STORY OF THE DAY

[Devki]

This one is a wonderful story and relevant to what is happening in our life daily……just simple but good one.

Want Water or Cups?

A group of working adults got together to visit their University lecturer. The lecturer was happy to see them. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

The Lecturer just smiled and went to the kitchen to get an assortment of cups - some porcelain, some in plastic, some in glass, some plainlooking and some looked rather expensive and exquisite.

The Lecturer offered his former students the cups to get drinks for themselves.

When each student had a cup in hand with water, the Lecturer spoke:

"If you noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal that you only want the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all you wanted was water, not the cup, but we unconsciously went for the better cups."

"Just like in life, if Life is Water, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold/maintain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change."

"If we only concentrate on the cup, we won't have time to enjoy/taste the water in it."

"Faith gives us a new vision of the world. Without it we see only the darker side of life. We are still slaves. It is faith which liberates us and makes us see the Spirit of power and love at work in our lives".

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Love is a garden : It should be natural, not artificial.........Part-I

Prem means love; carmelita is Hebrew, it means garden -- a love garden. 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.
 
In Zen they say that one should learn painting for at least twelve years and then throw away all the brushes and the paintings and forget all about it. For twelve years one should not touch the brush, should not paint. And then after twelve years one should start painting again. Now the art has been learned and forgotten; now one can paint naturally. The art will be there but it will not be visible; it will be something like a hidden current, something invisible.
 

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Love is a garden : It should be natural, not artificial.........Part-II

Great art is always invisible; and love is the greatest of arts. No music, no poetry, no painting, can be compared to it.
 
It means nothing! It has no meaning. Life has no purpose, it simply is. And that's the beauty of it and the profound depth of it -- that it simply is. You can make anything out of it; it is just pure availability. It is an empty canvas: you can paint anything on it. You can paint a nightmare or a beautiful dream, you can create hell or you create heaven, but life gives you no directions. It simply gives you total freedom to do whatsoever you want.
 
Life is freedom, hence the great responsibility. If you miss, you cannot make somebody else feel guilty for it; you and only you will be responsible.
 
And there is no intrinsic meaning in life, so you cannot find any readymade thing. Life is creation. You will find only that which you have created; first create and then you can find it.
 
This is the tremendous mystery of life. People ask 'Where is God?' and they have not created God yet; they cannot find him. People ask 'What is beauty?' First create it, and then you will know. First give birth to it, then you will know.
 
Life is simply available in all its multi-dimensionality. No meaning is imposed from above; you have to create meaning. Each one has to be a creator, a god in his own right. We live in the world we create, and we live the life we create. So whatsoever meaning you prefer, you can create. The ultimate is to be able to live without any meaning, not to hanker for meaning, not to be obsessed with purpose, not to think in terms of goals; that is the ultimate. Once a man is able to live life for no reason at all, he is a Buddha, he is enlightened.
 
Enlightenment means to live life without any hankering for meaning. Then whatsoever is, is good, and whatsoever is not, that too is good. Then each moment becomes so radiant, so luminous, so fun of fragrance, but still there is no meaning.
 
Science searches for meaning and finds none. And because people are trained in science, everybody is feeling very disappointed. Art finds no meaning, but creates it -- through poetry, music, painting.
 
Religion also finds that there is no meaning, but it starts living the very meaninglessness of it. Art creates an illusion, it creates a beautiful illusion. Art is magic; at least it helps you feel that there is meaning. Science knows the truth, but is incapable of living it: it creates despair. Religion also knows that there is no meaning, but is courageous enough to live that meaninglessness of existence and finds great bliss and joy in it. These are the three approaches possible.
 
Science is the lowest approach, religion the highest. So if you ask the scientist he will also say that there is no meaning, but he will say it very sadly -- he wanted there to be a meaning and it is not there. Ask the artist: he will say 'Don't be worried; meaning can be created.' Ask the mystic: he will say ecstatically 'There is no meaning -- and because there is no meaning there is freedom, and because there is no meaning there is no bondage.'
 
If it is possible, become a mystic. If it is not possible, at least become an artist. Don't fall below that! If you fall below that, you are committing the original sin.

