ONE AND ONLY ONE

   Hindu or Vedic religion has many Gods and people tend to worship one or other and sometimes have problem with different Gods and some would not consider other Gods as real Gods and that has created problems in society. Unfortunately many have not understood that the GOD is only one and the statues that we have is only for our convenience. In history some of the greatest of the devotees have made that mistake. One has to understand that the GOD has no form or qualities and it is only for our understanding that the GOD takes different forms as we can not worship formless GOD. Even when other religions claim to have no Idol worship, they tend to have some type of form like cross or Virgin Mary. This story is of one great devotee that was enlightened about this. 

  Narahari Sonar was a goldsmith and from his childhood was worshiper of Lord Shiva. He was true devotee but would not worship anything other than Lord Shiv. One dat a rich man came to him as he wanted to offer his appreciation for Lord Pandurang , which a form of Lord Krishna which in turn is Lord Vishnu's Avatar - reincarnation. The Rich man wanted to have a golden belt prepared for the Pnadurang . Lord Pnadurang is in town called Pandhari and the story is that the lord came to see Pundalik his devotee. So the Narahari being goldsmith was told to do the belt . But Narahari did not want to go to the temple of Vishnu as he was devotee of Lord Shiva. So he told the man to go and get the measurement of the waist on his own and he will create the golden belt. The rich man went to the temple and gave the measurement to Narahari . When the belt was done and the man took it to the temple it was too small. So the man did take new measurement and went to Narahari who did new belt as per the measurement given to him . This time the belt was too large . So the man requested  Narahari that he should do the measurement himself. Reluctantly he agreed but told him that he will do the job but will take the measurement blindfolded as he did not want to see the Lord Vishnu. So both went to the temple of Pandurang . As Narahari started checking the measurement and touched the statue of the Pandurang, he could see that statue being that of Lord Shiva . He was stunned and so he opened the eyes  and what he saw was not Lord Shiva but it was Pnadurang - form of Lord Vishnu. So he closed his eyes and started working again and again he saw Lord Shiva ,as soon as he touched the statue . Again when he opened the eyes and saw , it was not Lord Shiva but it was Lord Pnndurang. Noe his eyes OPENED -he was enlightened that Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu are one and the same.. 

    So, we have a form that we trust , pray, worship as we find it easier and that form is called ISHTA DEVATA . But all the forms are that of the GOD which is formless. 

PRAYER

   I had written about a story by Tolstoy  on prayers. This one is similar to that. The massage is same but the story is better . One can look at this in many ways. 

   In a town there was a temple and there was a priest. One day he saw a young girl aged 4 years come to temple. She stood in front of  statue of the God . She closed her eyes and she was saying something . The lips were moving  and the priest could not hear what she was saying. But after couple of minutes she opened eyes and bowed down and left. This continued for several days. So the priest was amused . SO one day he asked the little girl as to what does she  say when she does prayer.? She told him that she did not know any formal prayer and so she would close the eyes and do the alphabets -A to Z 4 times and then tell God that he knew what she wanted to to say  and he will KNOW the prayer anyway.

   The priest was speechless. This is devotion One does not need to to knw the formal process of prayers or the chanting  of the so called Mantras . But this is true only if one has unconditional devotion and trust. As long as one is doing prayer for the Love and not Demanding things for himself or herself.

ASSUMPTION

   In life we have so many assumptions and we are correct most of the the time. We plan for tomorrow and next year and also many years down the road the retirement .In the brain  evolution from animals to human beings one of the qualities that has developed is the planning for the future. But in doing so we ASSUME many things . I had read somewhere that many people who have contributed to social security in USA , do not live long enough to collect it. So this is a short story abiut the assumption. 

  In Mahabharat, there is one incidence, Dharmaraj had designated time for donations . He would give money or grains or food etc to the people who came to him asking for something. The time was fixed as he could not do this randomly all the time as he was King  and had other work. So one day he was sitting with his brothers  and he was giving food . grain or money to needy people that came to him. The time expired  and he was still sitting  and a brahmin came in . He wanted some grain so he can take it home  and cook and eat. The time had expired and so Dharmaraj  told the brahmin that the time is over and he needs to come next day  and he will give him the grain. The Brahmin was disappointed and he started going back. Bhim was sitting next to Dharmraj and he smiled . So Dharmaraj asked him as to why he smiled. Bhim answered . He said ''By asking the Brahmin to come back tomorrow, you have assumed so many things . You have assumed that tomorrow You will be alive and he will be alive and you will still have desire -intension to GIVE . How do do you know all these things will be there.'' Dharmraj called back the Brahmin. and gave him the grains. 

  This the reason there is saying that what you could do TOMORROW do it TODAY  and what you can do TODAY do it NOW as in seconds there may be PRALAY - end of world and then you will be left with not doing it. 

ATTACHMENT

   In life we have many attachments and we are told that we should develop the detachment . So we love food ,alcohol, and many other things that give us pleasures and we try to avoid the things that give us sorrow. But the problem that what we think will give us pleasure also give us sorrow when we do not get them .I want a cake  and I don't get it and then I am unhappy. So the cake is suppose to give me happiness - no matter how transient that is - i have sorrow for longer time when I do not get it. But the bworst is the attachment to our own body and our family. This is known to all of us . So this is the story related to this attachment. 

