep everything clean.'

The master went out, brought back many dead leaves and threw them in the garden. The wind started taking those dead leaves all over the place... and the rustling sounds of the dead leaves. The master smiled, and he said 'Now it looks like something divine! Without these leaves it was so dead, it had no sound. And how can a garden be without dead leaves? How can life be without death? They are partners together. If green leaves are there, then dead leaves are to be there on the ground.

To remove them is artificial.'

Love is a garden. It has to be spontaneous, natural -- and yet one has to be very artful. It is a paradox: to be artful and to be spontaneous.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Drops of Oil....

There is almost a similar story in our scriptures about Narada Mharshi...

Now the same message in a slightly different way...

A certain shopkeeper sent his son to learn about the secret of happiness from the wisest man in the world. The lad wandered through the desert for forty days, and finally came upon a beautiful castle, high atop a mountain.

It was there that the wise man lived.

Rather than finding a saintly man though, our young lad, on entering the main room of the castle, saw a hive of activity tradesmen came and went, people were conversing in the corners, a small orchestra was playing soft music, and there was a table covered with platters of the most delicious food in that part of the world.

The wise man listened attentively to the boy's explanation of why he had come, but told him that he didn't have just then to explain the secret of happiness.

He suggested that the boy look around the palace and return in two hours. Meanwhile, I want to ask you to do something, said the wise man, handing the boy a teaspoon that held two drops of oil. As you wander around, carry this spoon without allowing the oil to spill.

The boy began climbing and descending the many stairways of the castle, keeping his eyes fixed on the spoon. After two hours, he returned to the room where the wise man was.

Well, said the wise man, did you see the Persian tapestries that are hanging in the dining hall? Did you see the garden that took the master gardener 10 years to create? Did you notice the beautiful parchments in my library?

The boy was embarrassed, and confessed that he had observed nothing. His only concern had been not to spill the oil that the wise man had entrusted to him.

Then go back and observe the marvels of my world, said the wise man. Relieved, the boy picked up the spoon and returned to his exploration of the palace, this time observing all the works of art on the ceilings and the walls. He saw the gardens and the mountains all around him, the beauty of the flowers. Upon returning to the wise man, he related in detail everything he had seen.

But where are the drops of oil I entrusted to you, asked the wise man. Looking down at the spoon he held, the boy saw that the oil was gone. Well, there is only one piece of advice I can give you, said the wisest of wise men. The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.

This story serves as just a little reminder that while we get all caught up in the frenzy of work and assignments, we mustn't forget about the drops of oil, the things in life that really matter... friends, family, stuffed toys... and the ties that bind..THINGS REALLY MATTER IN LIFE... IN THE LONG RUN...GOAL OF LIFE...

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Tune In So That You Can Listen Right....

To listen is so difficult. To listen means to be here, now. To listen means to be without any thought. To listen means to be alert and aware. If these conditions are fulfilled, only then you listen.
   
The mind goes on spinning a thousand and one thoughts, and the mind goes on moving — in the past, in the future. How can you listen? And whatever you listen to, it will not be right listening at all. You will listen to something else which has not been said at all, you will go on missing that which is said — because you will not be in tune.
   
To listen well ordinarily means to listen in a deep receptivity. When you listen, if you are arguing, judging, saying, “Yes, this is right because it fits with my ideology and this is not right because it doesn’t...” If you are continuously sorting out things inside, you are listening but you are not listening well. You are listening with your past mind interfering. It is not you judging, it is your past. You have read and heard a few things, you have been conditioned for a few things. The past wants to perpetuate itself. It does not allow anything new; it allows only the old that fits with it.
   
To listen rightly means to listen obediently. This word obedience is beautiful. You will be surprised to know that the original root from which the word obedience comes is obedire — it means ‘a thorough listening’. If you listen totally you will obey. You will not need any decision on your part. Truth is self-evident. Or as the Jewish tradition says, ‘to bare your ear’. If you have really opened your ear and there is no interference and no disturbance inside, and no distraction, you have not only opened your ear, you have opened your heart. And if the seed falls into the heart, sooner or later it will become a tree.
   
Ear locks have to be removed. Fear of truth is the basic lock. You are afraid of the truth because you have lived in lies... for so long that all those lies are afraid, if truth comes they will all have to leave you. The moment you come closer to truth, the mind will become disturbed. It will create much stir, raise much dust, create a cloud around you so that you cannot hear what truth is.
   
