Another very nice article - Sai Ram to all

[neelu789]

Read this article today on never giving up..


One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and begin to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that fell on his back, the donkey was doing some thing amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up.

Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and totted off!

Moral: Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick is too not to get bogged down by it. We can get out of the deepest wells by not stopping. And by never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up!

Om sai ram

[Moosa Patel]

Neeluji what a life saving moral, “Never give up, we can get out of any problems” and we have a great savior, SHREE SAI BABA with us.

Today I read a nice article which I want to share with all, which shows that apart from prayers, our daily activity is a kind of worship too. All good deeds, hard work and helping others is a kind of worship for which god has created us.

This is the story of a young man who was interested to know about god and talk about god:

Work in the Field

A young man crossed the desert and finally came to the monastery of Scete. There, he asked to hear one of the abbot’s lectures - and was granted permission.

That afternoon, the abbot’s discourse was about the importance of work in the field.
After the lecture, the young man said to one of the monks: 

"That was amazing. I thought I would hear a fine sermon about virtues and sins, and the abbot spoke only of tomatoes, irrigation and so forth. Where I come from, all believe that God is merciful: all one must do is pray."

The monk smiled and replied: "Here we believe that God has already done His part; now it is up to us to continue the process."

We often come across while reading SHREE SAI BABA’s teachings; he gave more importance on teaching, importance of justice in daily activities. He always said that we should be careful that we do not cheat others knowingly or unknowingly even in small deals.

Allah Malik

[saideewani]

Sai Ram Moosa Ji
thanx for referring this page..very nice,touching & inspiring stories.asap where god tells his devotee abt footmarks on sand...this story has always been my inspiration .I tell same story to my son whenver he is restless and recall it when i become restless or low..may Baba showers his blessings on all

[Moosa Patel]

Concentration is the most difficult excerice in our daily activities. We always read, how in ancient times sages conqured critical situations through concentration. Concentration in Bhakti is the best achievment in life. below is a stoy of appropriate action of a  teacher and his student during critical situation. We all have to act like the clever student in below story, who controlled his excitement and surrendered himself to his teachers actions.

The story is..........

A teacher and his student were walking from one village to another, when they suddenly heard a roar behind them. Turning their gaze in the direction of the roar they saw a big tiger following them. The first thing the student wanted to do was to run away, but as he has been studying and practicing self-discipline, he was able to halt himself, waiting to see what his teacher was going to do.

"What shall we do Master?" Asked the student.

The teacher looked at the student and answered in a calm voice:
"There are several options. We can fill our minds with paralyzing fear so that we cannot move, and let the tiger do with us whatever pleases it. We can faint. We can run away, but then it will run after us. We can fight with it, but physically it is stronger than us."

"We can pray to god to save us. We can choose to influence the tiger with the power of our mind, if our concentration is strong enough. We can send it love. We can also concentrate and meditate on our inner power, and on the fact that we are one with the entire universe, including the tiger, and in this way influence its soul."

"Which option do you choose?"

"You are the Master. You tell me what to do. We haven't much time", responded the student.

The master turned his gaze fearlessly towards the tiger, emptied his mind from all thoughts, and entered samadhi. In his consciousness he embraced everything in the universe including the tiger. In this deep meditation the consciousness of the teacher became one with consciousness of the tiger.

Meanwhile the student started to shiver with fear, as the tiger was already quite close, ready to make a leap at them. He was amazed at how his teacher could stay so calm and detached in the face of danger.

Meanwhile the teacher continued to meditate without fear. After a little while, the tiger gradually lowered its head and tail and went away.

The student asked his teacher in astonishment, "What did you do?"

"Nothing. I just cleared all thoughts from my mind and united myself in spirit with the tiger. We became united in peace on the spiritual level. The tiger sensed the inner calmness, peace, and unity and felt no threat or need to express violence, and so walked away."

"When the mind is silent and calm, its peace is automatically transmitted to everything and everyone around, influencing them deeply", concluded the teacher.

Can we be like the student mentioned in above story and wait for our LORD'S SHREE SAI BABA'S ACTIONS.

ALLAH MALIK

[Moosa Patel]

Here I would like to share with you a nice article I read, which says how to maintain your calmness.