[SS91]

LOVE--Perverted And Pure



In a water tank you throw one stone. It becomes a circle. And the circle expands, expands, expands unless the circle comes to the shore. Similarly our loving affair begins from personal self to family, from family to society, community, nation, international. But still, it is imperfect unless the circle reaches to the lotus feet of God. Then it is satisfied.


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]

Just go in!...........

A small story.... It is just a story, but full of meaning and juice.
 
When God created the world, he used to live in the world. But he became tired, because from the morning on, everybody would start coming with complaints: somebody has no child, somebody's child is sick, somebody's child has died; somebody has fallen in love but the parents are not allowing him to marry the woman.

.. and millions are the problems. And just one poor God! And those who could not get him in the day would torture him in the night -- he was unable even to sleep.

Finally, he asked his advisor, "What should I do? These people will kill me! They don't allow me rest, and they bring a thousand and one problems. They should solve those problems. I have given them every capacity, intelligence, to solve all their problems but they want to throw all responsibility on me, thinking that `Why should we bother? Why did you create us in the first place? If you created us then take care of our problems."'

The advisor whispered in his ear, "There is a place where these people will never go."

He said, "Just show it to me."

And he said, "You just hide inside these people themselves. They will go searching for you all over the world but they will never go inside. You can rest, relax." And he is resting and relaxing there.
If you want to know whether the story is true or not, go in!

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Four Women and Four Men.....We have them all........

Walking through a forest, a man chanced to meet four beautiful women. Greeting them, he introduced himself. The tall and slim woman said: “My name is Buddhi (intellect), I live in man’s head”. The woman with kohllined eyes said: “I am Lajja (modesty), I live in the eyes of man as modesty and present myself as decorum in behaviour”. The third lady had a welltoned body. “I am Himmat(courage)”, she said. “I live in man’s heart. I give him the courage to live”. The traveller bowed low. The fourth lady had rosy cheeks and radiated freshness. “My name is Tandurusti (health). I live in man’s stomach”, she said.

As the traveller went ahead, his thoughts went back to the four women he had met. At the end of the forest, he met four young men. “I am Krodh (anger)”, said the first man who was handsome but for his brows, which were always knitted. “Where do you live”, the traveller asked. “I live in man’s head”, said Krodh. The traveller said this was not possible. He had just met Buddhi and she lived in the head. Krodh said “Till I enter, Buddhi remains. Once I enter, she runs away”. Krodh had strong muscles and a forceful personality. The second man was Laalach (greed). “I live in people’s eyes”, he said. Once again the traveller interjected to say “Only Lajja lives there”. “Just place a bag of gold coins and see how Lajja runs away from people’s eyes. Or offer a position of power. Desire does not believe in modesty, shame or decorum. It is an expression of greed”.
   
Who would the third man be? “I am Bhay (fear)”, the sickly-looking man was saying. “I live in people’s hearts”. “Is it not the residence of Himmat?” the traveller asked. “When people do not obey their conscience, they are always afraid. They do wrong and so are full of fear of being caught. That is why Himmat wanders homeless while I reside comfortably in people’s hearts. Sometimes when I dominate, people say they have a heart attack and go to the doctor. They give me even more space when and if they come back”.
   
“My name is Rog (disease)”, said the fourth man. He looked healthy. “I live in people’s stomachs. They are forever downing intoxicants that goes into their stomach, feeding me. I know you will wonder where Tandurusti went. She does not stand a chance. Everybody wants her but it is me they feed when they drink, smoke and partake of other such substances”.
   
A healthy and happy life seems to be within reach. But so are problems. If we invite problems, is it fair to blame it all on fate? Can we make small resolves that will make some space for Buddhi, Lajja, Himmat and Tandurusti within us? Small resolves like: ‘‘I will control my anger for today. I will limit my possessions. I will try to remove fear. I will not give in to temptations that lead me to ill health’’. Small vows or anuvrats are firm steppingstones to a happier and healthier life.
   
All it takes to be able to live a holistic life is to resist temptation, taking one step at a time. Health, happiness and peace will be within reach.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Our Mind is like Quicksilver(Mercury)...........

Many doctrines have been formed since ancient times with regard to the integrity of man. In Islam there is the concept that if a man has any part of his body maimed -- whether a finger is cut off or he has undergone an operation -- he is unfit to reach the feet of God.

