Desire

An emperor was coming out of his palace for his morning walk when he met a beggar. He asked the beggar, "What do you want?"The beggar laughed and said, "You are asking me as though you can fulfill my desire!"

 The king was offended. He said, "Of course I can fulfill your desire. What is it? Just tell me."

 And the beggar said, "Think twice before you promise anything."

 The beggar was no ordinary beggar, he was the emporers past life master. He had promised in that life, "I will come and try to wake you in your next life. This life you have missed but I will come again." But the king had forgotten completely -- who remembers past lives? So he insisted, "I will fulfill anything you ask. I am a very powerful emperor, what can you possibly desire that I can not give to you?"

The beggar said, "It is a very simple desire. You see this begging bowl? Can you fill it with something?"

The emperor said, "Of course!" He called one of his viziers and told him, "Fill this mans begging bowl with money." The vizier went and got some money and  poured it into the bowl, and it disappeared. And he poured more and more, and the moment he would pour it, it would disappear. And the beggging bowl remained always empty.

The whole palace gathered. By and by the rumor went throughout the whole capital, and a huge crowd gathered. The prestige of the emperor was at stake.

He said to his viziers, "If the whole kingdom is lost, I am ready to lose it, but I cannot be defeated by this beggar."

Diamonds and pearls and emeralds, his treasuries were becoming empty.The begging bowl seemed to be bottomless. Everything that was put into it --everything! --immediately disappeared, went out of existence. Finally it was the evening, and the people were standing there in utter silence. The king dropped at the fet of the beggar and admitted his defeat. He said, "Just tell me one thing. You are victorious - but before you leave, just fulfill my curiousity. What is the beging bowl made of?"

The beggar laughed and said, "It is made up of the human mind. There is no secret. It is simple made up of human desire."

This understanding transforms life. Go into one desire -- what is the mechanism of it? First there is a great excitement, great thrill, adventure. You feel a great kick. Somehting is going to happen, you are on the verge of it. And then you have the car, you have the yacht, you have the house, you have the woman, and suddenly all is meaningless again.

What happens? Your mind has dematerialised it. The car is standing in the drive, but there is no excitement anymore. The excitement was only in getting it. You became so drunk with the desire that you forgot your inner nothingness. Now the desire is fulfilled, the car in the drive,  the money in your bank account - again excitement disappears. Again the emptiness is there, ready to eat you up. Again you have to create another desire to escape this yawning abyss.

That's how one moves from one desire to another desire. That's how one remains a beggar. Your whole life proves it again and again -- every desire frustrates. And when the goal is achieved, you will need another desire.The day you understand that desire as such is going to fail comes the turning point in your life.The other journey is inwards. Move inwards, come back home.

 

Marble Statue & Marble Tile

There was this museum laid with beautiful marble tiles, with a huge marble statue displayed in the middle of the lobby. Many people came from all over the world just to admire this beautiful marble statue.

One night, the marble tiles started talking to the marble statue.

Marble tile: "Marble statue, it's just not fair, it's just not fair! Why does everybody from all over the world come all the way here just to step on me while admiring you? Not fair!"

Marble statue: "My dear friend, marble tile. Do you still remember that we were actually from the same cave?"

Marble tile: "Yeah! That's why I feel it is even more unfair. We were born from the same cave and yet we receive different treatment now. Not fair!" he cried again.

Marble statue: "Then, do you still remember the day when the designer tried to work on you, but you resisted the tools?"

Marble tile: "Yes, of course I remember. I hate that guy! How could he use those tools on me, it hurt so badly."

Marble statue: "That's right! He couldn't work on you at all as you resisted being worked on."

Marble tile: "So???"

Marble statue: "When he decided to give up on you and start working on me instead, I knew at once that I would be something different after his efforts. I did not resist his tools, instead I bore all the painful tools he used on me.."

Marble tile: "Mmmmmm......."

