One Word of Knowledge

There once there was a thief whose job was to steal others' belongings and valuable properties from their home and houses. His faith was strong and he believed that, in his entire life, he would never hear words of wisdom from any religious or spiritual preacher. He believed that by hearing even one word of knowledge, his business of robbery would become very weak and damaged.

One day, while he was going through a temple area there was a Pandit (Religious preacher) giving a powerful speech on the lifestyle of deity and god, goddess in heaven. The thief completely blocked his ears with his fingers so that even a single word of knowledge would not enter him.

While walking, he stepped on a thorn and reached down to pick it out with his left hand. In that moment, he heard the Pandit say that "No living God or Goddess has a shadow." Upon hearing this word of knowledge, the thief felt very unlucky and said "Oh! What a wasteful moment this is!"

Anyway, after much time passed he was eventually arrested for being involved with a big robbery at the royal palace of the kingdom. Security personnel tried to get him to admit that he had stolen valuable things from the palace, but he denied everything. The security unit reported this to the King, so her majesty the Queen suggested that she would use her trick to make him surrender the truth.

The next night, at midnight, the Queen went alone to visit the thief privately where he was being held in the Royal Palace. The Queen disguised herself by dressing like the fearful and frightening Goddess Mahakali. With a roaring voice, she demanded "Oh Sinful thief - I am the Goddess Mahakali! Tell me the truth! Did you steal the property of the Royal Palace?"

The frightened thief shivered with fear and decided that he would confess the truth. As he was about to speak, he remembered that he had seen the shadow of the Goddess Mahakali in the moonlight when she came into the room. He remembered the words of knowledge, "No living God or Goddess has a shadow." Since he had seen the shadow of Mahakali in front of him on that night, he knew that she could not be the real goddess Mahakali.

In that moment, he felt tremendous inner support from the words of knowledge. He responded with full confidence and without hesitation, "I did not steal anything!"

Again, the Queen disguised as Mahakali tried to make him fearful but the thief felt no fear and replied the same again:

"I DID NOT STEAL ANYTHING!"

After some time, the Queen knew the thief would say nothing else so she left. The next day, with the permission of Her Majesty the Queen, the thief was freed from the royal custody.

Because of this incident, the thief realized the true power of knowledge to transform his very troublesome situation into a very favorable one for him. He wondered, "How useful would it be if I heard more words of wisdom?" The answer to this question was profound.

In that moment, his faith and belief were strengthened, and his heart and mind were transformed. He decided that to listen to more knowledge so that he could feel completely fearless in all situations. However, in becoming a devoted listener to more words of wisdom, he completely awakened and went on to live a very happy and fully satisfied life, free from thievery and full of truth.

Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

Forgotten Path to Abundance

For years I have practiced "Prosperity Through Generosity" sometimes known as tithing or sharing the wealth. Whenever I receive money, I share it with others even though I may not have a lot of cash at the time. I have learned that, by continuing to share, the energy keeps moving and more money comes in. I also tithe in time by doing my work for no charge when someone can truly not afford it. This has afforded me the opportunity to do many things that I might not have done because of lack of funds. One day, while musing on the subject, I got a little hungry, so off I went to one of my favorite restaurants, not knowing that Spirit had a special challenge and a lesson for me.

I headed over to the Enchanted Garden (nice name eh?), and they knew me because I ate there a lot. It was one of my regular hangouts. When I walked in, the regular waitress came over and introduced me to a new waitress. The new waitress, Mary, knowing that I was into spiritual studies had a story and a question for me. She told me how she had been out of work and down to her last $43. She was driving to a job interview and on the way saw a woman holding a baby and a sign that said, "Baby needs Dr. please help." Being soft-hearted, she pulled over to the woman and reached into her purse and handed her $3. As she drove away, in the rear view mirror, she could see the woman clasping her hands and shouting, "Thank you, thank you, thank the Lord."