Buddha seemed quite unruffled by the insults hurled at him by a visitor. When his disciples later asked him what the secret of his serenity was.

he said: "Imagine what would happen if someone placed an offering before you and you did not pick it up. Or someone sent you a letter that you refused to open; you would be unaffected by its contents, would you not?

Do this each time you are abused and you will not lose your serenity."

It is teaching of our LORD SAI BABA that; do not respond to anyone in harsh tone. If possible do good or keep quite.

ALLAH MALIK

[Moosa Patel]

Here is another nice article which teaches us, something we always forget to do:

Two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and
one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying
anything, wrote in the sand: TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been
slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him.

After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.
The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand
and now, you write on a stone, why?" The other friend replied "When someone hurts us we should write
it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us,
we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it." LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND AND
TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but
then an entire life to forget them. Do not value the THINGS you have in your life. But value WHO you have
in your life! "God does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability, and if
we then prove our dependability, he will increase our capability!"

LET US PRAY TO OUR LORD SHREE SAI BABA TO ALWAYS KEEP US AT HIS FEET

ALLAH MAILK

[Moosa Patel]

I just read a story which shows how troubles and disliked situations when put together turn up to be a good condition for us, which was very dramatically designed by our lord.

Piece of Cake

Sometimes we wonder, "What did I do to deserve this?" or "Why did God have to do this to me?" Here is a wonderful explanation!

A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she's failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away.

Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, "Absolutely Mom, I love your cake."

Here, have some cooking oil," her Mother offers.

"Yuck" says her daughter.

"How about a couple raw eggs?"

"Gross, Mom!"

"Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?"

"Mom, those are all yucky!"

To which the mother replies: "Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake!

God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!

Dear all SAI devotees, let us try to develop in us Shradha and Saburi to understand the long run plans of our SHREE SAI BABA drawn for us.

ALLAH MALIK

[neelu789]

Beautiful stories moosaji, thanks for keeping this thread alive.. was very sad the past few days.. the precise words that i needed for reassurance were :

"God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!"

thank u so much

would like to share what i read today,

Lessons from an Oyster

There once was an oyster
Whose story I tell,
Who found that some sand
Had got into his shell.

It was only a grain,
but it gave him great pain.
For oysters have feelings
Although they're so plain.

Now, did he berate
the harsh workings of fate
That had brought him
To such a deplorable state?

Did he curse at the government,
Cry for election,
And claim that the sea should
Have given him protection?

'No,' he said to himself
As he lay on a shell,
Since I cannot remove it,
I shall try to improve it.

Now the years have rolled around,
As the years always do,
And he came to his ultimate
Destiny ­ stew.

And the small grain of sand
That had bothered him so
Was a beautiful pearl
All richly aglow.

Now the tale has a moral,
for isn't it grand
What an oyster can do
With a morsel of sand?

What couldn't we do
If we'd only begin
With some of the things
That get under our skin.

Let us all also learn from the oyster to persevere and turn something which is bothering us, into something positive and precious, with the blessings of Baba..
Om Sai Ram

[Moosa Patel]

Niluji what a nice story posted, showing how to convert ones pain into a shinning situation, like that oyster. I pray to lord SHREE SAI BABA to comfort you with peace and tranquil. In fact I too was going to adopt the style of adwaitaji and was about to post “Niluji where are you?”

On second thought, I remembered that you get busy with your semesters as you said last year.   

Whenever I feel that I am sad I immediately start saying in my heart to SHREE SAI BABA, BABA I am not feeling well, my sadness is troubling me, I need your support. In my language I say, BABA mujhay bohot taqlif ho rahi hai, mera dukh mujhay satah raha hai, mujhay aap kay saharay ki zaroorat hai.

On continuous repeating the above mentioned sentence by concentrating SAI BABA’s image in mind and heart, after 5 / 10 minutes my atmosphere changes in such a way that I forget my sad feelings. I enter in different situation and scene changes. I repeat this procedure whenever I feel sad. 

I read one sentence which I would like to share here. “When God decides of your birth he gives you a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's the only thing you are sure to keep for the rest of your life. “

It is our deeds of past life that gives us happiness and sadness, we cannot escape from it, but we are just lucky that we have SHREE SAI BABA to comfort us during our sad feelings.

There is one incident written in Shree SAI Satcharitra on past life effects resulting in pain, sickness which was taken out by BABA whereas the bearer of the pain wanted to die because he could not bear the pain.

