Cleanliness is next to Godliness

Cleanliness is next to Godliness 

 Shuchi and Shubhrata were given utmost importance in our Indian culture, since ever. Right from small things like brushing teeth etc. fixed rules and regulations have been placed, such that utmost cleanliness prevails in the society. The following story portrays the obsession of Indian culture for cleanliness.

Long ago there used to live an obedient shishya of the great Paila maharshi. His name was Udanka. Udanka, due to his obedience, learnt quickly his lessons. After completing his Vidyaabhyaasam, before leaving the Guru-aashramam, Udanka requested his Guru to take Guru-dakshina. Paila maharshi replied “you being a shishya of me is itself enough. It is difficult to get good shishyas like you. Please go on”. Upon many times being requested by Udanka, finally Paila maharshi said “do the work that your Guru-patni tells you and then leave”.

He approached Guru-patni, did Yathaa-vidhi namaskaaram, with Vinayam, asked her to give him some work. She asked him to get the kundalas of the country’s Mahaaraani for a Vratam. Udanka immediately set out for it. On the way he sees a radiant brightly glowing God coming on a huge Vrushabham. He does the required namaskars to him and the God gives him goomayam. He eats the goomayam, takes leave from the God and continues his journey to meet Poushya, the king of the country. Poushya was a very great king, ruled his subjects as his own kids and made dharma walk on its four legs.


Poushya welcomed Udanka and offered him a warm welcome when he arrived at his courtyard. Udanka tells the reason for his arrival and immediately the kings granted him permission to collect the kundalas. He asked udanka to go to the queen’s palace and collect them from her personally. Udanka went into the palace and searched for the queen everywhere. Failing to find her returns to poushya informing that he could not find the queen. Poushya hesitantly says “O great Brahmana! How can I say that you are not clean? My queen is a Pativrata and hence only people who are clean can see her”. Udanka recalls why he was not in a clean state and realizes that in the hurry to finish gurupatni’s task, he forgot to wash his hands, feet and mouth and do aachamanam, after eating the gomayam. He immediately washes and does aachamanam and goes back to see the queen and sees her in her palace.

Story will be continued later in some other contexts. So will Udanka be able to complete his gurupatni’s task? who was the God? Keep reading for answers …. :)


Morals in the Story:

    It is very basic and important to always be clean.
    The mahima of pativratas is immense. It seems even the trimurtis do not have power to go against the will of a pativrata.

Importance of keeping one’s word

 Importance of keeping one’s word 

We all know that the pandavas left their kingdom for 13 long years for keeping up their word! Well, for Arjuna going away from the bhogas of a king, for the sake of truth, was not new. He did it once well before the aranyavaas. The story goes like this:

The kalyaanam of pandavas with Draupadi was an unusual one. However, it was perfectly according to dharma shastras. Infact Draupadi is one of the greatest pativratas and praised even by Lord Krishna for her Dharma vartana. A few reasons to justify the kalyaanam:

    Kunti Devi, the mother of pandavas, who never knew what a lie was, gave her will.
    Vyaasa Maharshi, one of the avataar of Lord Vishnu, ordered the kalyaanam to be done.
    Lord Shiva, pleased with her tapas, gave a boon to Draupadi to marry the pandavas.
    Pandavas, though were five physically, were all amshas of Indra, the King of the Gods. Hence, pandavas were actually one.


Naarada, again an avataar of Lord Vishnu, suggested some rules to be followed by pandavas and Draupadi for living together. This is because, though they were amshas of Gods and Godesses, since they had a human form some addition rules according to dharma shastras needed to be followed. One of the rules was that: Draupadi should spend one year with each of the pandavas and while she was with one of them, no other pandavas should visit the palace where they might be. In case of any breach of their rule, one-year pilgrimage was prescribed by way of penance leaving the kingdom.The pandavas and Draupadi were living happily until one day: a brahmana came running to Arjuna saying that the thieves had stolen his cows. Arjuna wanted to rush with him to catch the thieves but he realised that his bow and arrows were kept in Yudhisthira's palace and he was there in the company of Draupadi. He hesitated for a while, then seeing brahmana's plight he rushed in to Yudhisthira 's palace took his bow and arrows and ran to catch the thieves. After he caught the thieves and punished them, after restoring the cows of the brahmana, Arjuna came back to Yudhisthira and told him about his transgression of the rule.