Therefore the Muslims are very fearful of operations; if they have to have one they feel guilty and fearful of becoming unfit for God.

In Pakhtoonistan if a limb has to be removed it is severed and preserved until the person dies, and is then buried along with him so that, when he approaches God, he is not incomplete. It is a very significant idea to be a fully integrated whole before approaching God, but here, as elsewhere, a wrong interpretation is being followed.

The Hindus also have this same concept. You must have heard the old stories: when a man had to be burned in a sacrificial fire care was taken that all his parts were intact. If even the slightest defect was present, say a bit of the small finger was chopped off, then he was disqualified.

The finger of a prince got crushed and broken in a door of the palace. Being a devotee who believed and trusted in God, he turned around and said to his attendant, "God be praised! I could have died."

The attendant was surprised. "Your devotion is beyond my understanding. Your finger is broken and you are bleeding badly, yet you thank God. That is carrying devotion too far. You are only fooling yourself by thanking God for this." The attendant was a man of reason.

The prince replied, "Wait awhile, for time will tell." Faith cannot be explained by reason, because faith has no proof.

The prince and the attendant went hunting one day. They lost their way in the jungle and were captured by avdhoots, a group of ascetics who were looking for a human being to sacrifice. First they caught hold of the prince, but found that all his parts were not complete --the one finger was missing. He would not do, so they seized the servant and found his body intact. As they were preparing him for sacrifice the prince reminded him, "Didn't I tell you God's grace is on me? I am saved from death." The test, the authenticity of faith, takes time for proof.
 
Human beings were offered as sacrifice, but this too was a misunderstanding. The sages preached that only he who is total within himself can gain entrance to the Lord's assembly. The lack of a finger does not make you incomplete; even if the head is cut off, a man is not incomplete.

But when consciousness is cut off and his mind falls into fragments, then he becomes incomplete. Your mind is like mercury: let it loose and it breaks immediately into a thousand pieces that cannot be gathered together; touch one small pellet of quicksilver and it will break into ten more.

That is how your mind is, broken into thousands of pieces, with each piece going its separate way. If and when you become at all awakened and look within yourself, you will find one part of your mind heading East, one to the West, one to the North, one to the South. One part wants to earn money, another wants to follow the spiritual path, and so on.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Ugliness in the garb of Beauty......

Kahlil Gibran has written a very nice story. He says when God created the world He created a Goddess of Beauty and a Goddess of Ugliness. He sent them both to earth. Since the road from heaven to earth is very long, they were both tired before they reached halfway. They looked at their clothes so covered with dust that they could hardly make one another out. So they halted beside a lake and decided to take a bath and wash their clothes. There was no one around so they removed their clothes and stepped into the water without fear. The Goddess of Beauty loved the feeling of the cold, soothing waters.

She swam far out. The Goddess of Ugliness grabbed the opportunity and quickly came ashore, put on her companion's clothes and disappeared.

After some time the Goddess of Beauty, having had her fill and realizing it was getting late, decided to come ashore. To her surprise her companion was missing and so were her clothes. What was she to do? The people from the village were arriving. She was obliged to put on the ugly one's clothes. Gibran says, "Ever since then ugliness masquerades on earth in the clothes of the Goddess of Beauty, while the latter moves about in her clothes."

This is exactly what has happened. Suffering goes about in the garb of happiness; untruth masquerades as truth, and the mind is deceived by it. It fails to see what is behind the mantle.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

The Master of Masters - BABA SAI is a physician -- not of your ordinary diseases but of your existential conflicts.

There is a beautiful incident. One fine morning Shankaracharya -- THE Shankaracharya, the first Shankaracharya -- after taking his bath in the Ganges in Varanasi, is coming up the steps and a man is coming down the steps. It is still dark. The sun has not risen yet, and the man touches Shankaracharya. And the moment he touches him he says, "My God, please forgive me. I am a SUDRA."

And Shankaracharya is very much angry. A man who says that everything outer is illusory, even for him the body of a sudra is not illusory. He says, "You wasted my time. Now I have to take another bath."

The sudra said, "Before you take the bath, please answer my few questions. If you don't answer, you can take the bath but I will touch you again -- and that will be a real waste of time."