     Once Narad , who is a sage who can travel any place at will went to Lord Vishnu and told him that you want everyone to get rid of attachments but the attachment to our own body ,no matter how bad or disease ridden it may be, is strong and attachment to our own family is stronger . It is very difficult to get rid of it or develop detachment. The Lord Vishnu knew this but was not convinced that it was that strong . So then the Narad told him to see it for himself or experience it . So Lord Vishnu agreed. He told Narad that he will enter the body of mother pig and see if he can get out of the attachment . But he told Narad that after 3 months if he does not leave the body on own , then Narad has to stab the pig and get Lord Vishnu out . Narad agreed. Then Lord Vishnu entered the body of a pig . Time went by and 3 months passed . Pig had piglets  and Lord Vishnu did not come out . So Narad called upon him saying that 3 months have passed and it is  time to come out -get rid of the attachment to the life of a pig. The Lord Vishnu replied 'I am happy here and I don't want to end it and come out '. Narad waited for few more days then then again requested Lord to come out and Lord Vishnu refused to do so. So then Narad stabbed the pig and Lord Vishnu came out . Looking at the whole thing -the life of a pig - Lord agreed that it is very very difficult for Human beings to get detached from the body and the family.

REINCARNATION AND SLEEP

    I am convinced that the reincarnation is a reality. Unfortunately we can/t prove it as the way it works, it tends to hide last life. So we have 3 bodies - the physical- astral -causal -the so called STHUL -SUKSHMA AND KARAN SHARIR. At the time of death of physical body , which we call death ,the Astral and Causal bodies LEAVE the Physical body . The Astral body and the Causal bodies with all the impressions -SAUNSKAR, are carried to the next life. But the impressions or the SAUNSKARS are stored in abstract form and they guide our next life -from selecting new parents to our mental and intellectual status and our likes and dislikes. But we are not reborn with ALL THE IMPRESSIONS and the attachments that are going to come to fruition in this life. But only certain desires - impressions  attachments and debt will come alive in present life . This is called PRARABDHA. That brings me to the sleep . When we are born, we do not have any recollection of our past life memories though we are born with it . The sleep has been studied and we realize many things. Why do we sleep , why do we sleep only at night  and why do we have several stages of sleep  and then what is the purpose of sleep etc. We have some proof that the so called REM sleep stage - Rapid Eye Movement stage of the sleep - is for consolidation of certain memory. The adult human being has REM sleep stage, 25 % or less of the total sleep. Most of the dreams happen in this stage. The normal sleep has cycles and the cycles are repeated every 90 to 120 minutes. The REM sleep in adults occurs in second half of the night more than first half. In new born Infants the REM sleep occurs much earlier at the start of the sleep  and it occupies more than 50 % of the sleep. So if REM sleep consolidates the MEMORY, what kind of MEMORY THE NEW BORNE INFANT IS CONSOLIDATING . The new born infant sleeps for 18 hours So there is not much to consolidate as memory . IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE NEW BORN IS CONSOLIDATING LAST LIFES MEMORIES- IMPRESSIONS THAT ARE GOING TO COME TO FRUITION IN THIS LIFE ? 

   I am just putting a possibility that the last life impressions are consolidated in REM sleep of new born infant for first 3 months only . 

   What do you think?

LUCK OR EFFORTS

    We often  say that 'it was in his luck 'or it was not in his luck. The Hindi concept is that of Karma  and their effects on our 'current ' life as we believe in reincarnation. So to just look at that in nut shell, we ACT and that creates Karma  and the effects are stored . We are born with some of the SEEDS OF Karma that is going to materialize or come to fruition. We can make efforts to neutralize the effects  and some times we are successful and sometimes we are not . So we have to make efforts to improve our condition. So this is that kind of a story. Some of theses stories are old Indian stories but the points that they make are good. 

    In a town there lived 2 friend ,one was a musician and one was learned Brahmin. The Brahmin or the educated man in religion had accepted that he was not going to be rich . He would teach the kids to be good and educate them on Hinduism and also the rituals and scriptures . He never got lot of money , but he was happy. The musicians was very good in music but did not get money. So he suggested the friend the brahmin, that we should go the king and present out talent  and se if he would reward them with some money . The Brahmin answered that the money is luck and king can not change it . Only God can change it .But he did agree to go to king . They went to king and told them that they have talent and wanted the king to see what they can do . The brahmin told king that he believed that making money is not in hands of king but is in hands of Lord  and luck . The king listened to their argument and gave brahmin, rice and lentils  and the musician a pumpkin. He told them to make a dinner  and come in the morning . He told them to stay in 2 different rooms. The musician was unhappy as he got pumpkin and he can only make vegetable out of it and the brahmin can make rice and soup (Dal)  and so they decided to exchange the gifts. The musician made rice and Dal and was very happy . The brahmin went to his room and cut open the pumpkin and there was gold put in by the king. He called his friend and gave him the half pumpkin. The next day they went to the king again.

     The king asked them as to what do they believe now -as he had given gold to the musician who had said that the King will help them . The brahmin gave king the half pumpkin. The King was surprised that the brahmin had the pumpkin and not the musician. So the brahmin explained the whole  story as to how the pumpkin that was given by king to musician was given to brahmin by the musician in exchange for rice and Dal. Brahmin then said that only Lord and luck can bring in money  and not even King can change that, The King had to agree. 

    I feel that we are born with certain Karma that are going to come to fruition  and some we can change and some we can not . How much effort we put in to change , how much time we spent to do that  and if we have understanding of the problem will determine the outcome. If there is a yellow wall and I want to paint it to blue, if I have only small amount of paint or little time or not enough desire or effort to paint it it will stay yellow only or with some efforts it may change to green and not blue that i wanted . 