Yudhisthira, knowing the reason of the breach of their rule, said their is no need for Arjuna to take the pilgrimage. Since it is a mistake committed towards him, and that too for a good reason, he will pardon arjuna . However, Arjuna would never break his word. He immediately set out for a one-year pilgrimage. May be this is why Arjuna is such a favourite sakha of Lord Krishna.


Morals in the Story:

    The story shows how important it is to keep up ones word, whether it is of any consequence or not, how much ever difficult it is.

    Arjuna, knowing that he will be punished for breaching the rule, did not stop doing his duty as a king to protect his people and punish the theif. Thus, one must always perform his duty without any laziness or any kind of fear.
   

Rewards for such people do show up as immediate difficulties, but in the end – it is truth is what always wins (Satyameva jayate). Arjuna's win was in the way of gaining eternal friendship with the Lord.

The Wet Pants

The Wet Pants 

There is a nine-year-old kid sitting at his desk and all of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet.

He thinks his heart is going to stop because he cannot possibly imagine how this has happened. It’s never happened before, and he knows that when the boys find out he will never hear the end of it..

When the girls find out, they’ll never speak to him again as long as he lives.  The boy believes his heart is going to stop; he puts his head down and prays this prayer, “Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I’m dead meat.”  He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered.

As the teacher is walking toward him, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy’s lap.

The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying to himself, “Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!”

Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out.

All the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else – Susie.  She tries to help, but they tell her to get out. “You’ve done enough, you klutz!”

Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers, “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

Susie whispers back, “I wet my pants once too.”

Moral:  All of us go through all good and bad things in life.  We should always remember how we felt when we were in same condition and should not mock others for being in it.  Always try to understand their situation as if you are in it and help much as possible praying to god that today you are in a condition to help someone who needs it.

The story of Rantideva

The story of Rantideva  

A hand is odorned with daanam rather than with kankanaas. Daanam must be done expecting absolutely nothing in return, admiring the greatness of the dana-grahita, for giving the daata an opportunity to help the grahita. Stories of great Daatas are huge in number in our Indian history, who gave away everything they had.

King Rantideva is well known not only in Bhuloka, but also in the urdhva lokas for his daana gunam. Rantideva never endeavored to earn anything for himself. He would enjoy whatever he got by vidhi and when atithis came he would give them what they needed. He gave away everything he had to the poor and underwent considerable suffering, along with the members of his family. Finally, he and his family members did not even get food and water, yet Rantideva always was always satisfied — a sthita pragnya.


One morning, after fasting for forty-eight days, Rantideva received some water and some paramaannam (paayasam with rice, milk and ghee). Just when about to eat them, a brahmana atithi arrived. Because Rantideva perceived the presence of the Paramaatma everywhere, and in every living entity, he received the atithi with faith and respect and gave him a share of the paramaannam. The brahmana ate his share and left the place satisfied. Thereafter, having divided the remaining paramaannam with his family, Rantideva was just about to eat his own share when another atithi, a shudra arrived. Seeing the shudra in relationship with the Purushottama, King Rantideva gave him also a share of the paramaannam. When the shudra went away, another atithi arrived, surrounded by dogs, and said, “O King, I and my company of dogs are very hungry. Please give us something to eat.” With great respect, King Rantideva offered the balance of the paramaannam to the dogs and the master of the dogs, who had come as atithis. Thereafter, only the drinking water remained, and there was only enough to satisfy one person, but when the King was just about to drink it, a chandaala appeared and said, “O King, although I am lowborn, kindly give me some drinking water.”