He has put Shankaracharya into such a corner... and there is nobody around, so Shankaracharya agrees to answer his questions: "You seem to be such a stubborn man. First you touch me, then you declare that you are a sudra. And now you are forcing me to answer your questions.

What are your questions?"

The sudra said, "My questions are very simple. I want to know whether my body is sudra, untouchable. Is there any difference between my body and your body? Is there any difference between my blood and your blood, my bones and your bones? Would it be possible, if we both died, for anybody to decide which body was a brahmin's body and which body was a sudra's body? Our skeletons will be the same, so please tell me: is my body untouchable?

"If not, then is my soul untouchable? And you are the man who has been teaching that God is in everybody's soul -- is he more in you and less in me? Is there some difference of quantity or quality? Or does he exist only in you, and in me there is no God, no satchitanand, no truth, no consciousness, no bliss?

"And remember, you are standing near the Ganges and the sun is rising. Don't lie! And this is not a philosophical discussion; it is a question of my life and death."

Shankarcharaya moved all around the country, winning great debates with great scholars, but he remained silent before this sudra. His question was very simple: Bodies are bodies, made of the same stuff, and consciousness is consciousness, made of the same stuff. Where is the distinction?

Seeing Shankaracharya silent he said, "If you have understood me, then just go back, no need to take another bath. If you take another bath -- then answer my question!"

And you will be surprised -- in his whole life this was perhaps his only defeat.

He had to leave the place and to go back to the temple without taking another bath. Of course he was not courageous enough to say the truth. The question was simple, but he could see that whatever he said was going to be against his own philosophical teachings, against his own religion. It was better to keep silent, not to say anything.

But the untouchable man -- nobody knows his name -- must have been of tremendous intelligence. He managed to get the answer because he made it clear that, "If you take the bath I am going to touch you again. If you accept my standpoint that there is no difference, then simply go back to your temple -- it is time for your morning prayer."

Seeing the situation, Shankarcharya went back to the temple. But that destroys his whole philosophy; within five minutes his whole life's effort is destroyed. And the reason is that his philosophy is against existence; this unknown man was simply stating a fact -- that the outer is material, the inner is spiritual, and there is no conflict.

Have you seen any conflict between your soul and your body -- fighting, wrestling, beating each other? There is tremendous harmony.

In fact, whenever the harmony is not there, you are sick. The healthier you are, the more harmonious. Disease can be defined as a conflict between the outer and the inner; they have fallen apart, they are not moving together.

The harmony is broken. The function of the physician is to bring the harmony back, to bring the music back, to make your life an orchestra.

The master is a physician -- not of your ordinary diseases but of your existential conflicts.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Go still further, there are mines of diamonds................


There is a very old Sufi story: A man went to a Sufi fakir asking the secret of attaining God. The fakir proceeded to recount the following tale:

A woodcutter went every day to the forest to cut wood. Each day he would gather wood, carry it to town and sell it. Whatever he got would be barely enough to give him a meal. Sometimes he managed to buy a little food; at other times he went to sleep hungry.
 
A fakir who used to stay in the same jungle watched him every day. He was filled with pity for this miserable man who barely managed to keep alive.

One day he told him, "Every day for the last so many years I have been watching you. You are such a foolish fellow. Why don't you go still further into the jungle?" The wood-cutter asked, "How will that help?" The fakir replied, "Whoever went deeper within became wealthy. Go in, and you will find mines of copper."

The man went a little further and he found the copper mine. He began to sell copper. Once again he met the fakir who said, "Foolish fellow, go still further. There are mines of silver there." The man went and found the silver mines. He now began to sell silver and became very rich.

One day he met the fakir again who said to him, "Had you any sense you would have taken the hint by now. You have failed to understand. Go still further, you fool, for there are gold mines there!" The man penetrated deeper into the forest and found the gold, but he got totally involved in the gold.

He must have been a man like us, this woodcutter. Wherever we go we get involved. We don't think of getting up from where we sit. The fakir felt sorry for this man. One day he went to him again and said, "You really lack intelligence. So many times I goaded you to go onward to go still further, and you have not understood me. Now you are outwardly very rich, but within you are as miserable a wretch as before. Go still further, there are mines of diamonds." The man went further in.