      So we must continue to do the efforts  and leave the destiny to Lord and our past Karmas. 

SHABARI

    Most of the Indians or Hindu have heard the story of Shabari. How she offered Lord Ram the berries that she had tasted to make sur that they were sweet etc. is well known story. But I want to tell you the story or part of the story that many may not know. Shabari was a queen in her previous life .She had all the so called things that give us physical pleasures. But she was not interested in it and she was devoted to the worshiping of the God. So she could not enjoy the pleasures that most of us work through out our life and get unhappy when we can not get them an envoy those who have it. She ended her life with hope that she will be born in such a position that she can worship God. With her karmas she was born as a princes in a Bhilha community and as expected she had all the physical pleasures  and had more freedom to worship the God. So she used to go to Rhushi called Matang. In spite of this she still was a princes  and so as expected her marriage was fixed. She was not much interested or concerned. But on the day before the wedding, she heard the sound of sheep as they were slaughtered for the dinner next day. She asked her mother as what was happening  and the mother told her that for the celebration of the wedding they were killed to prepare the dinner. She could not take it and she told her that she did not want it and she wanted to go to Matang the Rhushi that she had gone before  and threated that if this was not done the great Rhushi  would put a great curse .So the father and the mother - the king and queen agreed and she decided to go there . She ran away on the same night. 

    In the hermitage or the ashram, she continued to worship God . Then when she heard that Lord Ram was going to come to the ashram, she decided to offer him berries . These were collected by herself  and washed. But then she got worried that if all of them were sweet or not as some of them may be sour. So she tasted each one  and made sure that only sweet berries were offered. Certainly ordinary person would not like to eat berries that were tasted by someone else. But Ram knew the devotion and the thought behind and the real desire to do offer only good ones. So he ate them .

(What I wanted to tell is that Law of Karma works  and with her good actions  and desires , she was reborn as princes  and could see , meet great saint )

MISSING PERSON

   I have written this story in my blog on Kathopnishad. But it is worth repeating it.This is old story and repeated by Swamy Sarvapriyanand . There were 10 friends who were travelling  and had to swim across a small river . As they reached the other side of the river, one of them wanted to be sure that all have come across and no one drowned. So he decided to count. He counted everyone but forgot to count himself. He counted 9 and so he was worried that one of them was missing and must have drowned . So the other friend said ,you must have made a mistake  and so he decided to count  and he did the same and did not count himself. So now everyone was convinced that one of the friends surely dies from drowning and they all started crying. There was a passer by and he was watching . He came to them and asked as to why they were crying. they told him that we were 10 friends when we decided to swim across the river  and now we are only 9 and that means one has drowned. The passer by told them to count again. When the person recounts all and came to 9 the passer by turned his finger inwards towards the one who was counting and said 10.Now they all were happy that on one had drowned.

    This may sound like very simple story and the mistake that was done in counting may not be common . But the real lesson of the story is that when there is ignorance we are sad and when the ignorance is removed, we are happy.

GOD HELP ME

   This is a story related to our prayers to God . In Hindu prayer -we say सर्वे सुखिनः भवन्तु ,सर्वे भद्रानी पश्यन्ति ---Let all be happy and let all see good things  etc . But most of the times when we go to temple , we pray(?) ask for something for ourselves or our family. Some one had commented that when certain devotee (?) walks in the temple the God must be saying ' The headache walked in - he has list of demands' We offer a dollar and ask for million dollar lottery. This is not devotion. And then when we have a success in what we ask for then we say God answered our prayers. This story is related to that thought process.

  In a office there was a holiday party. All the employees were together and they had done a novel idea . Everyone will contribute $10 and at the end of the part only one person will get it . Everyone was suppose to put in his or her name in a basket  and then the owner will pick randomly one name and he or she will get the money. There was a man who knew of a house keeping lady who needed money as her son was sick and she did not have lot of money. So this man decided to put her name in the basket rather than putting in his own name. He was praying the God for entire duration of the part that her name - that he had written - will be picked up. At last the moment came and the owner picked the name  and as he opened the folded paper, this man was prying God for the housekeeper's name to be picked up. The owner announced  and sure enough the housekeeper's name was picked up. The house keeper went to the stage  and accepted the money and told everyone how she needed the money as her son was sick . The man thanked the God for answering the prayers. Then the part was continued . He went to the basket and just out of curiosity picked another folded entry  and opened it and to his surprise that also had house keeper's name  and so he opened another and same name  and so on. He realized that everyone knew of the problem that she had  and how she needed money more than anyone else  and so everyone had written her name instead of their own name. 

   So God answered prayers or was it that everyone did what they should have done any way? One has to realise that God can not do material things without we human being doing our own job or duty.

DEVOTION

     I had written the story of Namdeo who insisted that the God would accept the food that was offered to him by the devotee and the God also does eat it too. The devotion is one of the ways to achieve the God or his love. And we do the devotional part as far as we know. But is there real devotion or UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER?Think about the food that we offer to God.Do we ever offer food that we DO NOT LIKE ?We offer things that we like  and we EXPECT that the God will not eat it  and then we will eat it as Prasad. So this story is very well-known story.But I think it is worth repeating it. 

