STORY OF THE DAY

[mainhoonsaibeti]

A funny story tells about an old lady who was living in the village.
She had never owned nor even been in a car before. One day, she was returning home from the market carrying a big heavy basket on her  head, when a rich man riding his car passed by. Kindly, he offered to drive the lady to her home. She thanked him and got into the car with her basket.

On the way, the man glanced at the lady in the mirror, still holding  her basket over her head. Astonished, he asked her to lay the basket down  in the car and rest. The old lady naively replied, "Oh my son, your car  is carrying me; this is enough, I should not burden it carrying my basket too!" What an innocently funny response!

We sometimes do the same with God. Everyday, God carries us during the  day. Still, we insist on carrying our heavy baskets of worries and  fear of the future, for family, kids, spouses, money, jobs, etc... We are carried by Almighty Hands, watched over by Sleepless Eyes and God  plans our future. Let us then relax and lay down everything in God's Hands. The old lady, if she agreed to lay down the basket, would have to  carry it again when she returned home. But the beautiful thing about God is that once we cast our heavy basket in His Hands we do not need to
think about it anymore.

"Delight yourself also in the  LORD,
and He shall give you the desires
of your heart."

[Ramesh Ramnani]

OUR OWN BEGGING BOWL

A beggar knocks on the doors of an emperor; it is early morning, even a little dark, the sun has not yet come over the horizon. The emperor was coming out for a morning walk in his beautiful garden; otherwise it would have been difficult for the beggar to have an appointment with him. But there was no mediator to prevent him.

The emperor said, "What do you want?"

The beggar said, "Before you ask that, think twice!"

The emperor had never seen such a lion of a man; he has fought wars, has won victories, has made it clear that nobody is more powerful than him, but suddenly this beggar says to him, "Think twice of what you are saying, because you may not be able to fulfill it!"

The king said, "Don't be worried, that is my concern; you ask what you want, it will be done!" The beggar laughed.

.. the emperor could not understand the laughter.

The beggar said, "You see my begging bowl? I want it to be filled! It does not matter with what, the only condition is that it should be filled, it should be full. You can still say no, but if you say yes, then you are taking a risk."

The emperor's time to laugh had come, because a beggar's bowl... and he is being given a condition! He told his premier to fill the beggar's bowl with diamonds, so that this beggar can know who he is asking.
The beggar again said, "Think twice."

And soon it became apparent that the beggar was right, because the moment the diamonds were poured into his begging bowl, they simply disappeared. More diamonds, more emeralds, more rubies -- the king had tremendous treasures, but within hours everything was gone and the begging bowl was still empty.
The word spread like wildfire in the capital; thousands of people arrived to see this miraculous incident. When the precious stones were finished, the king said, "Bring out all the gold and silver, everything! My whole kingdom is at stake, my whole integrity is being challenged."

But by the evening everything had disappeared in the beggar's bowl and there were only two beggars left -- one used to be the emperor.

The emperor said, "Before I touch your feet and ask your forgiveness for not listening to your warning to think twice, just please tell me the secret of this begging bowl."

The beggar said, "There is no secret. I found this begging bowl on a funeral ground, it is a human skull. I have polished it, made it look like a bowl. I am a poor man, I cannot even purchase a bowl, but because it is a human skull, you go on pouring anything into it and it disappears."

The story is tremendously meaningful. Have you ever thought about your own begging bowl? Everything disappears: power, prestige, respectability, riches, everything disappears and your begging bowl goes on opening its mouth for more and more. And because of this continuous effort for more, you go on missing this. The "more" takes you away from this. The desire, the longing for something else takes you away from this moment.

And there are only two kinds of people in the world: the majority is running after shadows, they will never be fulfilled. Their begging bowls will remain with them till they enter their graves.

And a very small minority, one in a million, stops running, just remains standing here and now, drops all desires, asks for nothing and suddenly he finds everything within himself.

This is the door of the kingdom of God.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

JAI SAI RAM!!!

Attn: Acknowledgement Dept.: Thank You BABA SAI!

I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around.

We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, "This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to BABA SAI said in prayer are received." I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world. Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section. The angel then said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them."

I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings h! ad been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth. Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. "This is the Acknowledgment Section," my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed.

"How is it that? There's no work going on here?" I asked.

"So sad," the angel sighed. "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments."