Dr. Pillay

One Dr. Pillay was an intimate Bhakta of Baba. He was much liked by Baba, Who always called him Bhau (brother). Baba talked with him off and on and consulted him in all matters and wanted him always at His side. This Pillay suffered once very badly from guinea-worms. He said to Kakasaheb Dixit, "The pain is most excruciating and unbearable. I prefer death to it. This pain, I know, is for repaying past Karma, but go to Baba and tell Him to stop the pain and transfer the working of my past Karma to ten future births of mine." Mr. Dixit went to Baba and told Him his request. Then Baba, being moved by his request, said to Dixit,"Tell him to be fearless. Why should he suffer for ten births? In ten days he can work out the sufferings and consequences of his past Karma. While I am here to give him temporal and spiritual welfare, why should he pray for death? Bring him here on somebody's back and let us work and finish his sufferings once for all".

The doctor was brought in that condition and was seated on Baba's right side,where Fakir Baba always sat. Baba gave him His bolster and said,"Lie calmly here and be at ease. The true remedy is, that the result of past actions has to be suffered and got over. Our Karma is the cause of our happiness and sorrow; therefore put up with whatever comes to you. Allah (God) is the sole Dispenser and Protector, always think of Him. He will take care of you. Surrender to His feet with body, mind, wealth and speech, i.e. completely and then see what He does." Dr. Pillay said in return that Nanasaheb had put a bandage over the leg, but he found no relief. "Nana is a fool" replied Baba. "Take off that bandage or else you will die. Now a crow will come and peck you, and then you will recover."

While this conversation was going on, one Abdul, who always cleaned the Masjid and trimmed the lamps, turned up. While he was attending to his work of training, his foot accidentally fell upon the stretched leg of Dr. Pillay. The leg was already swollen and when Abdul's foot fell upon it and pressed it, all the seven guinea-worms were squeezed out at once. The pain was unbearable and Dr. Pillay bawled out loudly. After some time, he calmed down and began to sing and cry alternately. Then Pillay enquired when the crow was coming and peeking. Baba said, "Did you not see the crow? He won't come again. Abdul was the crow. Now go and rest yourself in the Wada and you will be soon allright."

Allah Malik

[Moosa Patel]

Shree SAI BABA please bestow happiness on Neeluji, your devotee who started this page.

I read a nice article on webpage of OneIndia, which I would like to share here.

Duty Dedicated To Him

Those were the days when the supply of electric power for lighting the streets was available only in a few big cities in India. In one of the big towns every street had three or four oil lamps each with a glass chimney set on a pole, the municipal authorities employed some labourers to light the lamps at about 6:00 p.m. in the evening. The expenses incurred towards oil, wick and chimney were met by the municipalities.


There was one lamplighter who did his job cheerfully and scrupulously. He had great faith in God and always recited the name of his dear God, Rama. He was very punctual and systematic in his work. He used to come to his ward exactly at 5:00 p.m., clean the chimneys, pour oil into the container, set the wick right and light the lamp. While doing all these he would be singing, "Janaki Jeevana Ram, Karoonga Tumhara Kam," meaning thereby, "Oh Lord of Janaki, I am doing only your work. I am only serving you."
 
Reports reached the municipal authorities that the lamps lit by this devotee shone brighter all through the night while the lamps lit by others in the town were dim and many of them burnt only for a part of the night. The matter was taken for investigation. The reporting officer submitted to the authorities the fact that all the lamplighters in the town were given the same oil and other materials and were also paid the same remuneration. As for the street where the lamps shone brightly all through the night unlike those in other streets, it was a unique case where the lamplighter was known to be a very pious man doing his duty as service to God.

Any work done sincerely as service to God is bound to reflect His love and glory.


This reminds us text from Shree SAI Satcharitra

Mrs. Newaskar was in a fix. She thought that the food would not suffice for the people assembled and that if it fell short, the honour of the family would be at stake. Her mother-in-law comforted her by saying, "Don't be afraid, it is not ours, but Sai's food; cover every vessel with cloth, putting some Udi in it, and serve from the same without opening it : Sai will save us from ignominy." She did as she was advised and it was found to their surprise and joy that not only did the food suffice for all, but plenty of it remained after serving.