Buddha has said that unless you are fearless you will not attain to truth. When you bow in a church, mosque or temple, to a statue, scripture, or tradition, where is your bowing coming from? Just watch inside — and you will find fear, fear and fear. Faith appears only on death of fear.
   
Faith means trust. How can a fearful man trust? He is always thinking, protecting, defending. How can he trust? To trust, you need courage. To trust, you need to take risk. To trust, you need to move into danger.    

The Chinese ideogram for crisis consists of two symbols: one means danger, another means opportunity. Yes, that moment is a critical moment when you are facing danger and opportunity, both. If you don’t go into danger you will miss the opportunity. If you want opportunity you will have to go into danger. Those who know how to live dangerously, only they are religious.

[OmSaiRamNowOn]

Jai Sai Ram. Hare Krsna !

Traditionally, Hinduism comprises of sixteen special ceremonies. Amongst them, the naming ceremony one of the most important. This ceremony is performed on the tenth or twelfth day after the birth. This ceremony has immense importance, as the name of an individual does affect his personality and life to some extent it not totally. It is mentioned in the Srimadbhagwat Mahapurana that there was a hard working Brahmin named Ajaannil.

Listening to his father’s orders he would regularly go to the forest to collect wood etc. One day as usual he went to the forest and saw a man along with a prostitute. Seeing this he also got involved with the prostitute. Since that day, he squandered whatever little money he earned on the prostitute. After some time this licentious Brahmin came across a great saint and kept the name of his son 'Narayana' on the saint’s advice. When the Brahmin was in his death bed and when the lord of death Yamaraj came to take him away the Brahmin looking at his ferocious and scary form became scared and immediately called his loving son shouting Narayana. Listening to the word 'Narayana' Lord Vishnu’s agents ran to bring the Brahmin. So eventually this Brahmin escaped Yama loka and attained Vishnu loka.

In this way even famous saint poet Tulsidas has praised the importance of a name.

KALYUGA KEVAL NAAM UCHAARA|

SUMIRA SUMIRA NAR SITARAHI PAARA||

[Ramesh Ramnani]

The Hunger for God, is not an ordinary hunger....

Nanak was a guest of a Mohammedan nabob. For Nanak there were no Hindus and no Mohammedans; the sage observes no sectarian boundaries. The nabob said to Nanak, "If you really mean what you say -- that there is no Hindu, no Mohammedan -- then come along with us to the mosque. Since today is Friday, let us pray together."

Nanak readily agreed, but he insisted, "I shall offer prayers only if you also pray." The nabob replied, "What a strange condition to set! That is exactly why I am going."

The news spread like wildfire through the village. Everyone gathered at the mosque. The Hindus were greatly upset, and the members of Nanak's family were particularly abusive; everyone thought Nanak was becoming a Mohammedan. In such a way do people burden others with their own fears.

Nanak reached the mosque and the prayers were begun. The nabob was very annoyed with Nanak because, whenever he turned around to look, he found Nanak still erect, neither bowing now offering prayers, but just standing like a statue.
 
The nabob raced through his prayers as quickly as possible, because how can a person pray when he is angry? Finally he turned to Nanak and said, "You are a fraud. You are neither saint nor seeker! You promised to pray but you never did."

Nanak said, "I did promise, but have you forgotten the conditions? I said I would pray provided you also prayed. But you didn't, so how could I pray?"

"What are you saying? Are you in your right senses? There are so many witnesses here; everyone saw me offering prayers!"

"I can't believe these other witnesses because I was looking within you all the time. You were buying horses in Kabul."

The nabob was taken aback because that was exactly what he was doing. His favorite horse had died just that morning and he was still strongly affected by the loss of such a fine animal. His mind was preoccupied with how to reach Kabul as early as possible to buy another thoroughbred. To him a horse was a symbol of status and honor.

"And the priest who led the prayers," continued Nanak, "was busy gathering the harvest in his fields." The priest admitted that he was worried about his harvest that was ready to be reaped. "Now please tell me, did you offer your prayers so that I could offer mine?"

You force yourself to pray, you force yourself to worship, to meditate -- it is all meaningless. By bending the body into certain postures you cannot force the mind to follow suit.

The cacophony of the mind continues, and in fact it becomes louder and more intense. When the body was engaged in some activity the energy was divided. Now when the body sits absolutely inactive, all the energy flows to the mind and the thoughts spin at even greater speed!