"How does one acknowledge BABA's blessings?" I asked. "Simple," the angel answered. "Just say, 'Thank you, BABA.'"

OK, what now? How can I start?

Angel said If you can post this message on to your forum and tell all your brothers and sisters that someone like you always thinks of them as very special and tell them that they are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you want, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.

"Thank you BABA SAI, for giving me this blessed forum and the ability to share my dream and for giving me so many wonderful brothers and sisters to share it with."

OM SAI RAM!!!

[saibetino1]

JAI SAI RAM!!!

Attn: Acknowledgement Dept.: Thank You BABA SAI!

I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around.

We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, "This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to BABA SAI said in prayer are received." I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world. Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section. The angel then said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them."

I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings h! ad been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth. Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. "This is the Acknowledgment Section," my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed.

"How is it that? There's no work going on here?" I asked.

"So sad," the angel sighed. "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments."

"How does one acknowledge BABA's blessings?" I asked. "Simple," the angel answered. "Just say, 'Thank you, BABA.'"

OK, what now? How can I start?

Angel said If you can post this message on to your forum and tell all your brothers and sisters that someone like you always thinks of them as very special and tell them that they are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you want, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.

"Thank you BABA SAI, for giving me this blessed forum and the ability to share my dream and for giving me so many wonderful brothers and sisters to share it with."

OM SAI RAM!!!

OM SAI RAM OM SAI RAM,

     LOVELY very lovely ....Thnx , thnx thnx thnx thnx thnx thnx thnx thnx thnx thnx ..............indefinite thnx to my GOD  for each n every moment... we all love u SAI....

sai sai sai
neelam

[Ramesh Ramnani]

When The Blind Lead the Blind 
 
The Search for truth makes us look for a guru who can guide us in the right direction. But can we be sure that the guru knows where the truth lies?

Today, so many people feel frustration and hopelessness in their life that they are in a rush to find someone who can give them a mantra of hope, of happiness. Such people end up with pseudo-masters. Ninety percent of these so-called gurus are not real masters; they are pretenders. But they have huge followings, thanks to TV, where anyone can spend money and attract large crowds with false promises. This is the greatest crime in the name of religion and spirituality. About such people, Guru Nanak said: “Andha andha thelia, dono koop pedant” (“The blind lead the blind and both fall into the ditch.”)

There is a beautiful incident from Nanak’s life. the enlightened master was passing through Lahore. A pseudo-mystic, a false Sufi, a pretender there had a great following. When he saw Nanak, he was afraid, though there was nothing to be afraid of. Nanak was alone with his disciple Mardana. Mardana would play a musical instrument and Nanak would sing. They were innocent people.

An informer told the pseudo-teacher: “A great master has come. He is staying outside the city and many people have already started going to him.” The pseudo-Sufi was certainly worried. He sent a cup full of milk, so full you couldn’t put another drop into it. The disciple who had to take it to Nanak said, “What does this mean?”

The pseudo-Sufi said, “You don’t worry about the meaning. Take it to Nanak and let us see what happens.”

Nanak was offered the cup and told, “The Sufi master sends his salutations.” Nanak told Mardana, “Just there, nearby, are wildflowers. Pick one.” Mardana couldn’t understand what was happening. Nanak put that wildflower in the cup and gave it back to the messenger. All he said was, “Take this to your master.” Again, he said, “But I don’t understand!” Nanak said, “Your master will.”

The Sufi had sent the cup full of milk to say: “Here, there is no need for any other master. The place is full of Sufis. You are not welcome—go elsewhere!” But Nanak floated a flower in the cup, to say: “You need not be worried about me. I will not disturb anything. Even in a full cup, I will simply float like a flower. I am above—you need not worry. You can continue your shop, I will not take your customers.”

The Sufi was completely exposed to his disciples, because they could compare the presence of these two persons. They sat with Nanak and immediately, as if an arrow had penetrated their beings, some strange joy arose in them, which had never happened with that so-called Sufi. Soon, he himself came to Nanak to beg forgiveness.

And Nanak said, “Who am I to forgive you? Ask forgiveness from existence itself. You have been deceiving thousands, delaying their enlightenment. Your crime is great, though nobody will call it a crime because it is so invisible.”

[tana]

JAI SAI RAM!!!

Attn: Acknowledgement Dept.: Thank You BABA SAI!

