Tag: human

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Love

A Box full of Kisses

A Box full of Kisses

A Box full of KissesThe best portion of a good man’s life are his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love. ~William Wordsworth

The story goes back to some time ago. A man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought
the gift to her father the next morning and said, “This is for you, Daddy.” The man was embarrassed by his earlier over reaction, but his anger flared again when he found out the box was empty. He yelled at her, stating, “Don’t you know, when you give someone a present, there is supposed to be something inside?” The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and cried, “Oh, Daddy, it’s not empty at all. I blew kisses into the box. They’re all for you, Daddy.” The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.

Only a short time later, an accident took the life of the child. It is also told that her father kept that gold box by his bed for many years and, whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there. In a very real sense, each one of us, as humans beings, have been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses… in form of our loving family, well wishers, and God. There is simply no other possession, anyone could hold more precious than this, yet many times we don’t realize the value of this love and take it for granted.

Radhanath Swami captures the essence. He says, ‘Love means reciprocation. Therefore, you can’t love buildings or cars or money because there is no reciprocation.’ People around us may love us in manners that are unknown to us but when we open ourselves to be recipients of that love and reciprocate equally, we feel positively charged with that love.

 

Categories
Tolerate

Story of the burned toast!

Story of the burned toast!

Article based on from Radhanath Swami‘s Teachings….

Burned toast! - Radhanath Swami & Sacred BondingSuccess in marriage is much more than finding the right person: it is a matter of being the right person!

“When I was a little girl, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of bananas, butter, jelly and extremely burned toast in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his toast, smile at my mom, and ask me how my day was at school. I don’t remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that toast and eat every bite of it! When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the toast and I’ll never forget what he said: ‘Baby, I love burned toast.’ Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his toast burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, ‘Debbie, your mamma put in a hard day at work today and she’s real tired. And besides, a little burnt toast never hurts anyone!’

You know, life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people. I’m not the best housekeeper or cook either. What I’ve learned over the years is that learning to accept each other’s faults and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

Take good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of the Lord. Because in the end, He’s the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where burnt toast isn’t a deal-breaker!

 

Radhanath Swami has said,

“Human life has independence but when we surrender that to Lord, He will utilize us completely.”

 

Categories
Appreciate

Cracked Pot

Cracked Pot

Cracked Pot - Radhanath SwamiHuman nature is that everyone essentially wants to love and be loved. If we show affection people open up and we can disarm them of their prejudices against us. – Radhanath Swami

A water bearer in China had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he used to fetch water. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. The walk from stream to his house was long and the cracked pot arrived only half full. For two full years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house.

The perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made but the cracked pot was ashamed of its imperfection. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you. I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out. Because of my flaws, even though you do hardwork, you don’t get full value from your efforts,” the pot said.

The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? Because I have always known about your flaw, I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house!

Each of us has our own unique flaws. We’re all cracked pots but the key is to check if our attitude is like the water bearer or that of the proud pot. If we notice only cracks in others and fail to recognize their unique abilities, we will not only make the other person feel miserable but also make our own lives miserable. But inspite of our differences when we learn to appreciate each other, the relationship grows to a deeper level and life together becomes more beautiful. When we learn to look for only the good in others and appreciate it, we empower them to do good and look for good in us as well as others. Radhanath Swami believes that truly appreciating the other overlooking his/her flaw is a divine quality, it means overlooking our own egoistic tendencies and looking for purity in the other person and inadvertently we purify ourselves.

Categories
Tolerate

Freedom to Fly

 

Freedom to FlyTolerance is one of the most important quality in a human being. It really needs courage to be tolerant in provoking situations. – Radhanath Swami

In married life, often times people give up, they separate or divorce. Well, they separate because they just cannot tolerate each other anymore. They become intolerant, they cannot see each other’s face, it becomes too disturbing and difficult to endure a living with the other.

There is a story of a man who pitied the butterfly’s struggle when it was forcing its body through a little hole of its cocoon. When it didn’t seem to make any progress, unable to bear its struggle, he snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon with a pair of scissors. Then, though the butterfly came out quickly, it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. It came out prematurely and had to spend the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that its struggle to get out of the cocoon was God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Similarly, though we may not realize, our struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God gave us some struggle in life, we must accept it with the understanding that He is giving us the opportunity to become a beautiful butterfly with freedom from the cocoon, at the end if it. If we prematurely snip off the difficulties without enduring them, it would only leave us crippled.

Radhanath Swami says that there will be many storms in our life, but if, even in the impossible helpless situations, we endure it all and maintain our faith in the Lord, then that very storm will cleanse our heart.