This is why when people sit to meditate, the mind becomes more and more active... a real avalanche of thoughts cascading one upon the other! You sit to worship, but the marketplace still grips your thoughts. You go to the temple and ring the bells, but the mind races in other directions. Normally the mind is not so restless. You go to see a film and the mind is quiet and you feel at peace, but no sooner do you enter the temple or mosque or church it becomes its most restive. What is the reason? The theater is linked to your desires. In the movies all the things that you are filled with are brought out, all the rubbish, all the trash. It strikes a chord within you. In the temple what you hear touches nothing within, and hence the confusion.

Nanak is saying that by enforcing silence you will gain nothing, because you cannot attain that silence. Even if you remain in constant meditation, nothing is going to happen. The hunger cannot be appeased even by a mountain of bread, because this is not a hunger that can be appeased by bread. The hunger for meditation, the hunger for God, is not an ordinary hunger.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Go, Tell The Story, Sing A Song

In families of our traditional storytellers, the children make a break with the profession — most often because they barely manage to scrape together a living. Our Ajis, or grandmothers were our link with the world of story, but these days with the decline in inter-generational living, we lose out on that as well.
   
Telling, we have believed, must happen. Many cultures believe that if you have a story to tell — and don’t tell it — strange things will happen. Stories have unique and startling ways of making sure they get told!
   
A Kannada story narrated by A K Ramanujan, who collected and edited the most definitive collections of Indian folktales, is a wonderful example of this. This is how it goes:
   
There once lived a woman who knew a story. She also knew a song. But she kept them to herself, she never told anyone the story or sang the song. Imprisoned within her, the untold story and unsung song felt choked, trapped. They decided to run away.
   
One day, as she slept with her mouth open, the story escaped; it fell out of her, and taking on the material form of a pair of shoes, sat outside the house. The song too hurriedly followed, and took the shape of something like a man’s coat, and hung on a peg.
   
This caused the husband to be very suspicious, especially when she kept insisting she did not know whose they were or where they had come from. In a rage, he picked up his blanket, and went off to the nearby temple to sleep.
   
The flames in the lamps of the town, once they were put out, did not really go out. They moved to the temple and spent each night there, gossiping together till the lamps were lit again the following day. On this night, all the lamps from all the houses had reached the temple — except one, which came in much later. “Why are you so late tonight?” the others asked. “Because at my house, the couple quarrelled late into the night”, said the flame. “Why did they quarrel?” The flame told them the events. As he finished, the other flames asked: “But where did the coat and shoes come from?”
   
“The lady of our house knows a story and a song. She never tells the story, and has never sung the song to anyone. The story and the song got suffocated inside; so they got out and have turned into a coat and a pair of shoes. Seeing this made the husband furious. It seems they took revenge”.
   
The husband, lying under his blanket in the temple, heard the lamp’s explanation. His suspicions were cleared. When he got home at dawn, he woke up his sleeping wife and asked her about her story and her song.
   
“What story? What song?” she asked. She had, sadly, forgotten both of them.
   
Among the Cree of Manitoba, there is a similar belief that stories, when they are not told, live in their own villages where they go about their own lives. Every now and then, however, a story will leave its village and seek a person to inhabit. Some person will abruptly be possessed by the story, and soon will find herself telling the tale, singing it back into active circulation.
   
Go tell the story; sing the song.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

It Is Not Too Difficult To Lead An Extraordinary Life....

You can lead either of two kinds of lives: An ordinary life or an extraordinary life. When you lead an ordinary life, you move along with the current of your desires, preoccupied in fulfilling your own goals, aims and agendas. Ordinary beings are only conscious of their own life. Extraordinary beings are conscious of their life and are also constantly aware of Divinity. They are confident that God’s Grace will resolve all their problems. They know that whatever life brings is ultimately for the best.
   
Those who lead an extraordinary life enjoy every minute of it. To them, every moment is precious. Even ordinary circumstances elicit a different response from them. If you believe that you are extraordinary, then you start looking at the world differently. When you think that you are born special, you will lead a special life. Constant hope makes our life extraordinary. Without this, life is drab and ordinary. If we look at life as a problem, it becomes ordinary but if we look at it as an opportunity, it becomes extraordinary.
   
