Tag: life

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Love

Mango Loving Husband

Mango Loving Husband

Mango Loving HusbandOnce there was a man who liked to eat mangoes. One day he decided to get the sweetest mango available, from the very top of the tree. Mangoes which are most exposed to the sun are the sweetest. So he climbed up to the top, where the branches were thin. He managed to pick up a few sweet reddish fruits, but in attempting to go back down, he slipped and started falling towards the ground.

Fortunately, he caught a branch as he was falling and remained helplessly hanging on the tree. Then he started to call nearby villagers for help. They immediately came with a ladder and sticks, but could do little to help him.

Then after some time his wife arrived. People were very curious as to what she would do. The wife was silent for a minute and then picked up a stone, and threw it, hitting the hanging husband.

Everybody was surprised. Hanging mango lover started to shout, “What are you doing?! Are you crazy? Do you want me to break my neck?”

His wife was silent. Then again, she took a stone and threw it so that it hit her husband in the tree. The man (the husband) was furious, “If I could just come down, I would show you…!” That’s what everybody wanted, that he comes down, but how?

Now everybody was tense, what would happen next! Some wanted to chastise the wife, but they didn’t. The wife picked up another stone and threw it again at the man, even more forcefully. Now the man in the tree completely flipped out and developed a great determination to come down and get revenge. He then used all of his skill and strength and somehow managed to reach the branches which were safe enough for him to climb down, and he made it!
Everybody was amazed.

“Where is my wife?” – exclaimed the rescued man.
“Oh, she is wise, so she didn’t wait for you to beat him,” said the villagers.”I will really smash her completely when I get hold of her,” said the man.
“Hey, wait a minute, she is the only one who helped you, she is the one who provoked you, who induced you to help yourself,” said one of the villagers.

Mango freak stopped for a second, thought a little and admitted, “Yes, all your good intentions and compassion didn’t help me, but my beloved wife expertly induced me to do my best and save myself, I should be thankful rather than angry.”

So this is an instructive story. A real spouse helps you, sometimes in strange ways, to take initiatives in your life.

 

Categories
Tolerate

The 99 Club

The 99 Club

The 99 ClubEveryone is working for peace and satisfaction. If we do not find great satisfaction within our souls then we are much affected and afflicted by the circumstances surrounding us. The key to real peace is within and not without.—Radhanath Swami.

Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content. One day, the King came upon a servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King; why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so much joy.

Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted advisor. After hearing the King’s woes and the servant’s story, the advisor said, “Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99 Club.”

“The 99 Club? And what exactly is that?” the King inquired. The advisor replied, “Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club is, place 99 Gold coins in a bag and leave it at this servant’s doorstep.”

When the servant opened the bag, he let out a great shout of joy… So many gold coins! He began to count them. After several counts, he was at last convinced that there were 99 coins. He wondered, “What could’ve happened to that last gold coin? Surely, no one would leave 99 coins!”

He looked everywhere he could, but that final coin was elusive. Finally, exhausted, he decided that he was going to have to work harder than ever to earn that gold coin and complete his collection.

From that day, the servant’s life was changed. He was overworked and chastised his family for not helping him make that 100th gold coin. He stopped singing while he worked.

Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled. When he sought his advisor’s help, the advisor said, “Your Majesty, the servant has now officially joined The 99 Club.” He continued, “The 99 Club is a name given to those people who have enough to be happy but are never contented, because they’re always yearning and striving for that extra 1 telling to themselves: ‘Let me get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life .’

“We can be happy, even with little, but the minute we’re given something bigger and better, we want even more! We lose our sleep, our happiness, we hurt our family; all these as a price for our growing needs and desires. That’s what joining The 99 Club is all about.”

 

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Tolerate

The Boulder of Life

The Boulder of Life

The Boulder of LifeBetween the great things we cannot do and the small things we will not do, the danger is that we shall do nothing. ~Adolph Monod

In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it.
Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. As the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many others never understand that every obstacle presents an opportunity of growth and progress, if only we are tolerant and perseverant.

In life, we are presented with similar obstacles. Whether we blame someone for it and complain about it or like the peasant we take responsibility for it is a matter of choice. If we are wise and take up responsibility for the obstacles presented to us, we are sure to find gold when the obstacle is gone!

Radhanath swami points out that we need to be tolerant and determined to achieve success in any sphere of our life and never be discouraged by the inevitable obstacles that come on our path. All impediments are like rocks in the river of life. We should flow around them and never give up. With the Lord’s help, there is always a way.

 

Categories
Love

God Loves You

God Loves You

God Loves YouIf we have love of God in our life, it really does not matter whether we don’t have anything or whether we have everything; we will be satisfied because of that love.- Radhanath Swami

A well-known speaker started off his public speech in a strange manner – by holding up a Rupee 1000 Note! Holding up the Note high in the air in one of his hands, he addressed the curious audience, “Who would like this Rupee 1000 Note?”