Aggrieved at hearing the pitiable words of the poor fatigued chandaala, Rantideva spoke the following madhura vaakyas. “I do not pray to the Lord for the ashta siddhis, nor for vimukti from samsaara saagaram. I want to stay among all the living entities and suffer all distresses on their behalf, so that they may be freed from suffering. By offering my water to maintain the life of this poor chandaala, who is struggling to live, I have been freed from all hunger, thirst, fatigue, trembling of the body, moroseness, distress, lamentation and illusion”. Having spoken thus, King Rantideva, although on the verge of death because of thirst, gave his own portion of water to the chandaala without hesitation, for he was naturally very kind.

The trimurtis appeared before Rantideva, satisfied by his daatrutvam and bless him. They revealed that they had come in the forms of the brahmana, shudra and chandaala in order to test his karuna, daya and daatrutvam. Because Rantideva was a pure devotee, always thinking about Krishna and free from all material desires, the maaya could not exhibit herself before him. On the contrary, for him maaya entirely vanished, exactly like a dream. All those who followed the principles of King Rantideva were the favorites of Lord Krishna and became pure devotees, attached to the Purushottama. Thus they all became the best of the yogis.

Great people are always humble

Great people are always humble   

Lord Raama, the paramaathma, was ofcourse the greatest warrior ever. Lord Krishna in Bhagavadgita remarks “I am Raama among warriors”. He learnt all the Shastras and unparalled Dhanurvidya under the guidance of the great Vasishtha. He was also given super-human powers like bala, ati bala by the great Vishwamithra, the Rishi of Gayathri manthra. Vishwamithra maharshi also taught him all the secret astras that ever existed, which only he in this whole universe knew (he originally learnt it from Lord Shiva). In addition to these, Agasthya mahamuni gave him many additional powers.A few glimpses of Lord Raama’s valour:


    With one arrow Raama kills taataki, the mighty raakshasi.
    With two simultaneous arrows he kills subaahu and throws Maaricha seven seas away.
    Effortlessly lifts the Shiva dhanush, which was pulled to the court by around 50000 well built people.
    Raama kills Khara, Dhushana, their 1000 brothers and their army in 14 minutes single handed.


Despite being such a great warrior, he never displayed in strength on his own to show others. The anger on the samudra stands as a good example for this quality of Raama:


Raavana gives 30 days time to sita maata to decide if she will marry him, else will kill her. Bharata took word from Raama saying that if he does’nt return on the next moment of 14 yrs of aranyavaas, then he will sacrifice himself. Raama and his army reaches the shores of ocean with barely 30 days in hand. They have to cross the ocean, defeat Ravana & his army, take sita back to ayodhya in around 30 days time. With such a press for time and given the strength of Raama, Lakshmana suggests Raama not to spend time asking ocean God for way, but to order him.


What Raama does is unbelievable. Though he had the strength and power to control the ocean God, he did not do it. He did penance on the shores of the ocean for 3 long days to give them a way. Finally after 3 days Raama gets angry on the ocean and to make remember his duty, aims an astra at him and immediately ocean God appears and suggests a way of crossing him…   

What you gave is your only investment

What you gave is your only investment  

What one gives to others is the only thing he gets. There is a famous sarcastic saying about misers which goes like this: "A miser is a greater donor than a Daata! Well, the reason is that a Daata will give away his things to others and may be uses a little portion of his money,

whereas a miser gaurds his money his entire life and without he enjoying any bit of it, people take it away after he dies :) ".

 A person who does not help others cannot be helped even by the God.

Once there used to live a great miser, who never gave anything to anyone. He obviously reached naraka and was given huge unbearable punishments.

   

He used to lament very much for his poor state and beg God everyday to save him from the naraka. God, as usual, took pity on the poor state of the miser and wanted to somehow find a way of helping him. 