This bowl beside me is full of fragrant roses. If i pick up a single rose and look at it, it is really beautiful. There is no need for any comparison. Like all the other roses here, it is unique. If we have the habit of comparing ourselves with others, our self-confidence sometimes soars and sometimes crashes. A truly extraordinary life is never based on comparison. It is the result of constant blossoming within. Human life is a rare privilege. Why waste a single minute of this precious gift or lose a single opportunity to make it extraordinary?
   
If we cultivate the art of savouring every moment of life even when it brings unexpected challenges to us, our life becomes extraordinary. When there is interest, we feel exuberant and joyful. When there is no interest, life is mechanical and ordinary.
   
If we are travelling and our vehicle breaks down in the countryside, do we take the opportunity to revel in the natural beauty around us? Or do we fret, fume and grumble? When we perceive the best in everything, life becomes extraordinary and memorable. When we live life like this, a special feeling arises in us. Our life is full of zest and joy. We can never completely control what happens in the external world around us, but our internal world is in our hands. We can allow it to be ugly or choose to make it beautiful.
   
When we enjoy every moment and every circumstance that comes our way, one negative element that flavours each day of our present existence disappears. This element is TENSION. Stress, tension, boredom, depression, impatience and frustration become things of the past. These emotions which were slowly draining away the energy of the Soul disappear. When we enjoy every moment of life, it is always full of wonder and never grows stale.
   
Each and every situation that comes our way is not custom-made to fit our present frame of mind. If every circumstance were to our liking, internal growth and transformation would never take place; our life would become stagnant and sub-human. So it is our own perception that decides whether our life remains ordinary or becomes extraordinary. Life will always pose challenges; it is up to us to make it joyous. Flow like a river, revelling in every moment of life.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Krishna’s Humility And Infinite Love

Narada, one of Krishna’s close friends, set out one day to the palace to give Krishna a message. But as he approached the huge palace, a palace guard stopped him and sternly said: “You cannot enter here”.
   
“What do you mean i cannot enter? I am Narada. I have access to Krishna’s bed chamber”. Which was true. Narada was so close to Krishna that he had permission to come anytime, anywhere, to see him. The guard, however, was adamant and replied: “I know who you are, but on this particular occasion you must remain here. The Lord Himself has ordered me to stop anybody from meeting him just now”.
   
“What do you mean by saying ‘on this particular occasion’? What is it that the Lord is doing that i can’t go to see him?” The guard said: “He said he wanted to pray”. “Pray? My Lord is praying? To whom does he pray? Who is greater than my Lord?” Thus demanding answers, Narada accused the guard of blasphemy.
   
The dutiful guard stuck to his guns and refused to let Narada enter, saying: “I am only telling you what he told me. He said he wanted to pray and that i should not let anyone in because he did not want to be disturbed while he is praying”. Narada had no choice but to wait, and all sorts of confused thoughts were going through his head... Narada simply could not understand why the Lord should pray and wondered who he addressed his prayers to.
   
After half an hour or so, Krishna came out of his room and saw Narada waiting outside the door. He greeted Narada warmly but Narada was so agitated that he made only the most perfunctory of greetings. “What’s wrong?” Krishna asked. “You seem upset”.
   
Narada was so upset, in fact, that he totally forgot about the message he had come to deliver; he actually forgot that that was why he had come in the first place. Narada blurted out: “The palace guard said you were praying and that you were not to be disturbed”. “Yes, that is so”, Krishna affirmed.
   
“But to whom do you pray?” asked Narada, whose confidence in the Lord was shaken by Krishna’s admission. Narada was worried, too. Why should Krishna, the All-Knowing One, have to pray, and for what?
   
As though reading Narada’s thoughts, Krishna laughed. “Do you really want to see to whom i pray? Come with me”. And Krishna led Narada to his prayer room. “Here, here is my God”, Krishna said.
   
And what did Narada see? He saw little figures, images of Krishna’s mandali. There was a little figure of Narada, of Arjuna, of all the close ones. “These are the ones i pray to”, Krishna explained. “I pray to my lovers. You see, the whole purpose of Creation was so that my love might flow. I eternally love my creation, but periodically i take birth to receive the love of my lovers. My lovers worship me and i worship their love for me”.    

A chastised Narada began to understand that it was the Lord’s humility and infinite love that made him so lovable and approachable.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Joy Is Sorrow, Life Is Death: Accept Anekant

When knowledge or wisdom is absent, facts can be misused. If there is balance, such a situation does not arise. A balanced view takes into account as many aspects as possible. This is the anekanta principle.
   