    There was a princes named Shbari . She was devoted God and she did not want to be involved with the day to day life of family man or woman and so she did not want to be married . She was not interested in usual life and so the King left her in a ashram Hermitage of a rhushi. She would do the day to day duty of the ashram and was engage in worshiping of the God.Years passed  and then the news came that Lord Ram was going to pass by her place or the ashram. She knew that the Ram is the God  and she wanted to offer him the food. So on the day that the Ram was to arrive she plucked some wild berry  and washed them and decided that she will offer him the berries . But then the thought crossed her mind -what if if the berries are not sweet and are sour. She decided to taste each one . So she takes a bite of each of the berry that she was going to offer the Lord Ram. She made sure that all of them were sweet. The Lord Ram comes in and many offer him food  and so does Shabari.The people who were there looked at the berries and realize that they were partly eaten. They questioned as to how can you offer such partly eaten food to Lord Ram?But Ram was not concerned .He knew the devotion and the thought that was there behind the tasting of the berry  and so he ate them with pleasure. So the thought and love is more important than the food itself or the quantity. So he had no problem with eating the already tasted berries.

REWARD FOR TELLING TRUTH

    We often talk about the ten commandments. In most of the religions of the world. Telling truth is considered good thing. There are situations when we twist the truth. I think money-sex and power are the main problem in this world. So this story is about telling truth. Certainly people who are rich tend to twist truth more often than those who are poor.

  There was this wood cutter in a small town in India. He used to go to jungle  and chop some wood and then carry it to city and sale it  and make some money. He was happy with what he had  and never was envious of someone who was rich. He was satisfied with his own life. One day he went to jungle and saw a branch of a tree that was on the banks of a lake . He decided  to chop the wood . He was doing it and then the ax slipped off his hand  and fell in the lake . The water was deep enough and he could not have gotten it. He was upset as without the ax he could not chop the wood and without the wood chopping he could not make money to feed his family. he sat on the banks of the lake started crying and praying the God to help him . The God decided to respond to his prayers and there appeared an angel from the lake and he asked him as to what was the problem. He told him as to how he lost the ax and how he will starve .The Angel went back in the waters and brought out an ax which was made of gold and asked the wood cutter if that was his ax, The woodcutter answered no my ax was not made of gold . So he went back in the waters and brought out silver ax and the wood cutter again told him that that was not his ax . So the Angel went back and this time brought his old ax . The wood cutter was very happy and said that that is my ax  and thanked him . The angel was pleased that the woodcutter was not greedy and lied to get gold or silver ax  and so he gave him all 3 axes . The woodcutter was happy  and went home .

    The moral of the story is one should not lie  and tell truth even if that means we are not getting money or valuable things 

TIT FOR TAT

    We often say that what goes around , comes around.I have talked on Laws of Karma  and every action has a reaction. So if we do good deed, than we will have good response.So we all know that we should do good deed. This story is old one from India . Again one has to take stories of these kind in it's moral value and not see if it is possible. 

  In a small town there were 2 friends. One of them was going to go out of town and he had some cash and some jewels. He was going to be out of town for few months due to some business and so he did not want to leave the large some of cash or jewels in the house nor did he want to carry that with him. So he asked the friend  to keep it with him . He handed over the iron safe to his friend.He was out of town for several months and got back in the town . He went to his friend and asked for the safe . The friend told him that the safe was 'eaten up' by rats.Both knew that rats can not eat safe made of solid steel or iron.But he decided not to say much . They continued to be friend , Then the friend whose money was stolen asked his friend if his 5 years old son wants to go for a trip to  near by river . The kid was excited and his father agreed . So he took his son and then came back without the son . So the father asked him as to where was his son. This man replied that they went to banks of river  and a lark snatched the kid and flew away  and so he does not know where is his son now. The father was agree and said 'it is impossible for a lark to snatch the 5 year old kid and fly away and told the friend that he was lying. The friend replied that if Rats can eat steel safe why could lark not be able to snatch the kid? The father understood that he had done wrong. He gave him his safe  and the friend brought back the kid that was safe and was playing with other kids at his home .

    In this story the effect of our action was immediately seen but in Laws of Karma, the effects may take some time in this life or may be apparent in next life or next to next life and so on.

COPYCAT 3

    I have told on doing copy without knowledge is harmful and not helpful. This story is of little different angle. Many of us may have heard this story in past.

     There was a man who used to sell hats. He used to take with him many hats in a wicker basket and then used to walk in the town and sell them  and get his daily income. Certainly he was poor  and had to walk whole day. He would sell the hats  and then at noon time rest under a tree  and have his lunch which was prepared by his wife and he used to carry with him everyday. One day as usual he sold some hats  and then around noon time decided to take a lunch break . It was summer  and the weather was hot, so he went to the outskirts of the town  and rested under a big bunion tree . As he rested he saw there were many monkeys jumping around in the trees around. He ate his lunch  and then had a water  and then he decided to take a nap. When he woke up he saw that hats from his basket were gone  and when he looked at the tree ,he saw many monkeys having hats on their head. He got panicky and did not know what to do. He had lost everything that he had  and will not have any money nor he would have any hats to sell to make money. He stood up and shouted at them and they just showed him their teeth . He noticed that the monkeys were copying him . If he pointed to them they would extend their arms towards him If he shouted , they would make a sound . He thought for a second  and he had an idea . He took off his hat and threw  it on the ground . All the monkeys took their hats and threw on the ground . He quickly collected all the hats and put them in basket  and walked away. 

    So doing a copy without understanding can be harmful but also can be used for advantage.