Then, after some years, the fakir happened to meet him again. He rebuked him as before. Even though he was the owner of huge palaces and all that wealth could buy, the fakir was sorry for him. "You are as poor as ever within," said the fakir. "All this gold and silver and diamonds are on the outside. Go still further.
 
"Now where?" asked the man. "Why don't you leave me in peace? Why are you goading me on and on? Now what is left to be attained after getting these diamonds?"

The fakir replied, "Beyond that is my ashram and only I can give you the genuine diamonds. They are diamonds of meditation. Until now you sought the mines outside, now your search for the mines within must begin." And though the man had heard about the jewels within, he was not ready to seek them. Besides, he claimed that this talk was beyond him, so he begged to be allowed to stay where he was.

The fakir said, "As you wish. But remember, these mines within will not remain forever -- today I am, tomorrow I may not be. The mines you dig now will remain. They always were, they always will be."

The mines of meditation manifest rarely -- sometimes once in a thousand years. Sometimes some person discovers it and becomes an entrance to it. Such a person is the guru, and Nanak refers to his temple as gurudwara, guru's door -- a beautiful name for a temple. He who comes upon the mine of meditation during his lifetime becomes an opening for others, but he does not live forever.

And you? You are so blind that you go past the door and do not see it! Your eyes are fixed on the visible wealth and not the true wealth that is invisible.

Remember this maxim: Still further. Until you reach God you should hold it always to your heart. If you halt before that, you will wander.

[SS91]

The lesson of a saint

There was a saint by name Thiruvalluvar.

Initially he was a weaver.

He used to weave just one sari per day, sell it in the bazaar and

earn money for his family.

Good and bad would exist together.

It would be impossible to separate them.

In the same village there was the son of a rich man who was wasting

his time wandering aimlessly.

Where there is money there is ego.

Ego gives rise to many bad qualities.

Once the money is lost all bad qualities too disappear.

One day the rich man's son came to Thiruvalluvar and asked for the

price of the sari.

 Thiruvalluvar said it cost four rupees.

 The boy was known for his arrogance and pride.

He picked up the sari, tore it into two pieces and asked for the

price of one piece.

Thiruvalluvar replied, it cost two rupees as he had made the sari

into two halves.

The boy tore it again into another piece and asked for the price.

Thiruvalluvar replied that the price was one rupee.

This brought about a transformation in the mind of the boy.

He wondered how the businessman was calm and composed even after he

tore the sari into pieces.

Then the boy fell at Thiruvalluvar's feet and repented for his

behavior.

The boy said due to his pride and arrogance he made this mistake.

Then he went to his father, got the required money, kept it at the

feet of Thiruvalluvar.

Many such great saints lived in Tamil Nadu who set an ideal to the

society. Their statues are installed and adored. It is not their

statues that are important, but their teachings. The best way to

propagate their teachings is to practice them.



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]

JAI SAI RAM!!!

Very Nice Lesson through this story Shubhdra dear.......

OM SAI RAM!!!

[Ramesh Ramnani]

"If you want to go to the house of God, you must learn the burglar's art."


You need as much alertness as the thief uses. You also must transform your fear and enter like the thief, as if it is your own house.

There is a Zen story: There was a very well known thief who was considered number one in the hierarchy of thieves.

He was so adept at his art that he had never been caught, yet everyone knew he was a thief. The news even reached the ears of the king who called him, and honored him for his wonderful efficiency and skill.

As he became older his son said to him, "Father, it is time for you to teach me your art, because who knows when death may come?'

The thief replied, "If you wish to learn I shall teach you. Come with me tomorrow night."

The next night both father and son set out. The father broke through the wall as the son stood watching. His absorption in breaking in would have put any artist to shame. He was lost in his work as if he were lost in prayer. The son was awed by his father's proficiency. He was a master thief, the guru of so many thieves.

The son was trembling from head to foot, though it was a warm night. Fear arose again and again, chilling his spine. His eyes darted everywhere, watching all directions, but his father was lost in his work and didn't lift his eyes even once. When they entered through the hole the son was trembling like a leaf; never had he felt so afraid in all his life, but the father moved about as though the place belonged to him. He took the son in, broke the locks, opened the lock of a huge wardrobe filled with clothes and jewels, and told the son to get inside.