She thought, "Wow, a lousy $3 makes her so happy," and she felt good about having given it to her even though her funds were low. When she arrived at her interview, she looked in her purse and found that she had given the woman two twenties and a one instead of three ones. She now had $2 to her name. She was kicking herself and couldn't believe she had given away her last money. The next day she got the job at Enchanted Garden. She asked what I thought about all that.

I told her not to be upset about the money, that perhaps that woman needed exactly that amount for the doctor and that she may have been praying for it. Mary may have been the instrument to answer her prayer and change her belief about prayers being answered and about life in general. She said that was a good way to look at it. That being said, I headed for the ladies room.

While in the ladies room, my guides said to me, "Give her back the money." I protested that I did not get paid for two more days and I wasn't even sure if I had that much in my bank account. They insisted, so I wrote a check for $50 and wrote prosperity through generosity at the bottom. I asked the other waitress to give it to her after I left so she wouldn't refuse it and wouldn't be embarrassed.

But that started me thinking about my checking account, so I went to balance it and see if all my checks were in and how much money I actually had left. I did not want my gesture to be negated by a bounced check. When I did that, I found that I had an extra $500 that could not be accounted for anywhere in my deposits, and all the checks had cleared the account. Suddenly I had 10 times what I had just given away. I felt it was a major sign for me. And that was a huge lesson, but the biggest lesson was yet to come.

A month later I received a letter from Mary. She said, "I don't know if you remember me, but I just wanted to tell you that I never cashed your check for $50. Money started to come to me from all directions. I framed the check and put it on my wall, and whenever anyone comes into my home, I tell them the story of your generosity."

I choked up and cried. I still can't tell that story without
getting misty. And I got the message to think about how many people were being affected by that simple gesture while following my guidance. I will never know exactly how many people were moved by that story, but it was a very powerful lesson for me, and a much better reward than the $500. The small random acts of kindness that we do ripple out into the world and create all kinds of abundance, and it comes back from all directions.

Ever since that day, when I give a tip, pay my bills or receive money of any sort, I hold the money in my hands (and the hands of the giver and receiver whenever possible) and say this... "Divine Love through me blesses and multiplies all the good I am and have, all the good I give and receive, Bless the gift, the giver and the receiver. Bless and multiply and multiply and multiply."

After telling that story at a class, one of my students tried it and was amazed at what happened. She stopped to buy a sandwich from a charity fund raiser. They were complaining that business was slow because of rain. When she paid them, she said the blessing out loud so they could hear her. They thanked her, and immediately three cars drove up and placed large orders for food. They looked at her and said, "You did that." She smiled and continued her day, knowing that however it happened, that something had happened. It became a mystical experience for all concerned. She felt great and continues to do this all the time now!


Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

Be Compassionate

Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike;
each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.

Gautama Buddha

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You have no compassion; the Lord's Light does not shine in you.
You are drowned, drowned in worldly entanglements.

Guru Granth Sahib

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We are ready to become the people we are meant to be.
None of us can afford to squander our days, our years,
or our lives. We have too much to give; we have too much to live.

Lama Surya Das

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The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence.
When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.

Thich Nhat Hanh

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Compassion will cure more sins than condemnation.

Henry W Beecher

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Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling
what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin.
It is the knowledge that there can never really be
any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.

Frederick Buechner

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Yes You Can

Know yourself and you will win all battles.
Sun Tzu
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Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, ...If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.
M K Gandhi
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The most important thing is God's blessing and if you believe in God and you believe in yourself, you have nothing to worry about.
Mohamed Al-Fayed
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Don't limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, you can achieve.
Mary Kay Ash
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Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.
Joseph Campbell


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Spice of life

Visiting swanky City Shopping Mall recently, i found myself behaving like a village bumpkin faced with an avalanche of choices. I counted 18 types of organic cheese, 90 varieties of toothpaste, 200 shades of lipstick and 50 kinds of hair mousse. While picking up a tube of toothpaste, i was totally at a loss. Should i choose the herbal variety with added fluoride, the cavity-busting option with baking soda or the original formula with flavoured crystals? What would anyone do if given the onerous task of choosing from 600 kinds of coffee and 400 brands of shampoo?