With great cheer almost all of them raised their hands & shouted, “I want it,” “I want it”!! He said, “Oh! That’s nice. Well, I am going to give this note to one of you… But, first let me do this.” Then, he crumpled the Note in his hands vigorously & now he showed the awkwardly wrinkled 1000 Rupee Note by holding up high in his hand and asked everyone, “Who still wants it?” The same hands went up in the air this time too. “Well”, he replied, “What if I do this?” and he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe like a mad man. It seemed he was deriving great pleasure in his unusual act. He picked up the note, by now all crumpled and dirty. It was so smudgy that no one could recognize it now as a 1000 Rupee Note. He said “Now, who still wants it?” Strangely, despite the condition of the note, all the hands were up in the air with equal cheer & spirit.

Now, he addressed his audience with great feeling. “My friends,” he said, “You have all learned a very valuable lesson today. No matter what I did to this valuable Note, all of you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth the same – Rs.1000/-.”

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt of shame & insult by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come in our way in our dealings with people, especially loved ones. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your inherent value for God loves you just the way you are!

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
Love

Paint my World with Love

Paint my World with Love

Paint my World with LoveLove means reciprocation – Radhanath Swami

A millionaire was bothered by severe eye pain. He consulted many physicians and medical experts; he consumed heavy drugs, took injections but his ache persisted with greater vigor than before. At last a monk who was an expert in treating such patients was called for. The monk understood his problem and said that for sometime he should concentrate only on green colors and to take care not to see any other colors. The millionaire hired a group of painters and purchased barrels of green color and directed that every object his eye was likely to fall on be painted in green color just as the monk had directed.

When the monk came to visit him after few days, the millionaire’s servants ran with buckets of green paints and poured on him since he was in red dress, lest their master sees some other color and his eye ache would prop back.

Hearing this the monk laughed and said “If only you had bought a pair of green spectacles, worth just a few rupees, you could have saved these buildings, walls, trees, etc., and also could have saved a large part of your fortune. You cannot paint the world green!”

If only the millionaire had changed his vision, the world would have appeared accordingly to him, instead he was foolishly trying to change the world to suit his vision which is not only a daunting task but also an impossible one.

Similarly, like the foolish millionaire, we are also constantly trying to change others around us, especially our spouses, to suit our requirements! Changing the color of objects is by far an easier task than changing people and their attitude. People need inspiration, not manipulation. People need love, not directives. The best way we can change someone is when we change our attitude towards them.

Radhanath Swami offers a simple recipe: If you want your spouse to listen to you, you listen to their heart’s needs. If you want to be cared for, you start caring for your spouse. If you want your spouse to love you, you start giving love. Remember, love is seen in actions more than in words! Love means reciprocation. We can start the chain of loving reciprocation’s by changing our vision or our attitude. All other efforts to see a change in the other only brings us more frustration and leads us deeper into the pit we want to desperately get out of.

Though the recipe looks simple, it takes great effort and determination to implement it. But if you genuinely and sincerely put efforts in this direction, you will cherish the result for life!

Categories
Tolerate

Embroidery of life!

Embroidery of life!

Embroidery of life! & Radhanath SwamiTo have faith in God’s goodness in trying circumstances opens the door of unlimited grace – Radhanath Swami

There was a little boy, whose mother used to embroider clothes for a living. He once sat at her knee and looked up from the floor and asked her what she was doing. She informed him that she was embroidering. From the underside as he watched her work, he complained that it looked messy. She smiled at him, and said gently to go and play and that when she is done, she will put him on her lap and let him see it from her side. All along, he would wonder why she was using some dark threads along with the bright ones and why they seemed so jumbled from his view. After some time, his mother called him, “Son, come and sit in my lap.” He was surprised and thrilled to see a beautiful flower in the garden. He could not believe it, because from underneath it looked so messy. Then mother said to him, “My son, from underneath it did look messy and jumbled, but you did not realize that there was a pre-drawn design on top. I was only following it and when you look at it from my side, you see the complete picture.”

As he grew up, many times through the years whenever he looked up to his Heavenly Father and said, “Father, what are You doing?” it seemed that the Lord answered, “I am embroidering your life.” He would think, “It looks like a mess to me. It seems so jumbled. The threads seem so dark. Why can’t they all be bright?” The Lord seemed to reply, “My child, you go about your business and one day I will bring you back to me and put you on lap and you will see the plan from My side.”

Radhanath Swami says, The ability to see God’s plan behind everything that happens in our life is very difficult; especially when things don’t work according to our plans. He further reiterates that it requires humility to accept that we are not the doers! Similarly in our married lives when we accept difficulties as a situation specially created for us such that one day we can enjoy the embroidery of life, and learn to tolerate, we become enabled to deal with many a trying circumstance and one day when we see the big picture, the entanglements of life appear on the distant other side.