Marble statue: "My friend, there is a price to everything in life. Since you decided to give up half way, you can't blame anybody who steps on you now."

Frosted Glass Windows

So many times I stare at the vast white space called my ceiling, and I ponder endlessly about the impending future. Will it bring me great joy or utter misery and sorrow?

Often the scales of life are balanced by our actions and deeds. Can we claim victory or defeat at the end of our life's journey or are we to be portrayed as heroes or villains by the lives we touch without so much as a backward glance?

I find that people are like frosted glass windows... that upon the faintest touch, imprints are left forever, shadowing our minds like long forgotten memories.

On this cold December night, with the icy gust of the winds blowing just outside my bedroom window, fleeting thoughts of my life's window dance before my eyes and I cannot help but see the vast array of space just waiting to be drawn upon. This...along with the cluttered corners bearing marks drawn with either intricate care and detail or hasty thoughtless slashes and shapes.

For there within the carefully drawn lines and fine detail, I remember that they were drawn by those who loved me best and brought me great joy and special moments. But then my window also bears marks of ugly misshapen objects drawn by those who brought me immense sadness and infinite pain. Those too, I cannot forget. But none other than myself will ever see this because that is my life's window.

So now I cannot help but wonder about the imprints I left behind on other people's. Did I draw with the fine strokes of an artist's hand? Or did I casually draw without care or concern? Sadly...there will be some windows we will never get the chance to draw on again. Upon reflection, it is wise to understand one should not be so careless.

On a more careful analysis...please ask yourself...
How are you drawing upon frosted glass windows?

 

Flower Garden

A young man named Nasreddin planted a flower garden, but when the flowers came up so did a great crop of dandelions among them. Wishing to eliminate the unwanted guests, Nasreddin consulted with gardeners near and far, but none of their solutions worked.

Finally, Nasreddin traveled to the palace of the sheik to seek the wisdom of the royal gardener himself. But alas, Nasreddin had already tried all the methods the kind old man recommended to him for eradicating such troublesome weeds.

Silently they sat together for a good long time. At last, the royal gardener looked at Nasreddin and said, "Well, then, the only thing I can suggest is that you learn to love them."

Missing Watch

There once was a farmer who discovered that he had lost his watch in the barn. It was no ordinary watch because it had sentimental value for him. After searching high and low among the hay for a long while; he gave up and enlisted the help of a group of children playing outside the barn.

He promised them that the person who found it would be rewarded.

Hearing this, the children hurried inside the barn, went through and around
the entire stack of hay but still could not find the watch. Just when the farmer was about to give up looking for his watch, a little boy went up to him and asked to be given another chance.

The farmer looked at him and thought, "Why not? After all, this kid looks
sincere enough."

So the farmer sent the little boy back in the barn.

After a while the little boy came out with the watch in his hand! The farmer was both happy and surprised and so he asked the boy how he succeeded where the rest had failed.

The boy replied, "I did nothing but sit on the ground and listen. In the silence, I heard the ticking of the watch and just looked for it in that direction."

Moral: A peaceful mind can think better than a worked up mind. Allow a few minutes of silence to your mind every day, and see, how sharply it helps you to set your life the way you expect it to be...!

Sleep Well

When I was staying in Calcutta, taking classes on the Isha Vasya Upanishad, a man came to see me.

He said, “I have a problem. I don’t sleep well at night because I live in an area where there are plenty of street dogs. Every night they start barking, and keep barking till sunrise. I am already a very light sleeper, and I simply can’t get any rest because of this noise.”

He was told, “Go home and try this tonight. When you hear the barking, just drop the anger, the negative feelings that rise up in you. Just listen to the barking sound without resisting. Tell yourself that the dogs are barking; that’s all. Don’t allow yourself to react. The problem is not the barking, but your resistance to it.”