I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around.

We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, "This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to BABA SAI said in prayer are received." I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world. Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section. The angel then said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them."

I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings h! ad been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth. Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. "This is the Acknowledgment Section," my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed.

"How is it that? There's no work going on here?" I asked.

"So sad," the angel sighed. "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments."

"How does one acknowledge BABA's blessings?" I asked. "Simple," the angel answered. "Just say, 'Thank you, BABA.'"

OK, what now? How can I start?

Angel said If you can post this message on to your forum and tell all your brothers and sisters that someone like you always thinks of them as very special and tell them that they are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you want, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.

"Thank you BABA SAI, for giving me this blessed forum and the ability to share my dream and for giving me so many wonderful brothers and sisters to share it with."

OM SAI RAM!!!

om sai ram...

Ramesh bhai....

Really....we r so lucky ....BABA blessed us this DWARKA MAI...

THANK YOU SAI.....

jai sai ram....

[mainhoonsaibeti]

Om Sai Ram

Thanks for the wonderful stories

Thank You Sai Baba

[Ramesh Ramnani]

JAI SAI RAM!!!

One small story. It is said that once Darkness went before God. Placing her head on His feet, she began to cry. God asked. "What is the matter, what is bothering you?"

"I am very unhappy?" she said. "I am terribly scared of your Sun. Every morning, as soon as he gets up, he begins to chase me. By evening when I am completely exhausted, he somehow lets me alone. I hardly manage to rest the night when I find him standing at my door. Then again the chase starts. He has been after my life ever since time began. What have I done that he harasses me so?"

God sent for the Sun and questioned him: "Why you erase Darkness? What has she done?"

"Darkness?" asked the sun. "Who is Darkness? I have never met her. Where does she live? I have never set eyes on her, so how can I harass her? At least I should be acquainted with my foe! Please call her so that I may beg her forgiveness and clear the misunderstanding."

God could not persuade Darkness to come before the Sun.

This happened billions of years ago, they say. The problem remains still unsolved, for darkness is not the opposite of light but its absence.

Understand well the difference between "opposite" and "absence." If darkness is the opposite of light, we could throw a handful on a lamp and the light would go out. We cannot do that for the simple reason that, darkness is the absence, the non-presence, the non-being of light. It has no existence of its own. Light has its own existence. When light is not, what remains is darkness. Darkness cannot he removed. It cannot be dealt with, directly. If you want to bring in darkness, you will have to do something to light.

OM SAI RAM!!!

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Bit lengthy but read it till End....This is beautiful! Try not to cry.

When you're down to nothing, God is up to something."    

She jumped up as soon as she saw the surgeon come out of the operating room.  She said:  "How is my little boy ?  Is he going to be all right ?  When can I see him ?"

The surgeon said, "I'm sorry.  We did all we could, but your boy didn't make it."

Sally said, "Why do little children get cancer ?  Doesn't God care any more ?  Where were you, God, when my son needed you ?"

The surgeon asked, "Would you like some time alone with your son ?  One of the nurses will be out in a few minutes, before he's transported to the university."

Sally asked the nurse to stay with her while she said good bye to son.  She ran her fingers lovingly through his thick red curly hair.  "Would you like a lock of his hair ?" the nurse asked.

Sally nodded yes.  The nurse cut a lock of the boy's hair, put it in a plastic bag and handed it to Sally.

The mother said, "It was Jimmy's idea to donate his body to the University for Study.  He said it might help somebody else.  "I said no at first, but Jimmy said, 'Mom, I won't be using it after I die.  Maybe it will help some other little boy spend one more day with his Mom."  She went on, "My Jimmy had a heart of gold.  Always thinking of someone else.  Always wanting to help others if he could."

Sally walked out of Children's Mercy Hospital for the last time, after spending most of the last six months there.  She put the bag with Jimmy's belongings on the seat beside her in the car.

The drive home was difficult.  It was even harder to enter the empty house.  She carried Jimmy's belongings, and the plastic bag with the lock of his hair to her son's room.

She started placing the model cars and other personal things back in his room exactly where he had always kept them.  She laid down across his bed and, hugging his pillow, cried herself to sleep.