No sooner did the son enter but the father closed the cupboard, locked it, and taking the key with him, left the house shouting, "Thief, thief!" and returned home. By then everyone had awakened. The son was caught in the worst dilemma of his life. What was he to do? He was worried about the footprints and the hole in the wall. At that moment the servant come right up to the wardrobe. The poor boy was at his wits end, his mind completely blank. At such a time the mind does not work, because it is full of stale knowledge and doesn't know how to deal with fresh situations. He had never heard of such a thing arising in the whole history of thieving. His intellect became useless.
 
At the moment the intellect became useless, the consciousness within was awakened. Suddenly, as this energy caught him, he began making a noise as if a rat was gnawing at the clothes inside the cupboard.

He was shocked at himself; he had never done such a thing before. The woman servant brought a bunch of keys and opened it. He immediately puffed out the lamp she was holding and, giving her a push, ran out of the house through the hole in the wall. Some ten or twenty people gave chase. There was a great deal of noise, because the whole village was awake. The thief ran for his life -- ran as he had never run before. He had no idea it was he who was running. Suddenly, as he reached a well, he picked up a big stone and threw it in the well -- all this without the slightest idea of what he was doing. It seemed to him it was not he but someone else directing him. At the sound of the stone falling in the water the crowd gathered around the well, thinking the thief had fallen in.

He stood behind the tree to rest a bit, then continued home muttering to himself. When he went in he found his father fast asleep with the blanket over his head. The son pulled off the cover and said, "What are you doing?" The father continued snoring away. He shook him hard. "What did you do to me? Did you want to see me killed?"

The father opened his eyes for a minute and said, "So you have returned? Good. I'll hear the rest in the morning," and appeared to fall back asleep.

The son pleaded with him, "Say something, father. Ask me what I went through or I shall not be able to sleep."

The father said, "Now you are an expert; you don't need to be taught. Anyway, say it if you must." After the son recounted all that had happened the father answered, "Enough! Now you know even the art that cannot be taught. After all you are my son! My blood flows in your veins. You know the secret. If a robber uses his intelligence he gets caught. You have to leave your intelligence behind, because each time it is a totally new experience, a new moment; each time you are entering a different person's house and every house is new. The old experience never comes of use. Use your intelligence and you land yourself in trouble. Rely on your intuition and you succeed."

Zen masters always mention this story. They say the art of meditation is like house-breaking -- you need as much awareness. Intelligence should be put aside and awareness should come into play. Where there is fear there is bound to be awareness. Where there is danger you become absolutely alert and all thoughts stop.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

The journey is long, it is tedious...........Everything has to be dropped, taken away.

I am reminded of a story of Gautam Buddha.

He is traveling with his disciple, Ananda. They are tired. They want to reach the next town before sunset; they are rushing as fast as possible. But Buddha has become old, and Ananda himself is older than Buddha. They are worried that perhaps they will have to stay in the forest for the night, they will not be able to reach to the nearby town.

They ask an old man, a farmer who is working in his field, "How far is the town?"

And the old man says, "Not very far. Don't be worried. It is just two miles, at the most. You will reach." Buddha smiles. The old man smiles. Ananda could not understand: "What is going on?"

Two miles have passed. There is no town yet, and they are more tired. An old woman is collecting wood and Ananda asks her, "How far is the village?"

And she says, "Not more than two miles. You have already reached, don't be worried." Buddha laughs. The old woman laughs. And Ananda looks at both: "What is this laughter?" And after two miles still there is no town.

They ask a third man, and again the same question and the same situation.

And Ananda drops his bag and he says, "I am not going to move any more. I am so tired. And it seems we are never going to cross these two miles. Three times we believed... but one question arises in my mind continually...."

Living with Buddha for forty years... he has learned how to live with such a man, not to ask him unnecessary questions. But he said, "Now if it is unnecessary or necessary, I don't care. One thing you have to tell me -- why were you laughing when that old man said, `Two miles, just two miles -- you have not to go more than that'? And again you laughed with that old woman, and she also smiled, and again with the third person the same thing happened.
What was this laugh? What was transpiring between you people? You don't know them, they don't know you."