JUST BECAUSE YOU KNOW DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD.

    We have seen how eager we are all to show how much we know  and express our opinion and show off our knowledge . I remember when a new raincoat was bought for my sister  and there was no rain for couple of days and she wanted it be seen by her friends, she got frustrated and went under shower with rain coat  to ENJOY the use of new rain coat. This is more applicable when we have learned something and want others to know what we know. So this story is an old one . 

   There were 4 friends  and they all grew together and then parted to get education . Again this is old Indian story. So when they all finished the education, they all got together and went out for travel. In those days there were no cars  and there were no real concrete rods and people traveled walking  and sometimes had to go through Forrest. As they were walking they came across a skeleton of an animal  and it looked like it was of a tiger. The friends gathered around it and had  a discussion as to whose this skeleton may be . They all agreed that it was a tiger who must have dies and the skeleton was left s other animals may have eaten up the flesh . So one of friends stated that he has learned to reconstruct  the bones  and that will look like a tiger  and so he wanted to show his skills and he did . Now the bones - changed in to look alike of a tiger . The other friend also  wanted to show off what he had learned and so he told them that he can put a flesh on the skeleton and then they can see how this tiger really looked - much better than what they could see just from the skeleton that the other friend had done  and so he did put the flesh on the skeleton. Noe they all could see the ferocious tiger.The third friend was not to be left behind in displaying his skills and knowledge. So he said 'I can bring the life in this tiger with the knowledge that I have learned". The 2 friends wanted him to do that . The 4th guy who had not learned anything like this but just the regular education said , 'I do not want you to do it , if the tiger is alive , we are all dead. " The other 3 would not listen to him  and so he went and ran to far away tree  and climbed . The remaining 3 were excited  and the 3 rd one di the magic  and the tiger came alive . He looked around  and in very short time he killed all 3 .The 4 th one who did not have these kinds of power was saved . 

  So just because you know, you don/t have to show off the knowledge!

COPY CAT -2

   I told the story of copy cat last time  and as we saw  doing a copy without understanding the reason for an action makes a mess and the result is not pretty. Ronald Regan once stated that Imitation is best form of Flattery. But when it is done without understanding the action is useless and may be harmful or makes  it laughable. So this is the second story. 

   In India there was a man who used to wake  and take shower and then do the Pooja. When in those days or even today when someone does the Pooja , they are suppose to wear a special cloth called SOVALE. This is a silk cloth may be about 6 yards  and it is used only at the time of Pooja. The idea is that it is clean. One day he had to go out of town very early in the morning and so had to catch a train early. So he told his elder son to do the Pooja. The eldest son had seen the father doing Pooja and knew the rituals and the Mantra  and the Arti .Once the father left ,the son took shower  and then prepared for the Pooja. The mother had cooked the food for offering it to the God. The son did the Pooja rituals  and then called everyone in the house for ARTI. He was standing  and since the Statues of the God were at lower level he had to bend down  and do the Arti. So everybody gathered for the Arti  and so the son bent down and took out part of the Sovale from behind  and then was to start the Arti. (I understand that those of you who have no idea as to what is Sovale or DHOTI may not understand. The way in which this simple 6 yard cloth is used as a garment, is it is wound around the waist  and then part of it is rolled  and stick at the back side )As the son was to start the Arti he took out the part of the cloth which was at the back , he pulled it out and then started to do the Arti The mother was surprised and asked him as to what he was doing. The son answered that he has observed his father do the Arti and the the cloth from back part is always pulled out by the father. The mother started laughing. Then she explained that when one bends down the back part may sometimes  come out as it is stretched  and that is not part of doing Pooja. So it does not need to be pulled out which son was doing. So the observation of son was partly correct but he did not realize the reason for that and so when he did it on own without it occurring it accidently, it becomes laughable thing. So whenever one does any action one must know why he is doing it.

COPY CAT

     We often copy people that are successful or we think are better than us . In day to day life we tend to copy things without understanding the reason beyond the action. When we do just do a  the action without the knowledge or reason for the action, then we get different result. So that is the story for today. 

   In India there was this man who used to have a monkey and he used to travel from a town to town and the monkey would do some tricks and mischiefs  and the crowd would be entertained and he would make some money. So after a busy morning he decided to take a rest  and went and sat under a big tree. It was summer and the temperature was high and so he was resting under a big tree . He ate some food and the monkey also had some food . While they were sitting under the tree he saw a Scorpion crawling in the dirt. He had a stick and so he hit the Scorpion with the stick and killed it. The monkey was watching it . The man then went to sleep . The monkey was awake. As the man was sleeping a fly came and rested on his face . The man  waved his hand  and the fly flew and then again  came and rested on his face . He did it again. The monkey was watching this and realized that fly was disturbing his master . So as the fye sat on his face again , the monkey took the stick and hit the fly with it . The fly flew away and the stick landed on his face  and he had a bruise. He woke up and was very mad. 

    So the monkey did what the man had done to scorpion with stick. But the monkey did not realize that the scorpion does not fly but the fly does  and so doing the copy it  caused the injury to the master . 

   

MAHABHARAT AND DRUTARASTR AND PANDU

      So in last blog I tried to explain how the characters in Mahabharat are related to the origin of universe. If one would read the Patanjali Sutra Yoga that precedes these blog posts, he will find the origin of universe discussed as I understand in Hindu religion or theology. It has some similarities to the BIG BANG theory. But in this blog I want to try to explain some other characters in Mahabharat as it pertains to the story and origin of the universe. 

