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.)