But even with a lot of effort, a few meetings with Chitragupta, finds nothing which the miser gave to anybody in order that God can give him something. Finally God managed to find a tiny piece of good that the miser did in some of his janmas:

The miser once, somehow, gave a small piece of spoilt banana to somebody. God, seeing it as an oppurtunity to help the lamenting miser in naraka, made a stick appear before him — with which he could climb out of naraka. The miser very happy to have received the fortune, quickly began climbing the stick.  

Other people in the naraka, who were also longing to get out of naraka, tried to use the stick to get out. The miser started pushing down all the other people and was saying that "the stick was provided for me by God, and you cannot use it". Immediately the stick dissappeared and the miser was back in the naraka.

Morals in the story:

    One must always share whatever he has with others. A person who is a miser will never deserve higher worlds.

    Even God cannot help people who do not help others. Everyone has to bear the consequences his own karma. The easiest way is to do good karmas in the name of God, and let Him decide the vidhi. There is no need to blame the God for our difficulties. It was our own karma which gave us the difficulties.

Face difficulties positively

Face difficulties positively  

This parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the mule praying or whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving.

Instead, he called his neighbors together, told them what had happened, and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, HE WOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP!

This he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up!” He repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought panic and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP!

It wasn’t long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well! What seemed like it would bury him actually helped him . . . all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

THAT’S LIFE! If we face our problems and respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity.   

Life

Life 

Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there, to serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson, or to help you figure out who you are or who you want to become.

You never know who these people may be – a roommate, a neighbor, a professor, a friend, a lover, or even a complete stranger – but when you lock eyes with them, you know at that very moment they will affect your life in some profound way.

Sometimes things happen to you that may seem horrible, painful, and unfair at first, but in reflection you find that without overcoming those obstacles you would have never realized your potential, strength, willpower, or heart.

Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness, and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul. Without these small tests, whatever they may be, life would be like a smoothly paved straight flat road to nowhere. It would be safe and comfortable, but dull and utterly pointless.

The people you meet who affect your life, and the success and downfalls you experience, help to create who you are and who you become. Even the bad experiences can be learned from. In fact, they are sometimes the most important ones.

If someone loves you, give love back to them in whatever way you can, not only because they love you, but because in a way, they are teaching you to love and how to open your heart and eyes to things.

If someone hurts you, betrays you, or breaks your heart, forgive them, for they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious to whom you open your heart.

Make every day count. Appreciate every moment and take from those moments everything that you possibly can for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk to people that you have never talked to before, and listen to what they have to say.

Let yourself fall in love, break free, and set your sights high. Hold your head up because you have every right to. Tell yourself you are a great individual and believe in yourself, for if you don’t believe in yourself, it will be hard for others to believe in you.

You can make anything you wish of your life. Create your own life and then go out and live it with absolutely no regrets.

And if you love someone tell them, for you never know what tomorrow may have in store.
Learn a lesson in life each day that you live!
Today is the tomorrow you were worried about yesterday.   

The Smell of Rain

The Smell of Rain  

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the Doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. Still groggy from surgery, her husband David held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news. That afternoon of March 10,1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24 weeks pregnant, to Danae Lu Blessing.


At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound and nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor’s soft words dropped like bombs. I don’t think she’s going to make it, he said, as kindly as he could. “There’s only a 10 percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one.” Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Danae would likely face if she survived. She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on. “No! No!” was all Diana could say. She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away.

Through the dark hours of morning as Danae held onto life by the thinnest thread, Diana slipped in and out of sleep, growing more and more determined that their tiny daughter would live, and live to be a healthy, happy young girl. But David, fully awake and listening to additional dire details of their daughter’s chances of ever leaving the hospital alive, much less healthy, knew he must confront his wife with the inevitable. David walked in and said that we needed to talk about making funeral arrangements. Diana remembers, ‘I felt so bad for him because he was doing everything, trying to include me in what was going on, but I just wouldn’t listen, I couldn’t listen. 

