A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in Wal-Mart. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout.. We all stood there, under the awning, just inside the door of the Wal-Mart. We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day. Her little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in, 'Mom let's run through the rain,' She said. 'What?' Mom asked. 'Let's run through the rain!' She repeated. 'No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down ...

A young man named Chuck bought a horse from a farmer for $250. The farmer agreed to deliver the horse the next day. The next day, the farmer drove up to Chucks house and said, “Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the horse died.” Chuck replied, “Well, then just give me my money back.” The farmer said, “Can’t do that. I went and spent it already.” Chuck said, “Ok, then, just bring me the dead horse.” The farmer asked, “What ya gonna do with him?” Chuck said, “I’m going to raffle him off.” The farmer said, “You can’t raffle off a dead horse!” Chuck said, “Sure I can, Watch me. I just won’t tell anybody he’s dead.” A month Later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, “What happened with that dead horse?” Chuck said, “I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at five dollars a piece and made a profit of $2495.” The farmer said, “Didn’t anyone complain?” Chuck said, “Just the guy who won. So I gave him his five dollars back.” Chuck grew up and now works for the gove...

A young man went to Nagarjuna. And he said, "I have started experiencing god. His face is in front of me. I close my eyes, god smiling faintly stands before me, I really enjoy it." Nagarjuna said, "You do one thing." Nagarjuna was a rough carefree sadhu, an extraordinary sadhu. A man just like Gorakh. He said, "You do one thing, then we will talk about this experience. You sit in the small cave facing us and think for three days that I am not a man, I am a buffalo." He said, "What's the matter? Why should I think this?" Nagarjuna said, "If you want to be in contact with me and you want to understand then this will have to be done ??? a small experiment. After doing it I will reveal the secret." The man went on sitting for three days. He was a stubborn man. For one who has dragged the face of god near, what's difficult in a buffalo? He got totally into it. For three days he didn't sleep, didn't eat, ...

On a very hot sunny day, an ant was very thirsty. It went to a pond to drink water. The poor ant lost its balance when drinking the water and it fell inside the water. A dove was watching all this from a nearby tree. The ant was struggling for life in the water. The dove felt very sad for the little ant. It plucked a leaf from that tree and dropped it into the pond. The leaf fell near the ant. The ant got over the leaf and then reached the shore. The ant thanked the dove for his kind help. Days passed by, after few months when the ant was going near the pond, he saw a hunter with a gun. The hunter was targeting at the dove sitting on a branch in the tree. The dove didn't know about the hunter. Just when the hunter was about to shoot the dove, the little ant got over his leg and bit him. The hunter shouted in pain and also missed his focus. Hearing this loud sound, dove realized the danger he was about to face. The dove flew away from the tree and escaped. Later he thanked the ...

The Indian monks used, in place of underwear, just a long strip of cloth called langot. It is a “mini” — mini-est — because just a long strip… they wrap it around themselves. They were allowed to have only two langotis. But a trouble arose: some rats came into the house and they started chewing on the langot. The man was in a great difficulty; he had only two langotis and soon they would be gone. So he asked the villagers, “What to do? because my sect does not allow a saint to have more than two langotis. That’s the only possession allowed.” A great saint was dying and he said to his successor, a young man, “Remember one thing: never allow a cat in your life,” and he died. A big crowd had gathered to listen to the last statement of this great saint… and what a sentence! “Never allow a cat in your life.” The successor said, “My god, why should I allow a cat in my life in the first place? And this is the whole religion?” But an old man — who was also a disciple, but was not chosen a...

Once there lived a very rich man in a town. The rich man's big bungalow was guarded by a lazy and greedy gatekeeper. One day a poor man from a near by village came to the rich man's bungalow. The gatekeeper asked why did the old man come there. The old man replied, "I have brought some rare fruits from my village. I want to sell them to your master."  The gatekeeper asked the old man to give him one fruit. After eating that fruit, the gatekeeper knew that the his boss will buy all those tasty fruits. "Ok, I will let you in, but you should give me half of what my boss gives for these fruits", said the gatekeeper. The old man decided to teach a good lesson to the gatekeeper. So, he agreed to his condition and went inside the gate to meet the rich man. The rich man liked the fruits and said he would buy all the fruits. When he asked about what amount of money the old man wanted for those fruits, the old man replied, "instead of money please give 100...

There is a story they tell of two dogs. Both at separate times walk into the same room. One comes out wagging his tail while the other comes out growling. A woman watching this goes into the room to see what could possibly make one dog so happy and the other so mad. To her surprise she finds the room filled with mirrors. The happy dog found a thousand happy dogs looking back at him, while the angry dog saw only angry dogs growling back at him. What you see in the world around you is a reflection of who you are.