UNIVERSAL SOUL

   In Vedic religion, we believe that we all have same reflection of God  and that is soul. This is very simplified way of explanation  and I know many will not agree. But that is not the object of the story. We think that the God pervades anything and everything. So there is so called God or presence of God in everything in this universe. But more so at animal level. The reincarnation does transients YONI or does go from being in an animal to Human being. This is not so in Abrhamic religions . So this brings me to the story for today.
    In Maharashtra -state in India ,there were several sages that have been well known to the local people , but not to out side of the state. There was great sage or saint named DNYNESHWAR . At very early age he did commentary on Bhagavat Geeta called DNYANESHWARI. It is read by thousands of people . His father had decided to be sanyasi and then he came and then had children . The society would not accept them as legitimate kids. So they had very hard life  and then the parents committed suicide when they were told that only punishment is to commit suicide. Things did not change for the kids  and so they decided to go to Kashi where there was so called Vatican of Hindu religion.There was a big convention of big shots in Hindu religions . So Dnyaneshwar ended uo going to the stage where different big shots were discussing various questions related to the Hindu religion. He told the In-charge of the meeting that all the living things - animals  and human beings have same soul or presence of God , then why they would not accept the children born to parents where father had done Sanyas and then coming back to married state. 
    The big shots on stage laughed  and the moderator of the meeting asked him . 'So according to you the bull walking around has the same soul as human being ?' Dnyashwar answered 'Yes'. So then the moderator asked someone to bring the bull on stage  and asked Dnyaneshwar to have bull chants SCRIPTURES -VEDAS. Everyone in the meeting laughed . Dnyaneshwar looked straight in the eyes of the bull and chanted the Veda and the bull repeated it .No one could believe. Dnyaneshwar was instant celebrity.
     The moral of the story is what I stated in the start of the story. We all have same soul  and the soul goes from one body to another in different lives. But we all know this or believe in it , but do behave accordingly.We don't treat all Human being with respect  and forget about animals. 

ACTION AND INTENTION

     I have talked about the Action and Karma . Every action has reaction or effect or impression.. But then the question comes in as if intention matters even if the action is same ?That brings me to the story for today. I read this story or was told about it many years ago .
     There was a small town in India. There was a woman who lived by herself. She was poor and made some money by stitching clothes for other people. One day at noon she was done with some of her work and decided to take a break and have lunch. She had cooked some food  and so she warmed it . Then there was knock on the door . There was poor beggar at the door .It was summer and the temperature was high and the beggar asked her if she could give him some water  as he was thirsty. She gave him the water and told him that she was to start eating and he wanted to have some lunch . He was hungry and so they shared the food that she had cooked it. At the end of the lunch the beggar blessed her  and said 'You will do same thing over and over again tomorrow. '. She did not understand what it meant . She restarted her work again .
     The next day she woke up  and thought of what to do as work and she had a silk piece of cloth given to her for stitching some clothes. She took it from her small cabinet and started measuring it. As she started measuring it , the cloth continued to grow . She continued to measure  and it would not end . At the end of the day she had thousands of yards of silk cloth.. The story spread in the town as to how a beggar blessed her and she became rich . As it happened there was a rich lady who lived in the same town. As it happened, the beggar had gone to her first and she had thrown him out at high noon and told him that he is young and healthy and he should work rather than begging for food. She did not offer even water. She came to know as to how the poor lady was blessed by the same beggar. She decided to find that beggar out. She found him out and then invited him for lunch . She told him that she was too busy and she apologized to him . She had her servants cook great meal, with lots things  and then offered him food in silver plate.The beggar accepted her invitation and after finishing it blessed her with the same line - You will do same thing entire day , that you start with. The lady was very happy . She could  not sleep as she could not decide if she should start counting 4100 bills or count the pearls hat she had or gold coin etc . She woke up and then got out of bed  and opened the window thinking as to what she was going to do that will make her RICH. She opened the window  and a bumble bee came in . She had to wave her hands to get rid of the bee. As soon as she did this another one came in and then she had to avoid that one biting her ,The third one came in . So whole day she was trying to get rid of the bees. She had number of bites
     The moral of the story is very obvious . But I wanted to state that the ACTION may be same but the INTENTION behind the action does matter . One could pray God for having HIS love  and blessing . and then one could do the same prayer  for getting more money or getting better car or winning lootery , or one could do the prayer  and wish harm for someone else. The first is Satvik GUNA , the second is Rjasic  and last one is Tamasic . The effect will be as per intention and the same action will have different fruits . 