The man went back tried what was said. After a few days he came back and reported, “I tried dropping my resistance as you said. Instead of thinking, ‘How dare those stupid dogs spoil my sleep?’ I tried changing my thoughts gradually:

‘The dogs are barking. It is spoiling my sleep.…’

‘The dogs are barking…’

‘Some animals are creating some sounds…’

By the time I came to that sentence, I think I fell asleep. Anyway,

I’ve been having excellent sleep all these days. “

This can happen with you also. Any situation can be dealt with, if you know how to drop your negativity, if you know how to drop your negative reaction to it.

But the mind is so eager to harbor, to settle down in familiar patterns of inner chatter. This is the basis of the working of worry. The mind always looks to typecast things. It needs comparison all the time between past, present and future and this comparison, this reference, this judgment, gives birth to worry.

Worries are nothing but familiar dwelling patterns for our mind. These familiar patterns are called engrams in the field of human psychology. Engrams are the engraved memories of the past, which serve as an undesirable resource inside us for all our present and future actions. Because of these stored engrams, we react illogically in the present.

Perspective

Look around you and you will be amazed at what you see. We take so much for granted because we focus on the parts of our lives that are hard or unfulfilled.

But if we really stop to look at what we have...we are truly blessed. Others would only dream to have what we take for granted.

The homeless person wishes to have that little house you wish were bigger.

That mother who lost her son would do anything to deal with that defiant child.

The Father that cannot feed his three kids would love to go to the job you hate.

The woman riding her bike 10 miles to work wishes to have the car you want to trade in.

That lonely woman would love that man that forgets to take out the garbage or doesn't pick up after himself.

That orphan child wouldn't mind the mother that makes him clean his dirty room.

The crippled adolescent would love to climb that flight of stairs you dread.

The woman in the hospital dying of cancer wishes to rush home after work to cook her family a meal.

You see it's all in how we look at things.

If we start to look at our lives with the right perspective and focus on the blessings, we will be filled with gratitude. To focus on what we have and not on what we don't is the best way to live.

In the end, the biggest joy and blessing is love. If you look hard enough you'll be amazed at how much love surrounds you and how much you truly have. What you have today you will miss someday.

Unclaimed Baggage

One day I woke up and found myself in an indescribable place. Well, more like an out of body trip. I couldn't figure out where I was going or how I got there but what I saw before me were these two big heavy bags, big enough to stuff a body in.

I wondered, "Where the hell am I and whose big bags are these?" So just out of curiosity, I opened the bags.

One was filled to capacity with fear, sadness, rejection, depression, worry, disgust, self-pity, low self-esteem, and anger while the other bag was also just as heavy. However when I opened it, to my surprise, it was empty.

In the bottom of the empty bag was a small note that read, "You will know what to do with this bag once the time is right."

So I'm thinking, "I not only don't know where I am or how I got there but now, I have to carry these two heavy bags  around. Hell, do they even belong to me? I don't see my name on them. Who in the world would carry bags around like

this?"

Suddenly a train appeared... "All aboard" shouted the engineer. I ran to the doors as they flung open and tried to get on the train but my bags just got in the way. I felt someone take the bags from me, to put them under the

train. You could feel the bags hit the floorboard (THUMP).

Before the train could pull off, someone was escorting me off and back to my bags. "Madam I'm sorry, we have a weight capacity. Your bags are entirely too heavy to board the train. You can either leave them here or empty something out and wait for the next train."

So I took my bags and looked inside the full one to see what I would remove while I waited for the next train. I decided to remove sadness and put that in the empty bag for I was sure it weighed the most.

When the next train appeared I ran over to it, heavy bags and all. But still the same response from the conductor, "Bags too heavy."

Train after train I was being told the same thing. So I carefully removed each emotion from the one bag to place in the empty one. I didn't want to throw them away because I was just an overseer of the bags.

I am a responsible person you know. Whoever left me with these bags must really trust me to keep them and handle them with care. "Whose bags are these any way and how did I become responsible for them?" I shouted.