The one who has perspective of anekanta does not take a single-dimensional view of things that could twist logic. In the explanation of universal laws anekanta has lent balance. Even in the world of conduct and thoughts, anekanta plays an important role. Restraint and equanimity are also results of anekanta. Without the anekanta view there would be no reason for restraint. Through anekanta we accept the coexistence of opposites as a fact.
   
Everything has its limits. There is need for equanimity. Both loss and gain are to be accepted. It is the norm that if there is gain there will also be loss and if there is loss, there will be gain, too. The two are mutually connected. The two are, in fact, one. The difference is only in time or space.
   
There is no distance between happiness and sorrow or life and death, they both go together. Sometimes one feels happy and life seems bright and sometimes one feels sad and life seems miserable. Where is the distance between water pulleys? It is one single chain. The wheels bring in water, empty it and return. Wheels full of water and empty of water keep coming and going. They work together. Similarly, joy and sorrow work together. Life and death work together.
   
There is no second that belongs entirely to life or entirely to death. The first second of life is also the first second of death. Death is not an event that is to take place only after 70-80 years. It can take place even in the first second. With the first second of birth the event of death also takes place. Creation and destruction go hand in hand. One cannot find even one man who has been only praised, never condemned, or always condemned and never praised. Both go together. The balance is maintained.
   
Loss and gain, praise and insults, life and death, all of them go together. We have a problem when we do not go along with them. If we learn to go along with them then we will be truly spiritual, followers of anekanta. This way our problems come under our control. But we are very strange, we don’t usually adopt a balanced view. We do not like to move along with the principle of anekanta; we want to move independently.
   
An individual wants gain but not loss, joy but not sorrow, life but not death, and he wants praise, never condemnation. He then forgets the universal rule. In this dualistic world, nothing comes alone. Everything is in pairs. Man is ignorant. He wants to break the order of anekanta and wants only a single dimension.
   
When the world and nature have a rule, how can it be broken? Yet man makes his own single-dimensional perspective. Under pressure of not wanting loss but wanting gain, not wanting insults but wanting praise, man falls victim to unidimensional perception.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Accept Responsibility For Everything. And Nothing


What happens when you take your life in your own hands? You would have no one to blame. Selfresponsibility is the cornerstone of self-realisation. Achieving it is an ongoing process. We begin by placing responsibility outside self. We like to say you are responsible. We hold the doctor responsible for a treatment going awry; a friend responsible for the break-up; the government, judicial system, police, and plumber for our myriad problems. We hold the ‘other’ responsible.
   
At some point in life, this sense of responsibility expands to an acceptance that we, too, play a part — that both, the other and self, are responsible. So we acknowledge the fact that we are responsible. Initially this is more easily discernible in personal relationships.
   
Now comes the third phase of responsibility and understanding “i am responsible”, moving from ‘you’ to ‘we’ to complete self-responsibility, which is the beginning of spiritual growth. At this point we acknowledge our creatorhood and view how we are indeed completely responsible for our personal realities, environment and world; we view self as the cause of outer effects — as the energy field that draws from around us.
   
Most of us are at varying stages of this self-empowering responsibility — from it being wholly intellectual to it being a larger part of our beingness. Then we would observe the friend, doctor, government, as a reflection of self, and seek to redress the outside by addressing it from within.
   
Once self-responsibility becomes as natural a response in our personal lives as the former two, we ought to expand it further: having moved from you are responsible, to we are responsible, to i am responsible, we need to stretch this to no one is responsible. This deeper truth is yet intellectual for most; but this is where anyone on the journey to Self is headed.
   
There is a dawning that no one is responsible because everything is happening for the larger whole — call it larger self, universe or God. This is not a shelving of responsibility as it may appear, but a deep acceptance of the Oneness pervading all and the perfection of its functioning.
   
As these inner workings of Self become increasingly apparent and clearer to our waking consciousness we take one more leap — that there is nothing to be responsible for. Concepts like Maya — the play of creation, Shakespeare’s ‘the world is but a stage’ and quantum physics theory of the ‘now moment’ — have tried to describe this deepest of understandings but can only point towards it. This stage cannot be an intellectual understanding but must be as experientially ‘real’ as the former experiences we have journeyed along. Analogies may help: you would not invade a country on awakening from a dream of being attacked, nor would you penalise the friend who jails you while playing monopoly!
   