The other day, i peeked into the laptop of a junior colleague who seemed totally lost switching between matrimonial websites. Grilled, he said he'd 'shortlisted' some 50 responses in an exercise he later confessed to be bride-hunting. He had also put an advertisement in the matrimonial columns of a few national dailies. The result was astounding. Among some 'prospective' choices numbering no fewer than 300, he zeroed in on 40 applications. "But you only need one soulmate," i mumbled. To which he replied, nonplussed, "That's precisely the problem. I can't have a swayamvar like in the days of yore. Nor is polygamy allowed in India!" For those hapless and harried enough not to be able to find a suitable spouse, picking one through the market is even more brain-racking.

Likening myself to a village bumpkin overawed by the ways of the city, i feel quite intimidated visiting posh restaurants. The first difficulty is not what to eat but what not to, that is, if you decide to go beyond the regular fare. A friend of mine left the dinner table of a chic restaurant in a huff because one of the randomly picked exotic-sounding 'specials' among 20 suggested by the waiter did not work well with his girlfriend's tummy. That cost him the relationship.

I know of a simpleton who, on visiting a rich man's house, was struck by the ordeal of making a simple choice of what to drink. The reason: the host believed in customising service to a fault. When the poor guest opted for orange juice, he was asked if he wanted it to be organic or regular, with or without calcium and, finally, with minimal or maximal pulp. That's when he swiftly switched to tea. But then he had to choose between Ceylon tea, herbal tea, bush tea, honey bush tea, iced tea and green tea. To have his Ceylon tea with milk, he had to choose between goat milk, camel milk and cow milk. To have his tea sweetened, he had to choose between beet sugar and cane sugar.

Tired of such bizarre if 'meticulous' hospitality, the guest finally settled for a glass of water. Mineral water or still water, he was asked. Mineral water, he replied. He was then asked to clarify whether he wanted it flavoured or non-flavoured. The matter was finally settled when, unable to take it any longer, he burst into a fit of rage and exclaimed: "I'd rather die of thirst!

None of us wants to make a wrong choice or be a sucker. Yet, this isn't just about our dilemmas when making serious choices like selecting a pension plan or an insurance plan, a holiday destination, an educational board for one's ward or a doctor to consult. Why, sometimes it gets so difficult simply to decide which pair of jeans one should buy. There's slim fit, easy fit, relaxed fit and, of course, baggy and extra baggy. Choose among them, but there's still the fabric: should it be stone-washed, acid-washed or 'distressed'? Finally, will it be button-fly or zipper-fly? My conclusion: we've become addicted to variety, which is really many, many versions of the same thing. And they call this variety the spice of life!



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Tweet Less Kiss More...........

I was driving from Washington to New York one afternoon when a car came zooming up behind me, really flying. I could see in the rearview mirror that the driver was talking on her cellphone.

I was about to move to the centre lane to get out of her way when she suddenly swerved into that lane herself to pass me on the right still chatting away. She continued moving dangerously from one lane to another as she sped up the highway.

A few days later, i was talking to a guy who commutes every day between New York and New Jersey. He props up his laptop on the front seat so he can watch DVDs while he's driving.

"I only do it in traffic," he said. "It's no big deal."

Beyond the obvious safety issues, why does anyone want, or need, to be talking constantly on the phone or watching movies (or texting) while driving? I hate to sound so 20th century, but what's wrong with just listening to the radio? The blessed wonders of technology are overwhelming us. We don't control them; they control us.

We've got cellphones and BlackBerrys and Kindles and iPads, and we're e-mailing and text-messaging and chatting and tweeting i used to call it Twittering until i was corrected by high school kids who patiently explained to me, as if i were the village idiot, that the correct term is tweeting. Twittering, tweeting - whatever it is, it sounds like a nervous disorder.

