Once a king ordered his three ministers to take a bag and go to the forest and fill up the bag with fruits. The first minister thought that since the king has ordered for collection of fruits, he must collect the best of the fruits in the bag. The second minister thought that since the king is a very busy person, he may not look very thoroughly into the bag what has been collected and hence he collected whatever he could lay his hands. Thus his bag was filled up with a mixture of good and rotten fruits. The third minister thought that the king would see only externally how big the bag is and hence he just filled up the bag with all dried leaves and dust. All the three ministers came back to the court with their respective bags, having executed the order of collecting the fruits. The King, without even seeing what their bags contained, just ordered that now the three ministers must be sent to separate jails for three months, where they will not be provided with any food and they ...

I have heard about an old Zen monk. He was on his deathbed. The last day had come, and he declared that that evening he would be no more. So followers, disciples, friends started coming. He had many lovers. They all started coming. From far and wide people gathered. One of his old disciples, when he heard that the master was going to die, ran to the market. Somebody asked: The master is dying in his hut, why are you going to the market? The old disciple said: I know that my master loves a particular type of cake, so I am going to purchase the cake. It was difficult to find the cake, because now it had gone out of fashion, but by the evening somehow he managed. He came running with the cake. And everybody was worried – it was as if the master was waiting for someone. He would open his eyes and look, and close his eyes again. And when this disciple came, he said: Okay, so you have come. Where is the cake? The disciple produced the cake – and he was very happy that the master asked a...

Hanumanji always wanted to serve his Prabhu Lord Sri Rama. One day when Sita Matha was entering into Rama’s bedroom, Hanumanji also followed her. Then Lord Rama said that he cannot enter into the room. Hanumanji said that when Sita Matha can enter into the room, why can’t he enter the room. He is having such an innocent devotional service towards Lord Rama. Just to convince Hanumanji, Rama said that Sita is having a sindhur on her forehead, so she can enter the room. After hearing that, Hanumanji came out and thought for a while. Then Hanumanji concluded that sindhur is the qualification required to enter into Lord Rama’s bedroom. So he decided to ask more about this sindhur to Sita Matha. Next day when Sita was in the dressing table, she was trying to keep sindhur, there came Hanumanji. Sita Matha treated Hanumanji as her son because Sita and Rama did not have children for a long time. Then Hanumanji asked Sita about the purpose and value of sindhur. She understood wh...

One day, right in the middle of the afternoon, Bhagavan Ramana took his kamandalu, got up and told me, ‘Jagadisha, come with me to walk about on the mountain.’ “But it’s so hot,” I protested. “How can we move about in such weather?” I argued like this because I wanted to escape from the trip. Bhagavan found my excuse unsatisfactory. “You can move about in just the same way that I move about,” he said. “But my feet will burn!” I exclaimed. I didn’t have any footwear with me and I didn’t relish the idea of walking about over the burning rocks. “Will my feet not burn as well?” replied Bhagavan, obviously feeling that this was not a serious obstacle. Bhagavan never wore any kind of footwear. He could walk on the toughest terrain in any weather without feeling the least discomfort. But yours is a different case,” I answered, alluding to the fact that Bhagavan never needed footwear. “Why? Am I not a man with two feet, just like you?” asked Bhagavan. “Why are you unnec...

After a long journey, Sri Ramchandra and the army of monkeys, reached the southern coast of our vast land and beheld the expanse of water separating them from Sri Lanka. The search for Sita was over; Rama now knew where she was; it only remained to redeem her from Ravana, by peaceful persuasion if possible or by war, if necessary. In line with our tradition of seeking Divine help, before commencing any work, Sri Ram desired to consecrate and offer worship to Shiva. Arrangements were soon completed, except finding a suitable priest to guide the function. Sri Ram thought for a while and then decided on the best person available nearby - Ravana the king of Sri Lanka. Without hesitation he bade Hanuman to fly to Ravana’s palace and request him to conduct the pooja. There was considerable shock and dismay among the assembly; to invite an enemy to conduct a pooja, specially meant to conquer and destroy him! Will Ravana accept such a preposterous invitation? But Hanuman as a loyal sold...

An elephant took a bath in a river and was walking on the road. When it neared a bridge, it saw a pig fully soaked in mud coming from the opposite direction. The elephant quietly moved to one side, allowed the dirty pig to pass and then continued its onward journey. The unclean pig later spoke to its friends in arrogance, “See how big I am; even the elephant was afraid of me and moved to one side to let me pass”. On hearing this, some elephants questioned their friend, the reason for its action. Was it out of fear? The elephant smiled and replied, “I could have easily crushed the pig under my leg, but I was clean and the pig was very unclean. By crushing it, my leg would have become dirty and I wanted to avoid it. Hence, I moved aside.” Moral: Realized souls will avoid contact with negativity not out of fear, but out of desire to keep away from impurity though they are strong enough to destroy the impurity.You need not react to every opinion, every comment, or every situ...

A teacher and his student were walking from one village to another, when they suddenly heard a roar behind them. Turning their gaze in the direction of the roar, they saw a big tiger following them. The first thing the student wanted to do was to run away, but since he has been studying and practicing self-discipline, he was able to halt himself from running, and wait to see what his teacher would do. "What shall we do Master?" Asked the student. The teacher looked at the student and answered in a calm voice: "There are several options. We can fill our minds with paralyzing fear so that we cannot move, and let the tiger do with us whatever pleases it. We can faint. We can run away, but then it will run after us. We can fight with it, but physically it is stronger than us." "We can pray to god to save us. We can choose to influence the tiger with the power of our mind, if our concentration is strong enough. We can send it love. We can also co...