For most the first two stages of responsibility are completely experiential and the last two perhaps completely intellectual — with some being poised somewhere along the middle. This centrifugal point of complete selfresponsibility is what we must expand to. Once that empowering tilt happens, we would be able to make self-responsibility as natural a part of our human experience as anything else.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Angry Thoughts Have A Way Of Getting Back To You

We may think that no one knows what we are thinking, but our thoughts produce vibrations that can be picked up by others at a subtle level. Once, one of Emperor Akbar’s ministers advised him to be careful about what he thought of others.
   
The minister said, “Thoughts are very potent. Let us try this experiment. See that man coming down the road? As he approaches, i want you to think angry thoughts about him and let us see what happens”. The emperor looked at the stranger and thought, “This stranger should be beaten up”. When the stranger drew near, Akbar asked him, “What did you think when you saw my face”. “Excuse me, emperor, but i wanted to beat you up and break your head”.
   
No words were spoken; no actions were done, but the angry thoughts of Akbar towards the man were picked up, and the stranger was tempted to react in a violent way. We may not say anything, but our anger may create a negative vibration all around through aggressive body language, facial gestures, and angry tone of voice. This not only affects the recipient of our anger, it also boomerangs on us, disturbing our peace of mind.
   
We can deal with anger in several ways. One way is to project the long-term consequences of our anger as a deterrent. Or set a goal and then realise the effect that anger may have in preventing us from attaining that goal. A third way is to use meditation to break the physiological response to anger.
   
Projecting the future consequences of anger can prevent us from acting with anger. Becoming conscious of this could help us respond nonviolently to situations, as did Gautama Buddha when someone abused him one day. Buddha listened patiently and since there was no reaction, the abuses stopped coming his way.
   
If we set a goal to meditate every day, then we can guard against intrusion on that time. Say to yourself: “If i allow this anger to take control, then it is going to cause me to waste sitting and thinking about how angry i am. How can i calmly meditate and focus on what i am seeing within?’’ To have fruitful meditation we need to overcome anger, but to overcome anger we need to meditate. It is not so much a catch-22 situation, however, as it is a cycle of success.
   
No matter what level of meditation we are at, the time we spend meditating can calm us down so that we do not respond to a situation of anger. Meditation provides us with a physiological response to control the anger. Our heartbeat slows during meditation, which has the corresponding effect of slowing down our brain waves. We enter a more relaxed state of body and mind. In such a state, anger has less chance to gain strength.
   
As we calm down and our anger subsides, we can increase our concentration in meditation. The more time we spend in meditation, the more practised we become in being calm and balanced. [/size]

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Dhai Akshar Prem Ke: It’s All About Love....

Kabir was no scholar; yet he expressed the very essence of life: “Love’s not grown in gardens,/ Love’s not sold at market./ He who wants it, king or commoner,/ gives his head and takes it”.
   
There is only one way to obtain love: the man who wants love gives his head. He will have to sacrifice his ego, his pretence, his false show. This is what Kabir means by ‘head’. There are two dimensions to this. One aspect is that your ego — that is contained in the head — must disappear. Love means the transformation of the centre. An egoist considers himself to be the centre. He says, “I must be saved even at the cost of the whole world”. The ego is aggressive, so when the egoist shows his love for someone he destroys him; he tries to destroy the other’s individuality. In this kind of false love countless people have lost their individuality.
   
The second meaning is, losing your thoughts. Your head is a collection of thoughts. Your mind is nothing but a vast crowd of thoughts. And it is a very busy and active crowd indeed. Because of it your whole energy is wasted, and you have no energy left for love. The head is an exploiter. It drains you to such an extent that the flow of energy is unable to reach your heart. And 99 per cent of your thoughts are useless; they have no substance.
   
When you are sitting quietly, do you ever observe your thoughts? Have you ever watched the rubbish that goes on in your mind? What do you hope to achieve by permitting all this rubbish? It goes on, day and night, in your waking hours and in your dreams. Even the most trivial thought consumes energy. Scientists conclude that the amount of energy you would expend in one hour digging a pit is the same as the amount you expend in 15 minutes of thinking and worrying. So mental activity requires four times more energy than physical activity.
   
These days, man’s physical activity has decreased, but his mental activity has increased. The head has become an exploiter; it does not allow energy to flow anywhere else. The head consumes all of the energy. The heart is not aggressive. It waits.
   