TRUE CHARITY

    This is a story from Mhabharata .Epic of Mahabharata is the story of 2 sets of cousins. This is the largest poetry in the world. There are multiple characters in the story . The Pandawas are 5  and kaurawas are 100 in number. So this is the story when the Pandawas did ASHWAMEDH YADNYA. In this Yadnys a horse goes through various kingdoms  and if any king stops it,that is considered as a challenge for the war .So this horse went through various kingdoms  and finally came back to Hastinapoor , the home for Pandawas . So they were considered conqueror  and victorious . So at the end they did the YADNYA . After the religious ceremony the KING in this case the Dharmaraj donated lots of gifts to many people .He was sitting with his brothers  and Lord Krishna .
   The Pandawas started thinking that they are the greatest in Bharat.But on top of that they GREATEST IN DOING THE CHARITY. . The Krishna was sitting there  and could read the mind  and so he knew that Pandawas were thinking too much of themselves. So he decided to teach them a lesion .
   As the thought was crossing the minds of Pandawas,a otter appeared . The interesting part about the otter was that it had half of it's side Golden and half was black , It came in and directly went to the ashes of the Yadnya . It did not go to the food around . It went in and rolled over in the ashes . and then turned back and looked at the body  and spoke that 'there is no one as charitable as BRAHMAN as KAPOTI.' The Pandawas were shocked  and surprised . Here they had conquered the entire Bharata  and done the biggest Yadnya  and done so much donations and charity and this otter is stating that this Kapoti , that no one has heard about, is the greatest.So  Dharmaraj asked the otter as to who is this Kapoti  and what did he do to be considered greatest."
   The otter answered  and told the story . Many years ago there was a drought and food supple was not great . There lived a Brahmin named Kapoti . He had a wife  and a son and daughter in law. They had not had  any food for 3 days and then he got some corn . So he got it home  and the wife cooked it  and then they divided in to 4 parts  and they sat to start the dinner. At that time there was a knock on the door  and there was guest standing in the door . So he was invited in the house . He stated that he was hungry . So the Brahmin gave him his portion of the food . He was still hungry . So the wife offered her part , He was still still hungry and so the son and then the daughter in law gave him their portions of the food . The guest was happy and he blessed them and left . At that time the otter came in  and there were some grain crumbs on the floor .It rolled in it  and when he looked at his body , the side that had touched the crumbs had become golden in color . All 4 dies due to starvation ,.The otter continued , 'Since then I am going from one place to other , one Yadnya to other in search of something that would make my other side golden too . I had heard about your charity and came with great hope . But I have to leave with great disappointment 'saying so the otter left .

    So the moral of the story is there is a difference in the the charities . When I  donate after I have enjoyed full meals  and having enough in bank for me and my family is different than one which is done by someone when he has barely enough for him and his family or none  . In case of Kapoti the sacrifice was not of meals only but his  and his entire family's life  and that is far superior to the charity done by th Pandawa king .