This is all part of what i think is one of the weirder aspects of our culture: a heightened freneticism that seems to demand that we be doing, at a minimum, two or three things every single moment of every hour that we're awake. Why is multitasking considered an admirable talent? We could just as easily think of it as a neurotic inability to concentrate for more than three seconds.

Why do we have to check our e-mail so many times a day, or keep our ears constantly attached to our cellphones? When you watch the news on cable television, there are often additional stories being scrolled across the bottom of the screen, stock market results blinking on the right of the screen, and promos for upcoming features on the left. These extras often block significant parts of the main item we're supposed to be watching.

Enough already with this hyperactive behaviour, this techno-tyranny and non-stop freneticism. We need to slow down and take a deep breath.

I'm not opposed to the remarkable technological advances of the past several years. I don't want to go back to typewriters and carbon paper and yellowing clips from the newspaper morgue. I just think that we should treat technology like any other tool. We should control it, bending it to our human purposes.

Let's put down at least some of these gadgets and spend a little time just being ourselves. One of the essential problems of our society is that we have a tendency, amid all the craziness that surrounds us, to lose sight of what is truly human in ourselves, and that includes our own individual needs those very special, mostly non-material things that would fulfil us, give meaning to our lives, enlarge us, and enable us to more easily embrace those around us.

We need to reduce the speed limits of our lives. We need to savour the trip. Leave the cellphone at home every once in a while. Try kissing more and tweeting less. And stop talking so much.

Listen.

Other people have something to say, too. And when they don't, that glorious silence that you hear will have more to say to you than you ever imagined. That is when you will begin to hear your song. That's when your best thoughts take hold, and you become really you.

Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

Be Conscious and Make it your guide..

There are infinite levels of consciousness; all is consciousness. This play is infinite; the Divine is infinite; the levels are infinite. God is infinite so everything is infinite. We cannot say that there are ten levels, twenty levels: it's infinite.

That's the idea. Life is a journey to the infinite. You can never say that you have already reached it, that this is the end. It is always a beginning.

Time means the distance between two things. Most of the time we are in the past and when we are in the past, we create a distance. So if we want to go out from the time, we must get free of the past. Or maybe we are in the future, and then again we create a distance between the future and ourselves. We wait for the future and we don't live now, in the present.

Time is now, but we create a distance: we are either in the past, or in the future. If we want to get free from time, we must get free from past and future. We have to be always in the present, with the present time in our hands.

If we become servile, we lose our freedom with our way of thinking. If we don't hold on to anything, we are free. If we learn to leave, we will be free.

We hold on and then we say we are not free. Learn to leave fast, never possess, get free from past and future: time will be with you and you will be fully free.

It would be easier to do so by realising the value of life, of existence. We don't know the importance of our lives, and that's why we waste the present moment.

We are always absent from life. We are in the past or future, with memories of the past and fears of the future. This is normal human life, the way of living: always absent from the present.

The power, the joy of the present is so strong, so beautiful and big, that you will not miss your memories. Why do you invoke memories? Because you miss something and when you miss something, you open the album. The power of now, of the present is so great and full that you won't miss anything.

When we live in the present our capacities grow more. Generally, we have memory of the past to enable us to remember the past. When we live in the present we do not need to rely on memory.

The ultimate aim of nature's process of making the human consciousness grow is to give us the realisation, to increase our consciousness. That's the only object of life. All the rest are processes or experiments with or without love, with or without suffering. All the tools of nature are working to make humanity more conscious.

Spirituality means to live with that consciousness. Everything is moving and changing but we are witnesses watching the play, not disturbing it, not interfering, just enjoying.

The Self is a big word. Bring your Self to the front seat so you can direct your own movements. That's why Sri Aurobindo said: “To grow your consciousness, grow your awareness, your understanding, your knowledge. If you exist with consciousness, with good understanding, with knowledge, you are able to give direction to your movements. Then, you can tell your mind where to go.

But now you have no control: if the mind wants this, you go there.”