It was around midnight when Sally awoke.  Laying beside her on the bed was a folded letter.  The letter said :

"Dear Mom, I know you're going to miss me;  but don't think that I will ever forget you, or stop loving you, just 'cause I'm not around to say "I Love You" .  I will always love you, Mom, even more with each day. Someday we will see each other again.  Until then, if you want to adopt a little boy so you won't be so lonely, that's okay with me.  He can have my room and old stuff to play with.  But, if you decide to get a girl instead, she probably wouldn't like the same things us boys do.  You'll have to buy her dolls and stuff girls like, you know.  Don't be sad thinking about me.  This really is a neat place.  Grandma and Grandpa met me as soon as I got here and showed me around some, but it will take a long time to see everything.  The angels are so cool.  I love to watch them fly.  And, you know what?  Jesus doesn't look like any of his pictures.  Yet, when I saw Him, I knew it was Him.  Jesus himself took me to see GOD !  And guess what, Mom ?  I got to sit on God's knee and talk to Him, like I was somebody important.  That's when I told Him that I wanted to write you a letter, to tell you good bye and everything.  But I already knew that wasn't allowed.  Well, you know what Mom ?  God handed me some paper and His own personal pen to write you this letter.  I think Gabriel is the name of the angel who is going to drop this letter off to you.  God said for me to give you the answer to one of the questions you asked Him 'Where was He when I needed him?'  "God said He was in the same place with me, as when His son Jesus was on the cross.  He was right there, as He always is with all His children.  Oh, by the way, Mom, no one else c an see what I've written except you.  To everyone else this is just a blank piece of paper.  Isn't that cool ?  I have to give God His pen back now. He needs it to write some more names in the Book of Life.  Tonight I get to sit at the table with Jesus for supper.  I'm sure the food will be great.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you.  I don't hurt anymore.  The cancer is all gone.  I'm glad because I couldn't stand that pain anymore and God couldn't stand to see me hurt so much, either.  That's when He sent The Angel of Mercy to come get me.  The Angel said I was a Special Delivery !  How about that ?

Signed with Love from God, Jesus & Me.

[Radha]

Jai Sai Ram!!!
Ramesh bhai,

It is one of the most beautiful and touching stories I have every read.....but was hard to hold back.
The pain of losing someone you love is unexplainable.....the only thought that convinces the bleeding heart is the thought that your loved one is with God and free of pain.

Om Sai Ram!!!
Radha.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

The Agony and Ecstasy Of Human Suffering

The moment you absorb somebody else’s misery, pain and suffering, it is transformed. The natural tendency is to avoid it; to protect yourself against suffering. To keep aloof, not to sympathise, not to empathise. People, even when they sympathise, pay lip service; they don’t mean it. If they really meant it, they could have helped the other person.
   
There are people, if you meet them you feel an unburdening. When they are gone, you feel light, flowing, more vibrant, more alive — as if they have taken a great burden off your chest, as if they have poured some nectar into your being. You feel a dance within your heart when they leave. You wait for them to come to you; you seek their company, you enjoy it, because you are nourished by their presence.
   
The opposite kind of people also exist. If they meet you they leave you more burdened than you ever were. You feel you have been sucked, your energy is lower. They have taken something from your energy and they have not given anything to you.
   
If people avoid you, remember, they are not responsible. Something in you makes them avoid you. If people don’t want to meet you, if they find excuses to escape from you, remember, you must be doing something negative to their energy.
   
If people seek you, become friendly immediately, and they feel a certain affinity, that means you must be knowingly or unknowingly helping them. Everybody is burdened with great misery, everybody is under great suffering, everybody’s heart is hurting.
   
We go on avoiding our own misery. If you feel miserable, you put on the radio or TV and you become engaged. You start reading the newspaper so that you can forget your misery, or you go to the movies, or you go to your lover. You keep yourself away from yourself, so that you need not see the wound, so that you need not look at how much it hurts within.
   
If you are feeling miserable, let it become a meditation. Sit silently, close the doors. First feel the misery with as much intensity as possible. Feel the hurt. If somebody has insulted you, feel thankful to him that he has given you an opportunity to feel a deep wound. He has opened a wound in you. The wound may be created by many insults that you have suffered in your whole life; he may not be the cause of all the suffering, but he has triggered a process.
   
Just close your room, sit silently, with no anger for the person but with total awareness of the feeling that is arising in you — that you have been rejected, insulted. And then you will be surprised that not only is this man there: all the people that have ever insulted you will start moving in your memory.
   