The last train appeared. Before I got on, I looked into what was once an empty, heavy bag but was now filled with all those emotions from the old bag and I zipped it up. Then I peered inside the now new empty bag and saw a mirror

with a note attached.

I gazed at myself in the mirror and I looked tired. Hell I was tired! Tired of those bags! Tired of deciding which emotion I was going to get rid of for they all were heavy. Then I realized those use to be my emotions, all bagged up with nowhere to go. I carried them around tucked and hidden away, just in case I needed to use them again one day.

I stopped gazing in the mirror only to read the note attached, "Keep this bag and carry it with you thru your journey, for this is where you will store your hopes, dreams, passion, faith, blessings, and possibilities. Never close this bag or you'll miss the opportunity to spill some of these new emotions onto someone else who needs them too."

Quickly I ran over to the train with my newly lighter bag with a big smile on my face. And as I boarded, I heard a voice in the distance say, "Madam you left your other bag."

I smiled and winked and said, "I have my bag!"

For you see, I don't know who that bag belongs to now... just know that it's no longer mine.

Scars

Some years ago on a hot summer day in south Florida a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into thewater, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore.

His mother, in the house was looking out the window; saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utter fear, she ran toward the water, yelling to her son as loudly as she could. Hearing her voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his mother. It was too late.

Just as he reached her, the alligator reached him. From the dock, the mother grabbed her little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the mother, but the mother was much too passionate to let go. A farmer happened to drive by, heard her screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator. Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived.

His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal. And, on his arms, were deep scratches where his mother's fingernails dug into his flesh in her effort to hang on to the son she loved.

The newspaper reporter, who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, "But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms too. I have them because my mom wouldn't let go."

You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars too, no, not from an alligator or anything quite so dramatic but the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle,

He's been there holding on to you. God loves you. He wants to protect you and provide for you in every way. But sometimes we foolishly wade into dangerous situations. The swimming hole of life is filled with peril - and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That's when the tug-of-war begins, and if you have the scars of His love on your arms, then be very, very grateful. He did not - and will not - let you go.

Year of Discovery

When the clock strikes midnight at the end of December 31st, we realize that even though we may not want to move forward into the New Year, we ran out of the old year. The end of the road. It's done, it's over, it's gone. When we put the new calendar on the wall, we begin with January and realize that we have 365 days to again create the life we choose to live. Instead of mindlessly crossing off each day as though it were something to endure, this year look at the coming months as part of a grand adventure. Open each monthly treasure with eager eyes and be willing to discover the gems of life!

January - Open Doors
Januarius, the Roman god of doors and gates invites up to step through time into the possibility of living a fully engaged existence. Our spiritual doors can either swing easily into the unknown or remain so warped and stuck that life pries them open as they creak and resist, pushing us reluctantly across the threshold. Providing a means to enter into the future, January welcomes us to start again, discover new ideas and possibilities and plan for the future.

February - Heartbeat
Life beats within every living creature, and in February we honor the rhythm of life. Our hearts celebrate Valentine's Day and the sharing of the most precious human emotion - love! Over time, the symbolic heart grew to represent love. The pulse of life which keeps our bodies alive, also keeps tempo with love. Our hearts may "skip a beat" when the subject of our affection enters the room, or our hearts may "sink" when we experience disappointment. When we discover the passion which fuels our spiritual engines, we know we've met our heart's desire.

March - Winds Of Change
Fresh air arrives in a flowing movement, on a current of ever changing composition. We sense a storm brewing, or smell oncoming rain. Wind brings with it a cleansing and sweeping away of old ideas and dusty routines and requires only that we allow it to "blow over" and experience the freshness of a new experience. Sure a strong breeze may stir up a bit of dust and confuse things for awhile, but noticing which of our old habits ceremoniously blew away, we understand how much better off we are without them. Accepting constant change frees us to discover an ever changing climate of possibilities.

