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 )