   In the story of Mahabharat, Satyavati has  3 children. She is same as Masygangha - one with smell of fish and was daughter of a fisherman, Parashar Rhushi  saw her and fell in love and wanted to have a child from her and she refused  and then he promised her that no one would know and so he created darkness and a child was born which is none other than VYAS who wrote the Mahabharat. So then Parashar with his power gave her boon and she lost the fish smell  and had beautiful fragrance as her aroma . She then was married to Shantanu and had 2 other children namely CHITRAGADA AND VICHITRAVIRYA. 

   Chitragada dies soon after birth  and Vichitravirya could not have children.So his step brother Bhushma kidnapped the 3 girls  and asked Vyas to help. Vyas being the step brother could do it.Ved Vyas was dark color and had long hair and beard  and so one girl AMBIKA closed her eyes  and so the child born was blind - DRUTARASHTRA . Other one AMBALIKA became white with fear  and so the son born was white - Pandu. 

    So symbolically this is the origin of universe. Vyas is consciousness of relativity and discriminating  power. Positive Chitragada is the Primordial element or MAHAT TATVA. and Vichitravirya is Dive Ego. Ambika is Negative Doubt  and Ambalika is Positive Discriminating Faculty. So when negative Doubt comes together with consciousness of relativity the product is MIND and Mind is blind and so Drutarashtra is Blind . When the Consciousness of relativity and discrimination, comes in contact with Positive Discriminating Faculty the Intellect is born and Intellect or BUDHHI is clear and so WHITE.

   There is more to come but for now this is enough. 

MAHABHARAT AND MYSTICISM

     I started in my last blog the story of MAHABHARATA. The story continues for long time and the Mahabharata is the longest poem in any language literature. But to start with we saw lots of things that do not follow the standard or good behavior on part of many characters. So how do we explain them?

   I do not have all the answers, but I have some understandings of these things as explained by evolved souls like Paramhauns Yoganand . Mahabharat was written by Vyas  and it appears that to some extent it is telling us the ORIGIN OF UNIVERSE. The king Shantanu represents PARABHAHM  and Ganga the Universal Consciousness . As one may recall that in Hindu philosophy the universe comes in to existence  and continues and the dissolves. There are people who believe that the God is ONE ONLY and then some believe that there is PURUSH and PRAKRUTI - SPIRIT AND NATURE . So at the beginning  of the universe they come together and the process starts - the so called big bang. So the Ganga represents Universal consciousness  and that pervades everything . But when it is limited by 3 bodies we have living being. So the freedom from the mortal world is achieved when our Limited consciousness merges with Universal Consciousness. THIS IS THE REASONS HINDU DO ASTHI VISARGJAN -throwing the remains of our body after death in GANAGA. The hope is that our consciousness will be one with universal consciousness.

   Satyavati or Masyagandha represents primordial nature. 

   So one could say that the Shantanu is the Father and the first step is to split in to 2 or arises from him are the CHAITANYA and NATURE -Ganaga and Satyavati. The eight children that Ganga had are the 6 intelligences that control the 3 micro universes and 3 macro universes  and consciousness  and the universal EGO -namely BHISHM. (Gross, Astral and Causal or STHUL, SUKSHMA, KARAN are the 3 universes at individual level and at Macro level)

  I am sure that your head must be spinning with all this stuff so we will talk simple things next time !

MAHABHARAT AND IT'S CHARACTERS AND MYSTICISM

    I have written about the Patanjali Sutra Yoga  and there is question in many of us if the Geeta  and Mahabharat has any mention of it . So I thought that I will write about some of the mysticism related to characters in Mahabharata . Let me mention something to start . The story in Mahabharata are such  that ordinary people will have many questions . For those who have not heard of theses stories ,I will tell some of them quickly and see if I can explain the meaning of the some of the stories which sound not easy to explain. 

  King Shantanu was married to Ganga  and she had made him promise that she will do whatever she wants to do with her kids . And she killed her first 7 children . The 8th one was born and she wanted to kill that and Shantanu asked as to why she is doing it  and requested not to kill . So Ganga  agreed not to kill and then left Shantanu. This child was BHISHMA. Then Shantanu fell in love with fisherman's daughter -Satyavati. But she refused as she did not want her child to be not the next King and so then Bhishma promised that he will not be the next King and promised that he will never marry ,so that his children will not be born  and claim to the throne. Styavati had 2 children  and one dies  and Bhishma kidnapped 3 princes from the the Swayamvar  and that created problem. One of the daughter was in love with another king and so she asked Bhishma to let her go  and hi did . But the king that she was in love with her refused  and so she came back to Bhishma  and requested him to marry and he refused. She requested many to help and they could not fight with Bhishma . So then Parshuram came and agreed to help and then there was war  and after 21 days it was declared as draw at the request of many. She was disappointed and then she prayed  and got a garland  and was told that who so ever will be garlanded will defeat Bhishma , but no one would agree. Then she committed suicide  to be born as SHIKHANDI. Shikhandi became the cause of Bhishma's death.When he was injured and was on deathbed , the Sun was moving SOUTHWARD called Dakshinayan  and so he decided to wait till Sun started moving Northward as person dying in Dakshinayan does not have good life after death.