DEATH AND INEVITABILITY

    I have been talking about some of these stories , some may be real and some may be mythological . In any case they have some moral to be thought about after listening to there stories . This one is similar but little different.
   We all know about BUDHHA, But few may know that he was prince  and his father was told at the time of his birth that he may become great monk or great King. As it happened the king protected him from usual calamities in life till he was married ( I do not mean marriage is calamity)  and then he had a child . He was never left alone  and never was in uncontrolled environment. He went out  and he saw old person , and person with leprosy and then a dead body being carried to cemetery.He had never seen them and when he came to know that we as human beings , have disease  and old age  and then death , he left house . He went in search of the TRUTH.
    So when  he had the enlightenment, he became well known and spiritual leader  and then people expected miracles. But miracles don't happen every day, otherwise they will not be called miracles.
So one day a lady came to him . Her son had just died  and she did not want to accept it  and she wanted Budhha to make him alive . Budhha knew he could not do it . Everyone that is born has to die. We can not reverse the process. AND WE SHOULD NOT be able to do it. But it was not right time to explain her this simple fact and Budhha knew it . So he told her to get a glass of milk from a HOME WHERE THERE WAS NO DEATH EVER. The lady did not realize what he was asking and so went to the town. She went from house to house  to house  asking if there was a death. The whole day passed by and towards the evening she realized . THERE IS NO HOME WHERE THERE IS NO DEATH . Everyone who is born will die !
              She came back to Budhha  and became his disciple.   

( I just wanted to put my 2 cents worth of thought as to how some monk or sages can make dead person alive. In my belief , we have reincarnation and we come back with certain seeds of our Karma that are going to come to fruition. We continue to do new Karma  and that creates new effects or seeds.Some of these will have fruits in this life  and some in next life - stored to have effects in future lives. So when some one dies at the end of effects of the Karma. But some sages can BORROW the next life effects of Karma, to be brought to come to fruition in THIS LIFE  and that will bring the dead alive as now there are some Karmas that have not yet come to life . Again this is my theory .
Those of you who are interested I have a You Tube channel called JUST A TALK . I have mixed subjects discussed in that including medicine  and  theology . PLEASE CHECK IT OUT . ) 

EGO AND SELF CONFIDENCE

    I have told you a story of Lord Hanuman or Maruti and BHIMA, in which the characters from Ramayana and Mahabharata meeting each other. The similar thing also happened with meeting of Arjuna  and Hanuman. Again the Arjuna was from Mahabharata and Maruti is from Ramayana..
   Once Arjuna was in Rameshwar , southern city in India, he saw the Shiva ling that was created / worshiped by Lord Rama.Then he went to the ocean  and saw the bridge that was built by Lord Rama.The bridge was build by Vanar-monkeys  and small squirrel and it was made out of stones . So the Rjuna was looking at it and had a thought that why did Rama did not make the bridge out of arrows. So at that time a old small monkey appeared next to him and asked him as to what was he thinking . The Arjuna told him  his thought and stated that if it was him he would have constructed the bridge out of arrows. The statement HAD tinge of ego and overconfidence. The monkey told him that Lord Rama had an army of huge , strong monkeys  and the bridge made out of arrows would brake if the army would try to cross it. So the monkey challenged Arjuna . Arjuna would build the bridge  and the monkey will walk over it and see if it can hold the weight. Arjuna started construction of the bridge  and the monkey was sitting chanting Lord Rama's name. Arjuna finished the bridge and the little old monkey stepped on it and it collapsed. Arjuna was surprised . He asked for a second chance  and if the bridge collapsed , he would kill himself . The monkey agreed  and the same thing happened . Arjuna constructed the bridge  and then monkey stepped  and it collapsed. So Arjuna decided to commit suicide .At that time a old man approached them and asked them as to what was going on. So he was told the story. He then asked if there is any witness to the whole thing  and they both stated that there was no witness to to the whole incident. He told them that without witness such a challenge is invalid.
    So then they decided to redo the whole thing over again. This time the monkey was watching  and not chanting . He was relaxed  and confident as the bridge was broken by him twice  and third time would not be exception. The bridge was constructed  and Arjuna was thinking about Krishna. The bridge was done  and the monkey walked on it and nothing happened .The little monkey became huge - the original size of Maruti .He jumped on it and nothing happened. Nothing happened . He was surprised. THIS TIME HE WAS OVERCONFIDENT and had his ego. Then when he looked the old man he saw  Lord Rama and when Arjuna looked the old man he saw Krishna. They both realizes as to what had happened . Arjuna alos knew that the old little monkey was in fact Lord Hanuman.
   Then the Lord Vishnu - which reincarnated as Lord Rmaa in Ramayana  and as Lord Krishna in Mahabharata , spoke to them . When ego and overconfidence took over  and I AM THE DOER   and not that the God is the doer was the attitude they lost . The Maruti agreed to be on the Flag of Arjuna chariot  and promised to protect Arjuna . 