Buddha said, "Our profession is the same. When I laughed, they laughed. they understood that this man belongs to the same kind of profession, where you have to keep people encouraged: `Just two miles, just a little more.'"

He said, "For my whole life I have been doing that. People finally reach, but if from the very beginning you tell them `fifteen miles' they will drop then and there. But by `two miles' and `two miles' they will pass two hundred miles.
 
"And I laughed at those people because I know this village, I have visited this village. I know it is not two miles. But I kept quiet because you were so eager to know how far it was. I knew that we were not going to make it. But what was the harm? -- you could ask them.

"You can understand a deep phenomenon of human psychology. These people are compassionate people: they were not lying, they were simply encouraging you. The first old man pushed you two miles, the second old woman pushed you two miles. The third man also pushed you two miles; you just needed a few more people and you would reach the town! But now you have dropped your bag. It is okay, we can stay here under this big tree. The town is still... NOT two miles!"

The mystery school helps you not to be alone in a search which is basically lonely, helps you to keep courage in a search which is unpredictable.

But the master... his authority, his love -- you cannot believe that your master would be lying. But there are even higher values. If I can help you to reach to the ultimate goal by just lying a little I will not hesitate, I will lie. Because I know you will forgive me; not only forgive me, you will be grateful that I lied for you. If I had told you the truth, perhaps you would have stopped.

The journey is long, it is tedious.

Everything has to be dropped, taken away.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

His hand behind the canvas of this vast creation.......Part-I

 "Horses are of three types. The first type you hit with a whip and they will move, inch by inch. The second type you need not whip; just threaten them and they move. For the third, you need not even crack the whip; just the shadow of the whip sets them going. The pundit belongs to the third type. I had only to show him the shadow and he started on the journey."

Words are the whips; silence is the shadow. Words are needed, because it is the rare horse that responds to the shadow of the whip. The condition of one who knows is such that he cannot say he knows, and he cannot say he does not know.

He is in between knowing and not knowing.

Nanak says He is without end. Whatever you say of Him is too little. You keep on saying and yet you find that there is so much to say that you have hardly said anything. All expressions regarding Him are incomplete. And all scriptures are incomplete; they are meant for the horses who don't respond to the shadow of the whip.

THERE IS NO END TO HIS VIRTUES,
NOR TO THEIR NARRATION.
THERE IS NO END TO HIS WORKS AND HIS BOUNTY.

As religion penetrates a person more and more profoundly, he begins to see His various works and also His beneficence.

His works are manifested all around us but most people are blind to it. They say, "Where is God? Who is the creator?" Seeing the creation around them, they are blissfully unaware of the creator! They persist in asking,"Is there a hand behind all this creation? Who could it be?" They are stone-blind, they cannot visualize the hand that has produced this vast creation. The irony is that in other respects they accept and believe blindly.

To date no one has seen the electron with the naked eye. Science says that the electron is the last particle of electricity. As the basis of the world of matter, its various combinations have given rise to the earth. But so far no one has seen the electron, nor is there any hope of seeing it. Then how can scientists believe in the electron? They say that its effects, its results, prove its existence.

The cause is subtle, the effect is gross. We cannot see the hand of God, but we can see His works. We believe in the existence of electrons because we see the results. Yet we deny the existence of God whose proof lies all around us. The flower opens; some hidden hand must make it bloom, or else how can it? The seed breaks but someone must break it; when the hard shell cracks the tender plant appears bearing delicate flowers.
 
Everywhere we see His handwriting, but the hand cannot be seen. The hand is not visible because there is a balance between the subtle and the gross. The cause is always subtle; the result is always gross. We cannot see the cause. God is the highest cause, but His handiwork is evident all around us.

So there are three types of people -- the three types of horses according to Buddha. First are those who cannot even see His handiwork, they are so blind! They ask: "What is God? Who is the creator? What proof is there? If the vast creation all around us is not enough for them, if they cannot see His hand behind all creation, what else will make them understand?

What greater proof is there than that life moves in a consecutive and balanced order? There is no disjunction anywhere within this enormous leela, this play. It is a continuous flow. Night and day the music of creation plays its enchanting melody. Everything happens as it should.

contd........