April - Preparing For Growth
Just as the earth begins to prepare for planting crops with nourishing rain and warming temperatures, April offers us a chance to experience a downpour of blessings to ready us for new opportunities for growth. When we understand the storms of life not only serve to fortify us with revitalizing force, we see that our preparatory lessons - however harsh in impact - strengthen us to plant the seeds of what we choose to grow in our lives.

May - Planting Ideas
Traditionally in May, we plan for our lessons in the coming year by planting seeds of inspiration notions of realization. From ideas which root from deep within our souls, to the wandering vines of far-reaching dreams, we create our future with the small little requests put into motion by digging deep in fertile soil of possibility. The Universe then takes over the germinating and sprouting of our ideas, no matter how big or small. You'll enjoy discovering that an emphatic intention, deliberately planted in the rich soil of your connection to the Infinite brings you!

June - Solstice
Like the farmer committed to his crops, June gives us a solstice of change along with the steadfast yet unseen growth of our energetic desires. The longest days of the year allow us extra time and light in which to tend to and grow our ideas. The solstice also represents a shift from days lengthening to shortening and gently reminds us that although the rules of nature never change, we can accept the transition from light to darkness and remain empowered by the cycle. In the moments of darkness we learn that when we remain eternally connected to the Infinite, we commit to living an ever-changing life of discovery!

July - Freedom
Trapped in the grid of calendar days and months, the year stretches out before us as we plan our future. Take a revolutionary step from what you did this time last year and dare to discover something new to do. Think beyond what the month offers and in climate and leisure time, and break free from what Thoreau called "a life of quiet desperation." In the symbolic month of Freedom, this July dare to venture into the freedom of your mind, your thoughts and your desires!

August - Movement
Shifting from the summer months to prepare for the changes in autumn, we often look at August as a bridge between the vacations we knew as children to the school year ahead. Passing quickly, August reminds us our work is ahead of us and to amass the momentum gained from a few months of recreation to a life of creation. We discover that movement brings change as we look toward our goals and embrace the life lessons necessary to reach even higher.

September - Learning
We begin the harvest time of the year with eagerness to reap our life's work. After a hearty spring of planting, a summer of growing, fall's impending harvest gives us a chance to enjoy the nourishment we deliberately created. In the Autumnal Equinox of our lives, we reach a balance of work and restful resolve and discover that the spiritual work we consciously and subconsciously performed benefits us if we pluck it from its foundation and put it to good use!

October - New Ideas
As Christopher Columbus found the new world, we venture out of our comfort zones in October to seek new ideas and meaning. Fat with the abundance of soulful crops, we are full-bellied with spirit and able to allow ourselves the luxury of imagining a greater life. Halloween invites us to put on a face of someone else, even for one night, to aspire to be something different, or perhaps even better than we perceive ourselves to be. Discover something new about yourself every day!

November - Gratitude
Giving thanks for all that we are, all we do, and all that we have keeps the laws of physics and energy in motion. Even when circumstances appear dire, gratitude finds a way to peek through and remind us that a lesson dwells deep inside the well of uncertainty. Amidst a feast of gratitude our life works. Discovering a morsel of positive thought brings about a cornucopia of daily blessings.

December - Rejuvenation
Winding down the calendar year, the Winter Solstice shifts the planet from shorter to longer days. Our harvest long-since stored for use in the coming winter months, December offers time for rest and reflection. Our spirits celebrate the much anticipated lighter days while using the darkness to turn within and rebuild our souls. Take the time to discover all the ways you move from darkness to light, and from storing your good to gladly sharing it with the world.

As long as people attempted to capture time in a calendar, restrictions on timepieces, measurement and ceremony moved into our consciousness. Cultures created rules about when a ritual is performed, when crops get planted, and even when to celebrate and when to relax. As you flip through the man-made calendar, know that you alone hold the key to discovering how you will live in the coming days, weeks and months. It's your life! Live it well and cherish every minute.