SHAKTI OR STRENGTH

     This is a story from Indian scripture  and the epics of RAMAYANA  and MAHABHARATA. Those of you who have known these Indian epic stories may know the story as such but not exactly what I am going to tell you. The Ramayana happened before Mahabharata,The Mahabharata is largest poem in the world. The question that some of us may have is that do the characters from one Epic ever meet have interaction with each other ? So there are couple of stories in which there was interaction.
     Bhima from Mahabharata , was very strong  and he used to eat a lot and was considered strongest at that time . He was son of VAYU or wind. But then he started feeling that he was the best and became rude. He developed ego. So one day he was walking over a bridge. The bridge was narrow  and in the middle of it was a old monkey sitting with his tail extended over the entire bridge, As Bhima came close to the old monkey., he did not want to go over the tail and so he asked the monkey to move the tail from his path. The monkey told Bhima that he is too old and weak and he can not even move his tail. He told Bhima that it would be great if Bhima would move the tail away by lifting and putting it away. The Bhima agreed  and bent down and tried to lift the tail with one hand . He could not,So he bent down  and used his both hands to lift it  and he could not He could not understand  and so he applied all his strength  and he still could not . Then he realized that this was not an ordinary monkey, but actually the MARUTI OR HUANUMAN himself . He bowed down and asked for the blessing and forgiveness . Hr realized that this happened as he was too proud of his strength.

    The moral is clear and so I would not state it. But I just wanted to tell a story . When Rama was to be incarnated Lord Shankara wanted to go with Lord Vishnu when he would be in form of Rama. Parvati his wife wanted to go with her husband too. So she expressed her desire to Lord Shankara. He told her that he will be in form of Hunuman  and it will be in monkey form. and he will be BRAHMACHARI - and will not be married .So Parvati who is Goddess of power or strength, told him taht she will be staying in tail . The tail pad tremendous power  and he used it set fire to the Lanka.
That is why Bhima could not lift it. 

ONE HAS TO DO IT

   We have heard that when more people are involved it is more effective . 'It takes a village'  To some extent it may be true . I alone can not change the world. But there there are stories where one has to do it or at least start what one wants to change . There was this short story where a man is walking on a seashore . He saw a n another man walking  ahead of him . As the tide came i some fish would be blown to sand and out side the water . This man was picking them up and throwing in water. The man who was walking behind him watched it and said to him ,you are doing this while you are walking and what difference would it make?The man who was throwing the fish in water answered after he picked up one more  and while throwing it in water said 'it made a difference to THIS one .'So YES one has to do what one feels is right. But the story that that I am going to tell is from old Isapniti  or Panchtantra . IN these books the ISAP who was a slave could understand what the animals or bird were talking  and the same is true in Panchtantra . So the story is from one of the books .
    There was a bird who had made a nest on the branches of a tree. She laid the eggs in it and they hatched . The young one came out. The owner of that farm was passing by one day and he saw the out grown branches of the tree  and told his servant that he should cut these branches . The mother bird was not in the nest . So when she came back the young ones were scared  and told the mother that we have to move as the farmer is going to cut the branches of the tree where the nest is there. So the mother asj=ked as to what happened . The kids told her the entire story. as to how the farmer told the servant  cut the branches. The mother told the kids not to worry . Couple of more days passed  and the farmer was passing by and he saw the tree and was not happy the branches are not cut.He told the servant again that these brnches must be cut in next 1 week . The mother came home to the nest and the kids told her the story . Ther were afraid  and were scared . The mother again told her that 'don't worry'. The farmer was again walking in next 4 days  and he saw that the branches were not trimmed as he has told the servant several times , he got angry and told  his wife who was with him that he has been telling the servants  and the work is not done  and so he is  going to do it that afternoon himself.When the mother came to know about it from her kids she told them , it is time to leave.
    The moral of both the stories is that when one wants to get a job done He or She has to do himself or herself. When one asks others to do it it may or may not be done .