    Then kidnapped girls -Amba  and Ambalika  and Ambika  had to be impregnated to have heir and since the Vichitrvirya was incapable of doing it and Bhishma had decided to have life long celibacy, He had to call in VYAS -his stepmother's son from first encounter. Vyas was horrible looking and so one girl closed her eyes when he entered the bedroom and so from Ambika a child born was BLIND , from Ambalika - as she became pale with fear, was born Pandu who was white  and may be anemic. 

    There are many more characters and the stories are difficult to explain. And if your head is not spinning with abnormal behavior then there are more stories. But for now I will point to some of the things that I have stated above. 

Why would mother  and that too Ganga herself , would drown her children?

Why would highly evolved Rhushi Parashar would be attracted sexually  for Mashygandha- fisher-woman with foul smell of fish ? 

How do you justify kidnapping of 3 girls at the time of their wedding? and that too by well educated BHishma. 

On top of that how do you justify VED VYAS the one who wrote the Mahabharata and some of Puranas to come to impregnate these girls?

And the blind King Dhrutarashtr  and Pale , anemic King Pandu born out of that union?

After life is determined by the TIME OF DEATH or by how we live our life ?

I will address these questions in next blog and also bring out some more stories  and questions .

FAITH

    We often talk about the faith. We often say that one should have faith. It may in the team that you love in sport or in God or in many other things that sometimes are not certain or sometimes look impossible

    This story that I am going to narrate is again related to Paramhauns Yoganand. I told you one of his story when he was not a Yogi. So when he had started going to his future Guru, he still had friends and had regular life outside the hermitage. He had a childhood friend  and his father was sick . The doctor had seen him and told the family that he was not going to survive. He had multiple problems  and so the Yoganand went to his Guru and told him that his friend's father is dying and he should help the man . The Yuketshwar looked at him and told him that he will take care and help the friend/s father for now . But he may not last long unless he changes the lifestyle like smoking and drinking and all the other vices that he had and that kind of behavior had brought in all the problems. Yoganand was pleased  and asked him when would he be cured, Yukteshwar told him by tomorrow morning he will be cured , The regular doctors had told the family that the patient will dye soon . The evening came in and the patient went in coma  and his hands and feet were colder to touch  and the blood pressure had dropped and breathing was slower . The patient was unresponsive. So Yoganand ran to his Guru and asked him that he had promised that his friend's father will be cured by morning and he his condition seems to be worsening. Yukteshwar was quiet , he told him have a faith and that he promises him that patient will bee OK by morning. Midnight passed and the condition got worse instead of getting better as promised by Giru. So Yoganand went back to his Guru and complained. He said , 'you have not done anything and given anything anything to help my friend's father and how do you expect that he is going to get better. Please do something give me something that I can take it to the patient and he will be helped by the God's blessings.". So Yukteshwar told him take few drops of oil from the lamp that was burning near by . He told him to put 3 drops in the mouth every hour  and that will hep and the patient will wake up in the morning if he does as told . Yoganand took the oil from the lamp and ran back to the patient . He faithfully started the treatment with oil from the 'sacred' lamp . As the dawn came and the sun was rising the patient started moving and his eyes were open and he became conscious . His body was warm and the blood pressure was better. The doctor cam in the morning and the patient was better and  was conscious  and awake  and talking . The doctor could not figure out as to what has happened. But he told the family that patient was out of danger  and as time went on he was cured. 

    In the morning Yoganand went to his Guru  and told him the success story  and asked him ,'You knew that the oil was the treatment and had the magical power of curing my friend's father , then why did  you not give me that in first place . What were you waiting for ? 'The Guru answered  and aske the student to bring him the lamp  and told him to check the oil . He told him that the oil  was ordinary oil and had no magical powers, but Yoganand wanted something magical and did not have faith in the words of the Guru and so he had to use something  and so he told him to use oil. 

So one has to have FAITH  and the rest will follow .

TELEPATHY

    We have seen magic shows. We  see that the magician READS mind  and can do what is called telepathy where he can communicate without actually talking to the person. But similar things  and if you want to call magic - have been done by many  and not by cheating or doing some tricks . The story that I will narrate is from Autobiography of Yogi. Paramhauns Yoganand wanted to be a YOGI since he was 4 years old . He did run away from house at one time . When he had encounter with Yukteshwar - his Guru, the Guru told him to finish the college education before joining the heritage for becoming Yogi.So he joined the college  and used to go to hermitage in summer vacation. The hermitage used to have lunch and dinner  and so someone has to support the expense. So Yoganand had brought some cauliflower heads with him when he came to hermitage. In the morning the Guru used to walk on beach across the street from the hermitage with his students. So day after Yoganand came to the hermitage they all started the walk . Yoganand was the last to leave . As they started to walk, Yukteshwar looked at the hermitage  and asked as to who was the last one to leave the hermitage . Yoganand - that was not his name at that time answered it was he who was the last one . The Guru asked him if he locked the gate . Yoganand was not sure . Yukteshwar told him that he has not done it  and since he has not done his regular duty in the mortal world , he will have to pay price for the lack of it. He told that one can not be careless in this world. He told them to watch . As the group was watching  a man was seen walking on the street singing a tune . He passed the hermitage  and then suddenly turned back  and opened the gate  and went inside. He came out with a head of cauliflower  and ran away. As the students looked at the Guru , he was laughing. He told them that in future people will be in position to 'capture' sound waves  and can communicate at far distances - television was not invented at that time - but this time I communicated with that man  and told him to take away one head of cauliflower as punishment for your careless behavior. Yoganand went inside the hermitage , his wallet wrist watch and everything else was untouched !

