THE IDEA OF GOD

There are some people who say that the concept of God is just an idea created by man.
Granted that it is just an idea-- which it is not-- as has been experienced by millions of persons in the past-- granted that it is an idea, yet the idea brings strength, it brings comfort and help in difficult moments of life. Even if it is just an idea it does not take anything away from you, it gives you something extra in life.

If you are already well off in your job--would the idea of a promotion be abhorrent to you? No.
Think of two children walking on the street. One of them has parents, while the other is an orphan.
Both of them fall on the ground and both begin to cry.
The one with parents will cry out: "Maa! Papa!!" and derive comfort from his cries, till his parents come to dry his tears and to take care of his wounds.
This is the state of a believer in God.
But the orphan will simply cry and cry and have no one to call out to. There will be no one to dry his tears or to wash his wounds.
This will be the state of a person who does not believe in God.
Therefore, Love even atheists. They need you more.

THIS WORLD IS ONLY A TAVERN

A Fakir or a Holy Man, was passing through the kingdom of a certain King.
He saw the King standing on the balcony of his first floor in his Palace.
And he said out loud to the King:
"O King! Is there a place for the night in this Tavern of yours?"
The King was surprised and also annoyed:
"What do you mean by calling my Palace a Tavern? Dont you see that I live in it?"
"Yes, Your Majesty! I can see that you live in this place. And that is why I am calling it a Tavern!"
"Explain yourself!" said the King getting angrier, "or I will have your head for insulting me!!"
The Holy Man said: "Forgive me if I have offended you, but all I can see is a Tavern instead of your Palace! And I can prove that it is a Tavern!"
"Prove it!" said the furious king, "Now!"
The Holy Man said: " Who is on the throne at this time?"
"I am on the throne!" said the King "And I live here in the Palace."
"Will you be forever on the throne? If not, then who will come after you?
"My son!" said the King.
"And will your son live forever and be on the throne? Or will he also go from the world? And who will come after him?"
"My grandson! " said the angry King.
"And will he remain forever on the throne? Who will come after him?"
"My great grandson!" said the nonplussed king.
"And after him?" said the Holy Man.
"His descendants!"
"O King!" said the Holy Man, "who was on the throne before you?"
"My father!" said the King.
"And before him?" said the Holy Man.
"My grandfather and great grand father and my ancestors!" said the King.
And the Holy Man said with loudness:
"WHO SAYS THIS IS NOT A TAVERN WHERE SO MANY HAVE COME AND GONE AND SO MANY MUST COME AND GO?"
Indeed this is the reality of the world before us. People spend their time collecting wealth and purchasing properties. When they are told: "Why are you after so much wealth? You cannot take it with you!" Their inevitable reply is : "It is for our children!"
But the hard and terrible truth is that not even their children are going to enjoy this wealth forever, and it shall merely be passed on from one generation to another.
Yes, the people who come into this world leave behind a great legacy--- the legacy of the Tavern that is this world, where all who come here, come only to go away.
History is the name of the billions who were in this world and who are today no more, and very soon we are going to be a part of that history. All coming empty handed into this Tavern and leaving Empty handed.
"Ye Chaman yoon hee rahegaa Aur iss men saare pakshi
Apni apni boliyaan bol kar urr jaayenge
This Garden shall always remain here,
But all the birds in it shall fly away, one by one"
How fortunate are those who make good use of their little time in the Tavern to attain their

real home in Heaven.

THE THORN OF ATTACHMENT

There was a time when HH Shri Nathji was going for a morning walk in the city of Lucknow in Northern India.
Just as he passed by the houses, an old lady spotted him and rushed out of her home, bringing a beautiful rose in her hand.
"Maharaj!" she said, "Sire! Stop for a moment and let me offer my salutations to you. I also wish to give you this flower which was the finest one in my garden this morning!"
HH Shri Nathji greeted the lady and took the flower from her hand gracefully.
Then he said to her: "O Dear Mother! This flower is so beautiful, probably the best in your garden! But there is a terrible thorn attached to it!"
"O I am so sorry!" said the old lady in a state of alarm and took the flower from HH Shri Nathji's hand and began to examine it carefully.
She said finally: "Maharaj! I can find no thorn in it. But then maybe my eyesight is too weak. You are a young man and would know better!"
HH Shri Nathji said: "O Dear Mataji, mother! I am not referring to any thorn on the stalk of the flower! I am referring to an invisible thorn in the flower.
"Just see how beautiful the flower is! It has captured my heart and indeed will capture the hearts of all who look upon it!
"But one day this flower is going to fade away and die. Can you imagine the hurt it is going to cause the heart that was attached to it?
"THE FADING AWAY OF THE FLOWER IS THE HIDDEN THORN IN THE FLOWER!"
"Indeed so it is in the world. When we give our hearts to the things of the world, our heart is bound to break, because everything in the world is perishable and vanishes with time."
"The perishable world cannot contain everlasting happiness. Everlasting happiness lies only in

God who is Eternal and Everlasting Himself!"