Kabir says, many people spend their lives reading. They read countless books and scriptures and finally they die, but they do not attain to wisdom. Wisdom has no relation to information. As you keep on reading and listening and accumulating facts your memory becomes very full, and you will know much without really knowing anything.
   
According to Kabir, a man of letters is a scholar who has only read about love. The Hindi word for love is ‘prem’, and is made up of two and a half letters. Kabir says to read these two and a half letters in a book is meaningless. Only when a person falls in love with someone do the two and half letters of ‘Prem’('प्रेम') become complete. One letter is for the lover, the second is for the beloved and the half is for something unknown that exists between the two.
   
No matter how hard you try, love never becomes complete. You are never content... It is also an indication that it is everlasting. Remember, whatsoever attains to completion, dies. To remain incomplete is love’s nature. So a lover is never satisfied and therefore his joy is endless. [/size]

[Ramesh Ramnani]

You Can Free Yourself Like The Mouse That Soared High

There’s an American Indian tale of a mouse that heard a roaring in its ears and set out to discover what it was. The mouse had to first give up one of its mouse ways of seeing things in order to grow. When the mouse had given away its eyes to help two other animals and was without sight, defenceless, it was picked up by an eagle. Before the mouse knew, it was flying and could see the splendour all around. The mouse was gifted with a new vision.
   
When we have tunnel vision we cannot see the contrariness in things and ourselves. We do not see both the tiger and the lamb in us. We cannot see that we are both weak and strong, innocent and guilty, right and wrong. It is only when we are at peace with the conflict inside us, are we able to love all the ways the world can be outside us. “The farmer may only be planting a seed, but if he opens his eyes he is feeding the whole world”, said Omaha Bee.
   
The mouse in the story had to discover another way of looking at itself and reality. We grow only when we replace shortsightedness with a vision that reaches out. The mouse way is to be small minded and petty. In the mouse way we are quick to label people and events. We become self-righteous and picky. We tend to see ourselves as moral guardians and so condemn “others”.
   
Then, like the mouse, somehow we lose ourselves along the way. All the familiar landmarks of life we clung to are no longer there to prop us up. Like the mouse, we give away something that is precious to us, which is often our “mouse way” of seeing things and reality. We reach out to others or go beyond ourselves. We go deeper and search wider in the world outside to ourselves. Tunnel vision gives way to a new reality.
   
To the external eye, we are all doing the same things in life — walking, talking, eating, sleeping, rising, washing, travelling, writing or driving. But internally, we are not really doing the same things at all. For some the motions of life are mechanical, done without any meaning attached to them. For others, every motion is driven by a goal or higher purpose.
   
Buddhist mindfulness is all about doing the same things in life in a different way. When we become less mechanical and more purposeful, the power and energy of God begin to flow through us. We begin to cocreate with God, rather than remain empty receptacles that cannot receive His grace.
   
There are those who use language in life to create by realising the power of words to shape reality. There are others who use language to communicate — sometimes positive things, sometimes negative. Those who like to remain with the mouse way of looking at things and doing things remain at the level of superficiality. Language and words are often used by these people to disrupt and destroy.
   
Plant a seed. But remember why you are planting a seed. Will your action and motivation remain like that of the farmer who could not see beyond his own field? Those who know that a seed can and does feed the whole world, will experience the splendour of the world. Build a new vision.

[tana]

ॐ सांई राम....

कृतघ्नता~~~

शिकारी एक हिरण का पीछा कर रहा था । दौङता हुआ हिरण अचानक रुका और एक लता के पीछे छिप गया । शिकारी उसे ढूढता हुआ आगे निकल गया ।हरी भरी लता को देख कर हिरण के मूंह में पानी आ गया और उसने लता खाना प्रारम्भ कर दिया ।थोङी ही देर में उसने लता का काफी भाग खा लिया ।
उसी समय शिकारीउसे ढूढता हुआ पुनः वही आ गया । अब हिरण के लिए लता के पास छिपना संभव नहीं था  क्योंकि वह उस लता को खा चुका था । पहले उसी लता की ओट ने उसे बचा लिया था।
शिकारी ने खुले में खङे हिरण को मार गिराया मरते समय हिरण सोच रहा थ कि जो अपने आश्रय देने वाले के साथ कृतघ्नता करता है उसका हश्र यही होता है जो मेरा हुआ ।


जय सांई राम....