As if willed to live by Diana’s determination, Danae clung to life hour after hour, with the help of every medical machine and marvel her miniature body could endure. But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Danae’s under-developed nervous system was essentially raw, the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn’t even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Danae struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl. There was never a moment when Danae suddenly grew stronger.But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there. At last, when Danae turned two months old, her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time. And two months later-though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero. Danae went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.

Today, five years later, Danae is a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She shows no signs, what so ever, of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she is everything a little girl can be and more-but that happy ending is far from the end of her story.


One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Danae was sitting in her mother’s lap in the bleachers of a local ballpark where her brother Dustin’s baseball team was practicing. Hugging her arms across her chest, Danae asked, “Do you smell that?” Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, “Yes, it smells like rain.” Danae closed her eyes and again asked, “Do you smell that?” Once again, her mother replied, “Yes, I think we’re about to get wet, it smells like rain. Still caught in the moment, Danae shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, “No, it smells like Him. It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest.” Tears blurred Diana’s eyes as Danae then happily hopped down to play with the other children. Before the rains came, her daughter’s words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Danae on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.   

The Poor Man’s Wealth

The Poor Man’s Wealth 

Ramchand and Premchand were neighbours. Ramchand was a poor farmer. Premchand was a landlord.

Ramchand used to be very relaxed and happy. He never bothered to close the doors and windows of his house at night. He had deep sound sleeps. Although he had no money he was peaceful.

Premchand used to be very tense always. He was very keen to close the doors and windows of his house at night. He could not sleep well. He was always bothered that someone might break open his safes and steal away his money. He envied the peaceful Ramchand.

One day, Premchand call Ramchand and gave him a boxful of cash saying, “Look my dear friend. I am blessed with plenty of wealth. I find you in poverty. So, take this cash and live in prosperity.”

Ramchand was overwhelmingly happy. He was joyful throughout the day. Night came. Ramchand went to bed as usual. But, to-day, he could not sleep.

He went and closed the doors and windows. He still could not sleep. He began to keep on looking at the box of cash. The whole night he was disturbed.

As soon as day broke, Ramchand took the box of cash to Premchand. He gave away the box to Premchand saying, “Dear Friend, I am poor. But, your money took away peace from me. Please bear with me and take back your money.”  

 A gift of love! 

“Can I see my baby?” the happy new mother asked.

When the bundle was nestled in her arms and she moved the fold of cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped. The doctor turned quickly and looked out the tall hospital window. The baby had been born without ears.

Time proved that the baby’s hearing was perfect. It was only his appearance that was marred. When he rushed home from school one day and flung himself into his mother’s arms, she sighed, knowing that his life was to be a succession of heartbreaks. He blurted out the tragedy. “A boy, a big boy … called me a freak.”

He grew up, handsome for his misfortune. A favorite with his fellow students, he might have been class president, but for that. He developed a gift, a talent for literature and music. “But you might mingle with other young people,” his mother reproved him, but felt a kindness in her heart.

The boy’s father had a session with the family physician. Could nothing be done? “I believe I could graft on a pair of outer ears, if they could be procured,” the doctor decided.

Whereupon the search began for a person who would make such a sacrifice for a young man. Two years went by. Then, “You are going to the hospital, Son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need. But it’s a secret,” said the father.

The operation was a brilliant success, and a new person emerged. His talents blossomed into genius, and school and college became a series of triumphs.

Later he married and entered the diplomatic service. “But I must know!” He urged his father, “Who gave so much for me? I could never do enough for him.” “I do not believe you could,” said the father, “but the agreement was that you are not to know … not yet.” The years kept their profound secret, but the day did come … one of the darkest days that a son must endure. He stood with his father over his mother’s casket. Slowly, tenderly, the father stretched forth a hand and raised the thick, reddish-brown hair to reveal that the mother had no outer ears. “Mother said she was glad she never let her hair be cut,” he whispered gently, “and nobody ever thought Mother less beautiful, did they?”

Real beauty lies not in the physical appearance, but in the heart. Real treasure lies not in what that can be seen, but what that cannot be seen. Real love lies not in what is done and known, but in what that is done but not known.