   So this is telecommunication which is nit a trick as done by magicians.

WHAT GOES AROUND -COMES AROUND

    We often use this line when we see certain situations in our life or others that we know. So this story is old one and many of you may have known it. But it is worth repeating it .There was this man who borrowed some money from another person. They were friend and so they did ot do any contract or did it in writing.After a while when the guy did nt repay the money the friend asked for it. For short time the person gave excuses and the time went by. After more than a year, the person sued the man The case went to court and so the person asked a lawyer to help him defend him . He told the lawyer that he will pay him the fees after he wins the case. 

  The lawyer was a smart person and so he told the client that when the judge asks him any questions act as if he is mentally challenged just answer with sound like MEW.In the court when the judge asked him ,did you borrow the money , the cunning man answered MEW, as was advised by his lawyer. The judge asked him if he knew where he was , and his answered with same sound MEW.After asking few ore questions when the answer continued to be MEW , the judge told the nice man that this man is gone mad , crazy  and you can't collect any money even if what you say is correct. The case was dismissed . As they all went out of courtroom,the lawyer asked the cunning man to pay his fee, the man answered by making sound MEW. The lawyer got mad and said that he will take him to court , the cunning man again answered with a sound MEW. The lawyer had no choice. 

(Please remember this is only a STORY)

DRONACHARYA FROM MAHABHARAT

      Many of us who are Indians in origin have heard the stories from Mahabharata. This is the largest poetry and in India couple of serials have been made from this epic .I have heard that when the first one came out and was shown on TV, there was n traffic on roads as EVERYONE was watching it even in big cities. The story has many characters  and the stories of these characters are colorful. One of the characters is DRONACHARYA. He was the teacher appointed to teach Pandava and Kaurava . Theses were the children of KURU DYNASTY . The Pandavas were 5 and Kauravas were 100 . 

    The story that I want to tell today has to do with DRONACHARYA . The name was derived from his birth. He was born in a DRONA , which is a small bowl made of dry leaves .The sperms were dropped in the drona  and he was born from those sperms. This really does not make much sense . He was teacher to Pandava  and Kaurava prince , but he was still not very rich. His son ASTHVATTHAMA  was immortal We all accepted these things as a matter of fact ,but never gave any thought to any of theses absurd looking things . Then there is a story that in which Dronacharya goes to a king Drupada, who was his childhood friend and asks for help and the Drpada declines . So then Dronacharya withe help of Pandava, defeats Drupada  and then gives him back 'southerner half of the kingdom' . The king Drupada does a Yadnya and gets a son named DRUSTADYUMNA . He kills the Dronacharya in the war. So this is good as a story, but does not make much sense. So the symbolism in this story is that the Dronacharya represents the Saunskara or the effects of out previous Karmas. Since we continue to do Karma in every life and the karma have effects , we will never be without the effects . So the SON of Drna - effects of our karma - ASTVATTHAMA is immortal. The origin of Drona is with karma that we add to the POT or the Drona.  and so Dronacharya was born in drona.The fact that our previous karma and their effects GUIDE US in out future actions. So Drona is teaching both sets of prince Pandavas  and Kauravas - good and bad. When one tries to shun the effects of our karma , he is not successful in first attempt and the effects of Karma will defeat us  and so the DRONACHARYA defeats the DRUPADA who shuns him . But the effects of our efforts to get away from karma that have effects  are never wasted . So the mastery over LOWER CENTERS is there but the mastery over HIGHER centers is lost . So Drupada gets back control of SOUTHERN part of the kingdom (lower half of our body that has lower centers ) and we have to work on getting control over higher centers . When we are successful in doing that , we ill KILL the effects of our KARMA , so the son of DRUPADA kills DRONACHARYA. 

  The moral of this to me other than symbolism is that we may not be successful at first attempt, but the effects of our study will never be lost. 

DECISION

    In life we all make decisions and we make decisions based on our experience. But sometimes we need to take each situation in right way and then make decision. When we treat every situation is the same way then we can get in trouble. So as much as previous experience does help we have to  judge each situation in it's own way. This is especially true when we try to cheat. 

    That bring me to today's story. There was man who used to carry stuff from one place to other . So he would load it on his donkey from a shop and then take it to another place where that was sold or was needed to be delivered . The amount was not huge but was not something that he could carry it on own without loading it on donkey. One day he was carrying a load of salt  and he loaded it on the donkey and covered it  and was walking to place of delivery .It was rainy season and rains had flooded the small road with water . It was not bad but in those days there were not concreate or tar road  and the water had stagnated .The path was somewhat difficult but not impossible. So as the man was walking along with the donkey the donkey slipped  and fell in knee high water . By the time the man could help the donkey to stand the water had gone in to the salt  and the salt had dissolved in the water . The donkey realized that the weight was much less . The man was frustrated  and could not do much . There was a loss and he could not do much  and he did  not find any fault with the donkey as it was just a bad luck . The next time he was carrying salt again  and as the donkey went though the small collection of the water , the donkey again went down . The man realized that this time it was not an accident and so he decided to teach the donkey. The donkey had realized that the water reduces the load  and it was going to play the trick again  He was carrying cotton this time . As they approached the water the donkey pretended to fall  and went down in the water .This time the cotton that it was carrying got soaked in the water  and became heavy  and donkey had to carry it it all the way. 

   So when one tries to cheat then it may not work all the times.

(This is a story  and one can not conclude that the man lost the cotton or what happened to the loss of salt etc.)