You will not only remember them, you will start reliving them. Feel the hurt, the pain, don’t avoid it. Just be silent, utterly alone. Don’t even pray, because that again is a drug, you are becoming occupied, you escape from yourself. A new journey has started in your life, you are moving into a new kind of being — because immediately, the moment you accept the pain with no rejection, its energy and quality changes. It is no longer pain. In fact, you are simply surprised! You cannot believe that suffering can be transformed into ecstasy, that pain can become joy.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

The Eloquence Of Absolute Silence

Laws of science are not based on any belief system, they are rooted in existential reality which is universal. Hence one who follows a ‘religion’ can simply be ‘religious’ but not a Hindu, Muslim or Christian. The existential reality for such a religious person is beyond birth, special identity or nationality. It is universal. One may ask: If matter can exist by the same law universally, why ‘God’ needs so many different laws to be? Why can not God have the same universality? In order to realise this universality, this oneness, this non-divisibility of the phenomenon called ‘God’, one needs to learn how to be silent.

To makes this point through a story. A monk was once a guest in a village. The village people invited him to their temple and asked him to say something about God. The monk said, “Please forgive me, so many have tried to explain God before and yet no one seems to have heard or understood them. Please leave me alone”. The people would not give up. So he agreed to meet them. He said, “Before i speak another word, tell me, do you know if God exists?” The villagers raised their hands in affirmation. The monk said, “Since you already know about God there is nothing left for me to say. You have known the ultimate”.

The people were keen on hearing the monk so they went again and begged him to come to the temple and speak. They had agreed amongst themselves that if the monk asked them about God they will be honest and deny they know anything. The monk asked them the same question. Have you experienced God? The villagers said, “No, we don’t know anything about God, so please speak”. The monk said, “Then the matter is over. If there is no God, then where is the need to talk about Him?”

The people were at a loss, but they did not give up. They made the request once again. They said, “This time we have given a great deal of thought and now we have a third answer to your question”. The monk said, “That’s meaningless. Truth is not something one thinks about, only lies need a lot of thinking. So go away”.
   
The villagers begged him again to speak to them. The monk arrived and again asked, “Is there God? Do you know? Have you seen? Have you experienced?” The villagers were prepared. So half of the congregation raised hands and said ‘yes’; the remaining half raised their hands and said God does not exist. The monk said, “Since half of you know and half of you don’t, why don’t those of you who know tell the others who don’t? Why do you need me to speak?” And he left.
   
Later, someone asked the monk if he would have gone to the temple the fourth time if the villagers had so requested. He said he would have. “I waited for them to come once more; and if they had given no reply to my question, if they had remained silent, i would have had to speak — for their silence would have proved they were sincere about their quest”.
   
One cannot say if God is or is not. All answers are borrowed, given by others — in fact, by those who themselves have never known God. Because, had they known God, they would have remained silent, too.

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Humour As A Vehicle For Spirituality

Once when Adi Sankaracharya was passing through a forest, an elephant came rushing towards him. To save himself, Sankara too started running. Seeing this from a distance, a disciple shouted rather mockingly.
 
 “Kim palaynasi; Gajopi mithya?” — Why are you running; the elephant too is an illusion? — alluding to Sankara’s famous precept, ‘‘Brahmn satyam, jagat mithya” — The Supreme being is the only truth; the world is merely an illusion. Not to be outdone, the seer replied: “Mam palayanopi mithya!” — My escaping, too, is an illusion!
   
One does not know if the story is true but Indian scriptures do often resort to humour to convey a spiritual idea. There are many tales of gods using ready wit to clear the eversceptical mind of Narad muni. The Bhakti poets carried forward this tradition. Surdas’s deep devotion to the child Krishna is laced with humour. In a poem, he narrates how when Krishna was caught red-handed while stealing butter, he defended himself before Yashoda by alleging that the complaining gopi had deliberately smeared butter on his face to show him as a thief.
   
Krishna was known for his practical jokes. He played one on his dear friend Sudama when the latter visited him after many years. All poor Sudama could afford to take for his friend was a fistful of parched rice. But seeing Krishna’s opulent court Sudama shrank with shame and tried to hide his modest offering. Krishna noticed this and joked that Sudama must have brought something so precious that he was trying to hide it. Saying this the lord of Dwarka snatched the rice and consumed it with great delight.
   