Two seeds lay side by side in the fertile spring soil. The first seed said,   “I want to grow! I want to send my roots deep into the soil beneath me, and thrust my sprouts through the earth’s crust above me . . . I want to unfurl my tender buds like banners to announce the arrival of spring. I want to feel the warmth of the sun on my face and the blessing of the morning dew on my petals!”    And so it grew.  The second seed said,   “I am afraid. If I send my roots into the ground below, I don’t know what I will encounter in the dark. If I push my way through the hard soil above me I may damage my delicate sprouts . . . what if I let my buds open and a snail tries to eat them? And if I were to open my blossoms, a small child may pull me from the ground. No, it is much better for me to wait until it is safe.”    And so it waited. A yard hen scratching around in the early spring ground for food found the waiting seed and promptly ate it. Those...

Words are a powerful programming factor in life long success.   As a typical 8 year old kind, Munna was always climbing trees, poles, and literally hanging around upside down from the rafters of the lake house. So, it came as no surprise for his dad to find Munna the top of a 30-foot tree swinging back and forth. Munna's little eight-year-old brain didn't realize the tree could break or he could get hurt. He just thought it was fun to be up so high. His older cousin, Tanna, was also in the same tree. She was hanging on the first big limb, about ten feet below Munna. Tanna's mother also noticed both the kids at the exact time Munna's dad did. About that time a huge gust of wind came over the tree. All of them heard the leaves rattling and the tree swaying. Munna heard his dad's voice over the wind yell, "Munna, Hold on tightly." So he did. Within few moments, Munna heard Tanna screaming at the top of her lungs, laying flat on the ground. She had falle...

It happened that one man came to Tilopa. The man wanted to attain buddhahood and he had heard that this Tilopa has attained. And Tilopa was staying in a temple somewhere in Tibet. The man came; Tilopa was sitting, and the man said, ”I would like to stop my thoughts.” Tilopa said, ”It is very easy. I will give you a device, a technique. You follow this: just sit down and don’t think of monkeys. This will do.” The man said, ”So easy? Just not thinking of monkeys? But I have never been thinking about them.” Tilopa said, ”Now you do it, and tomorrow morning you report.” You can understand what happened to that poor man... monkeys and monkeys all around. In the night he couldn’t get any sleep, not a wink. He would open his eyes and they were sitting there, or he would close his eyes and they were sitting there, and they were making faces.... He was simply surprised. ”Why has this man given this technique, because if monkeys are the problem, then I have never been bothered by t...

What a beautiful message...! A young girl and her father were walking along a forest path. At some point, they came across a large tree branch on the ground in front of them. The girl asked her father, “If I try, do you think I could move that branch?” Her father replied, “I am sure you can, if you use all your strength.” The girl tried her best to lift or push the branch, but she was not strong enough and she couldn't move it. She said, with disappointment, “You were wrong, dad. I can't move it.” “Try again with all your strength,” replied her father. Again, the girl tried hard to push the branch. She struggled but it did not move. “Dad, I cannot do it,” said the girl. Finally her father said, “Young lady, I advised you to use 'all your strength'. You didn’t ask for my help. ~ Moral : Our real strength lies not in independence, but in interdependence. No individual person has all the strengths, all the resources and all the stamina required for ...

One night Rabia, a noble Sufi saint, was desperately searching for something on the street outside her small hut. When Hasan, returned back from work, he saw this and curiously asked, “Rabia, my dear, what are you looking for, here on the street, at this hour?” Rabia replied, “I lost my needle.” Hasan joined her in the search, but after searching for a while, he asked, “Can you try and recollect where you might have dropped it?” Rabia said, “Of course, I remember. I dropped it near the bed, in our hut.” Hasan mocked her, “Are you insane? You lost it inside the house, then why are we looking for it outside?” Rabia innocently replied, “There was no oil left in our lamp. It was pitch dark inside the house to search for it. Hence I thought of searching for it outside, since there was enough streetlight here.” While holding his laugh, Hasan said, “You are really acting weird. If you lost your needle inside the house, how could you even expect to find it outside?” Rabia simply...

A man married a beautiful girl. He loved her very much. One day she developed a skin disease. Slowly she started to lose her beauty. It so happened that one day her husband left for a tour. While returning he met with an accident and lost his eyesight. However their married life continued as usual. But as days passed she lost her beauty gradually. Blind husband did not know this and there  was not any difference in their married life. He continued to love her and she also loved him very much. One day she died. Her death brought him great sorrow. He finished all her last rites and wanted to leave that town. A man from behind called and said, now how will you be able to walk all alone? All these days your wife used to help you. He replied, I am not blind. I was acting,  because if she knew l could see her ugliness it would have pained her more than her disease. So I pretended to be blind. She was a very good wife. I only wanted to keep her happy. Moral:- Some times it i...

A Hindu was flying from JFK New York Airport to SFO San Francisco Airport CA to attend a meeting at Monterey, CA.  An American girl was sitting on the right side, near window seat. It indeed was a long journey - it would take nearly seven hours.  He was surprised to see the young girl reading a Bible unusual of young Americans. After some time she smiled and we had few acquaintances talk.He told her that I am from India  Then suddenly the girl asked: 'What's your faith?' 'What?' He didn't understand the question.  'I mean, what's your religion? Are you a Christian? Or a Muslim?'  'No!' He replied, 'He am neither Christian nor Muslim'.  Apparently she appeared shocked to listen to that. 'Then who are you?' “I am a Hindu”, He said.  She looked at him as if she was seeing a caged animal. She could not understand what He was talking about.  A common man in Europe or US knows about Christianity and Islam, as they a...