Life is movement and the movement needs a guide. Consciousness is the guide



Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

Passion and Compassion

We know what passion is hence it is not very difficult to understand what compassion may be. Passion means a state of biological fever – it is hot. You are almost possessed by biological, unconscious energies. You are no longer your own master, you are just a slave.

Compassion means you have transcended biology and physiology. You are no more a slave, you are master. Now you function consciously. You are not driven, pulled and pushed by unconscious forces; you can decide what you want to do with your energies. You are totally free. Then the same energy that becomes passion is transformed into compassion.

Passion is lust, compassion is love. Passion is desire, compassion is desirelessness. Passion is greed, compassion is sharing. Passion wants to use the other as a means, compassion respects the other as an end unto himself or herself. Passion keeps you tethered to earth, to mud and you never become a lotus. Compassion makes you a lotus. You start rising above the muddy world of desires, greed and anger. Compassion is a transformation of your energies.

Ordinarily you are scattered, fragmentary. Some energy is being absorbed by your anger, some by your greed, by your lust, and so on. You are left hollow, empty.

All your energy keeps on going down the drain. When all these energies are no longer being wasted they start filling your inner lake, your inner being. You become full. A great delight arises in you. When you start overflowing you have become a Buddha and you have come upon an inexhaustible source.

Compassion is a key word, but you will understand it only if you go deep into meditation. Meditation is the key to transform passion into compassion. You will have to become more conscious. Right now you are unconscious.

We live like robots... The more like a robot you are, the better you function, the better the society feels with you – because it is a society of robots. To be awakened, alert, conscious is dangerous. It is a society of blind people; to have eyes is to invite danger.

But without creating consciousness you will never be able to know the beauty, the blessing that existence has bestowed upon you. You will never know the great opportunity that has been given to you to grow, to become. You can be sunlit peaks and you are just dark holes!

Socrates says, “If you know that you don’t know, that is a great beginning. Then it is possible for you to know.” To be aware that “I am ignorant” creates the possibility of seeking, searching in your own interiority for the truth – for your truth.

Compassion is the ultimate transformation of passion. You are in passion, but you go on thinking that you are right as you are. You go on defending yourself. And anything that disturbs your comfortable, mechanical life, you go against...

When you come to me you don’t come to be awakened, you come to me so that you can dream beautiful, sweet dreams. That is your purpose in coming; that is not my purpose in being here. Once you are here you are caught. Then, slowly, slowly i start taking your dreams away. Then, slowly, slowly i go on destroying your illusions. Once your illusions are dropped, your dreams shattered, a great awakening is waiting you for you – a great awakening which makes you a Buddha. And compassionate.



Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

No Boundaries

In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.
Gautama Buddha
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The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?
Pablo Casals
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From space I saw Earth indescribably beautiful and with the scars of national boundaries gone.
Muhammad Ahmad Faris
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There were no boundaries or borders. It was as if my mind had once long ago made up a story about separate objects with boundaries but the story wasn't true.
Vijali Hamilton
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As I looked down, I saw a large river meandering slowly along for miles, passing from one country to another without stopping. I also saw huge forests, extending along several borders... Two words leaped to mind as I looked down on all this: commonality and interdependence. We are one world.
John-David Bartoe


Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

Love One Love All

Love All

He who hates no single being, is friendly and compassionate, free from
self-regard and vanity, the same in good and evil,
patient; contented, ever devout, subdued in soul,
firm in purpose, fixed on Me in heart and mind,
and who worships Me, is dear to Me.

Bhagavad Gita 12.13-14

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Do you love your Creator?

Love your fellow-beings first.

Prophet Muhammad

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Life has the nobler goal of self-illumination, of light- ing the lamp of love inside
oneself and sharing that lamp with all around us.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

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The experience of love arises when we surrender
our separateness into the universal. It is a feeling of unity.

You don't love another, you are another.

Stephen Levine

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If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche
that must have been left behind in the sixties,
that's his problem.

Love and peace are eternal.

John Lennon


Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You