Krishna carried the joke further. He gave nothing to his indigent friend. So, Sudama returned disheartened. His dismay turned to amazement when he found that his small hut had vanished and in its place stood an opulent palace. Only when his wife, now bedecked with the finest jewellery, greeted him did he realise what a pleasant joke his friend had played on him.
   
Tulsidas used humour in the Ramcharitmanas to convey the love between the Lord Rama and Kewat. When Rama wanted to cross the Saryu river along with Sita and Lakshman, Kewat, the boatman, insisted on washing Ram’s feet. This he wanted to do so he could get absolution by consuming the charnamrit. But like a child Kewat did not reveal his true purpose. Instead, he said that if the dust on Rama’s feet touched his boat, it might turn into a woman and he might lose his only source of livelihood. The allusion, here, was to the transformation of the stone into Ahilya. The allknowing Rama laughed inwardly at the boatman’s ingenious excuse and gladly allowed himself to be ‘fooled’ by his devotee.
   
Sufi mystic Mulla Nasaruddin used humour and absurdity to drive home deeply spiritual ideas. Absurdity is also integral to koan used by Zen masters to shock a disciple’s rational mind into instant spiritual enlightenment. A koan is a question, dialogue, statement or story. Watching a flag flapping in the wind a monk says, “The flag is moving”. Another says, “The wind is moving”. Overhearing this a Zen master says, “Neither the flag nor the wind but your mind is moving”.
   
There is something truly spiritual about pure humour.

[shambi_me]

Om Sri Sai Ram

what beautiful stories....

Thank You My Baba Sai.
Thank You so much Deva for this great school, our Dwarakamai.

Sai Ram Sai Ram Sai Ram Sai Ram Sai Ram

[Ramesh Ramnani]

Dream Even When There’s Hate All Around

In the fairy tale ‘The Last Dream of the Old Oak Tree’, the oak tree felt sorry for the day-fly that lived but a day, while the tree was already 365 years old. The tree’s sympathy only puzzled the day-fly who was happy with the thousands of moments of happiness that it enjoyed by dancing in the sun, smelling the clover and the honeysuckle. The day-fly’s day ended as happily as he spent it, as he settled down on a blade of grass.
   
The story is not meant to be an apology for sensual and momentary happiness. It merely conveys that dreams are the substance of life all around us. If we do not allow ourselves to be defeated, crushed and oppressed, we will be able to enjoy the green shoots of grass pressing through the stones on the sidewalk, soak in the wildflowers growing by railway tracks, snatch pleasure from patches of blue sky visible despite high-rise buildings, follow the rhythm of waves either crashing against or gently touching the seashore.
   
We will be able to dream even when hate is all around us. We will stop clinging to the gate that has just been closed on us and look towards the one that has just opened to us.
   
Cultivating a garden requires hours of vigorous digging, planting, watering and weeding. There are times of intense movement. There are also times of quiet when life grows underground, in silence and darkness. Cultivating one’s soul is like cultivating a garden. There is a time of preparation, of readying the soil. The sowing of seeds is followed by a period of waiting and nurturing. The flowering and the fruit only come as a result of backbreaking work, constant selfgiving and taking in all that is life-sustaining from the world around us.
   
It is said that miracles are only a prayer away. Prayer is also a question of what we see. A morning cup of coffee is a moment of grace by itself. A child’s face lit up by a smile is an invitation to laughter. A regular schedule of work and rest are a source of deep ease and comfort.
   
Why do flowers open to the morning light? Because morning is the moment of awakening, of wonder, a time for tenderness and beauty. It is a time to start the day with happy dreams when the day is yet unspoiled.
   
Many of us hem ourselves in a closed horizon. We hesitate to dream. There is something about the way we live life that kills the quiet joy of the day-fly in us. We need not all grow into oaks. Not all who are old in years are also wise. Years can bring experience, but without the ability and will to nurse our dreams we lose the opportunity to make a difference.
   
Life is full of questions. We are questions ourselves. If there were only answers, there would no longer be a sense of mystery. Deep down within, there is the precious child that is longing to dream. Forget yesterday. It has gone, like the water and sand that sift through our fingers. Live today because it is all you have. And your tomorrows will rise like eagles from the dreams that you have woven from the even and uneven threads of your life.