Allah Malik

[neelu789]

Moosa ji, nice story.. so true, when any task is undertaken in God's name or by completely surrendering it to Him, it will always be successful..

Here's a story i read today and would like to share -


water man in India had two big water pots, each of the pot hanging on either end of his yoke, which he carried across his shoulder. One of the pot was cracked, but the other pot was not. While the good water pot could bring back home a full pot of water from the far natural water spring, the cracked water pot could only bring back half a pot of water.
For two years, this happened everyday, the water man had always been able to bring only one and half pot of water to his master's residence. Of course, the good water pot felt proud of it's achievement as it was able to fulfill its duty perfectly. But the poor cracked water pot felt very embarrassed and sad of its imperfection, for it could only store half of the portion it was supposed to.

For after two years being thus stressed, the cracked water pot said to the water man, "I am so embarrassed with myself, and i want to apologize you." "Why?" asked the water man. "Why are you embarrassed of yourself?" "For these two years, i could only bring half portion of a full pot, as i have a crack on my side that made the water i carried drip little by little along the way to master's house. For my defect, i have brought you disadvantages", said the water pot. The water man felt sorry for how the cracked water pot felt, and he told the water pot, "Tomorrow when we return back to our master's house, i'd like you to take notice of the beautiful flowers along the way."
The next day, when they climbed up the hill, the cracked water pot looked around and realized that there are many beautiful flowers along the way, and seeing them, did console him a bit. But at the end of the journey, it returned, feeling sad again as it had lost half of the water it carried, and again it apologized to the water man.
The water man said to the water pot, "Did you realize that there were flowers along the way of your side but there was none along the other pot's side? It was because i have always been aware of your flaw and i made good use of it. I had planted flower seeds along the way on your side, and everyday when we walked home from the spring, you water them. For these two years i have been able to pick up those beautiful flowers to decorate our master's table. Without you as who you are, our master's house would'nt be as beautiful as it is now."

Each of us has our own shortages and weaknesses. We are all cracked pots. But if we are willing to, by Sai Baba's grace and blessings, we can change it to something useful.

[neelu789]

Moosa ji, kaha ho aap, where are all the inspiring stories??

Here's a very short, simple and nice article i read today:

Seven Wonders Of The World

A group of students was asked to list what they thought were the present "Seven Wonders of the World." Though there were some disagreements, the following received the most votes:
1. Egypt's Great Pyramids
2. Taj Mahal
3. Grand Canyon
4. Panama Canal
5. Empire State Building
6. St. Peter's Basilica
7. China's Great Wall

While gathering the votes, the teacher noticed that one quiet student hadn't turned in her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many."

The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help." The girl hesitated, then read, "I think the 'Seven Wonders of the World' are:
1. to see
2. to hear
3. to touch
4. to taste
5. to feel
6. to laugh and,
7. to love."

The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

The things we overlook as simple and ordinary and that we take for granted are truly wondrous.

May Baba give us all the ability to perceive and appreciate the seven wonders..
OM SAI RAM

[neelu789]

A really nice article i read today:

When you see geese flying along in "V" formation, you might consider what science has discovered as to why they fly that way. As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in "V" formation, the whole flock adds at least 71 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.

People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going more quickly and easily because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.

When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone - and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front.

If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those people who are headed the same way we are.

When the head goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point.

It is sensible to take turns doing demanding jobs, whether with people or with geese flying south.

Geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

What messages do we give when we honk from behind?

Finally - and this is important - when a goose gets sick or is wounded by gunshot, and falls out of formation, two other geese fall out with that goose and follow it down to lend help and protection. They stay with the fallen goose until it is able to fly or until it dies, and only then do they launch out on their own, or with another formation to catch up with their group.

If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other like that.

Baba bless us all and be with us always

[vishwanath69]

Moosa patel ji and Neelu ji, I wonder if I could have ever learnt so much from your beautiful narrations.Thank you..

[neelu789]

Here's another really nice story i read today :

Sand and Stone:

The story tells, that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE."

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one, who had been slapped, got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but his friend saved him. After the friend recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE."

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?"

The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."

MAY BABA GIVE US ALL THE ABILITY TO WRITE OUR HURTS IN THE SAND, AND TO CARVE OUR HAPPINESS IN STONE. OM SAI RAM