PARABLES TO MAKE YOUR LIFE EASY

"HOW TO ESCAPE THE TEMPTATIONS OF THE WORLD"
This world can be a tempting place and bring before us many faces of temptation to which we become attached and then ultimately destroy our peace of mind and our lives.
THE PARABLE OF THE TWO FLIES
"If thou wish that thy heart be never broken,
Then, O Loved One, bind it not to anyone!
In other words, if you wish that your heart be never broken, then do not bind your heart to anyone. It is this union, this attachment that brings about the shock of separation.
Two flies flew towards two separate cups of honey and each one sat upon a cup. The first fly became so attached to the honey that it fell into it and wrapped it around itself. And the net result of this was that the honey, for the greed of which it had gone into the cup, became the cause of its death.
The second fly looked at the plight of the first fly and decided to play it safe. It sat on the corner of the cup and partook of the honey whenever it wanted and flew away whenever it wished to, or else went to sleep on the edge of the cup.
Whenever it would wake up and have a desire for the sip of honey it would take it and then peacefully fall asleep again.
It took the taste of the honey but always safeguarded its wings from being entrapped in the honey. It was fully engaged with the honey and yet fully disengaged from it. It was a fly and it knew that the honey was its food, but it would never go so close to it as to get its wings entrapped in it. It knew that if it allowed that to happen then it would never be able to fly away from there. And it did not want to lose its freedom at any cost.
The taste of freedom was far greater for it than the sweetness of the honey.It sat on the edge of the cup of honey and gave a lesson to humanity how it could remain free despite being involved in the attachments of the world.
But sadly the only lesson that the first fly could give to the world was that it lost the very ha

ppiness it sought from the honey when it went too close to it. Not only did it lose its freedom but it also lost all taste for the honey as well.

DEATH IS AN AWAKENING FROM THE DREAMS OF LIFE

LIFE IS A DREAM
1. This life consists of three parts -- the past, the present and the future.
2. The past has gone and cannot come back. It is like a dream.
3. The Future has not come. It is a dream.
4. And what is the Present? The present is the future coming before us swiftly to turn into the past. The present is a combination of the future and the past.
5. If A = a dream, and B = a dream. Then a combination of the two A+B = a dream as well!
If A=0 and B=0, then A+B = 0
6. What is the Present? It is the moment in which we say we exist. It is life.
7. Look at the second hand of a clock. see how swiftly it moves, 60 seconds in one minute.
8. Just say: "I exist in this second of time!" and by the time you finish saying it, the second of time is gone.
9. If you divide the second into micro-seconds, into a million parts, then you cannot even say in which micro second you exist. It is gone even before you can pin-point it.
10. So, we do not exist in the future and we do not exist in the past. We say we exist in the Present, but it is a moment of time which goes no sooner than it comes. So in which moment of time do we exist? That fleeting moment of the present which becomes a dream the moment it comes before us.And which we cannot even pin-point.
11. When we go to sleep, everything in the dream world appears real. If a tiger comes after you, you run, you never say :
"Oh, this tiger is simply a tiger of my dream, it does not exist at all!"
Rather you just scream and run.
12. When you are in the dream world you are not even aware of the fact that you are really asleep in bed. You forget the world of the wakeful state altogether
13. But when you wake up, you may even remember the dream world!
14. So in that sense the dream world appears to be more real than the world of the wakeful state.
15. When do you understand that you are in a dream world? Only when you wake up and the dream world vanishes.
16. This life may be a dream world, and we only come to know that it was a dream when it ends abruptly with death.
17. We might say that Death is an Awakening from the Dreams of Life.
18. And that Awakening can be into a beautiful world where He who sent you into this world of dreams will be there to welcome you into His Real World.
19. So if this world is a dream so are its joys and sorrows, and we should not be too affected by them for they have come to go with the dream.
20. Rather we must try to please Him who sent us into this world, by obeying all His covenants of love, righteousness and faith and service to humanity.

MY EASTER SONG WITH A BLEND OF INDIAN MUSIC

"A HAPPY EASTER TO ALL"
Although I am not a Christian by faith, as I believe in the goodness of all religions and I respect all religious Faiths as my own, in the true spirit of Hinduism, yet I am deeply inspired by the religious Hymns, Bhajans, and Ghazals that have inspired most religious or spiritual music of all times.

All my childhood I studied in Christian Schools and probably knew more about the Bible than many of my Christian classmates!
There was a hymn which we sang with great feeling and great gusto when it came to Easter and it always filled me with great joy and happiness.
Easter was the Day when Jesus Christ arose from the dead after having been crucified by the Romans.
"Up from the Grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph over His Foes,
He arose a victor from the dark domain,
With His saints to reign,
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ Arose!"
I have sung the hymn here with my own accompaniment. I have flavored the hymn with a touch of Indian Classical Music with the tabla as an accompaniment and I am sure my musician friends will enjoy this blend of Eastern and Western Music on Easter, whatever be their Faith.
Please clink on the link to view the video.  

A HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYONE!

A HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYONE!
SO SOON AFTER HOLI AND MAHABIR JAYANTI... THIS IS A SHOWERING OF LOVE, SO MANY DAYS IN SUCCESSION THAT PORTRAY LOVE FOR THE WORLD..