Category Archives: Stories

What is your choice?

16 Wednesday Jul 2014

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Have you wondered if you really had a choice in things? Have you been deluded by people saying you always have a choice? Do you feel that you never had a choice in things you did? Well this post is for you.

A saint was once asked to share a message to the people in front of him. He narrates a story with a beautiful message at the end.

There was a man in south india who wanted to pursuit spirituality. It is a age old habit to go to the forest to pursue it. Where they would look for a cave to sit and meditate. So the man went to the jungle positioning close to village. He sat there and started chanting. When he got hungry he would come back to the village. In the night, he noticed there was a fox with both front legs were severed. But the fox was still well fed and healthy. Now nature does not kind to any kind of incapability. If you loose your legs you loose your life. But this fox has lost its life but well fed and healthy.

The man was surprised but ignored it and continued with his meditation. In the night he heard a lion’s roar. He saw the lion bring in a big piece of flesh to the fox. The fox had its dinner. He couldn’t believe this. The lion feeding the fox. This is a miracle. He thought this is a message from the Divine. What is it? What is it? The next day the same thing happened. Now he thought the God was surely sending a message to him. Then he came to the conclusion that the message was – even a crippled fox is being fed by the Lion. You fool, what are you going to the village for food. Just sit here and the food will come and fall on your lap. So he simply sat down. one day, two day, Three days he sat. Nothing happened. By the seventh day, he was groaning nearing death.

Another yogi was passing by and he saw this man. The yogi asked him if the man was ok and the man told him -” You please tell me. A divine message came to me. I went by the message and I became like this.” The yogi asked what the message was and the man explained to him – “See there is a crippled fox. Everyday the lion comes and shares his food with the fox. Is this not a divine message to me?”. The yogi looked at him and said – “Definitely! This is a divine message to you. But why is it that you chose to be like the crippled fox rather than the generous Lion?”

Every situation, no matter what point of life you are in, the existence gives you the freedom to sit here joyfully. Even if you are going to die tomorrow this moment, you can sit down here and be joyful. This freedom is given to all of us. This is the greatest compassion by the existence given to us. Either you make use of it by making the right choices or chose to be frustrated, or miserable or depressed. You have the right to be joyful and not depressed. Nobody is stopping you. It is just a choice. Whether you suffer this life or experience it joyfully, it is absolutely up to your choice. Yes, there are situations where it looks like you are not in control of it. But at that given moment, it is your choice that determines which way the events will follow. Take a moment every time

Now how do we make the right choices? That is for a separate blog post 🙂

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Which yoga should I practice?

11 Friday Apr 2014

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[NOTE: this blog post is not to hurt anyone following any particular practice of yoga. This is plainly my perspective and view of what I think :)]

I was conversing with a friend and our talk took us to how our spiritual practices were faring. Deep into the conversation we started discussing the different types of yoga that we do and what is to be followed and practiced. Strangely, recently I have been coming across many people who follow a particular type of yoga and only that. For those dont know the different types of yoga – there are broadly classified into four types. (NOTE : The different yogas are very broadly classified and simply defined. Each of these yoga have deep spiritual significance in their own right. Yes, there are so many yogas – raja yoga, swara yoga, etc. I have just the four most followed yogas here).

  1. Jnana yoga – Yoga of Knowledge and Intelligence
  2. Bhakti yoga – Yoga of devotion
  3. Karma yoga – Yoga of selfless service
  4. Kriya yoga – Yoga dealing with energy

It might be due to the various teachings in the scripture and in the tradition of teaching that we stick to one particular path. This was taught probably because you don’t go around trying all different things and don’t get result anywhere. Though I get that, I believe that these are different but INCLUSIVE ways to reach the highest. Not exclusive. And as a seeker, we need to tap into all of these in order to get help and progress. You will notice that these different types of yoga are complementary to each other. This conversation reminded me of a story which I had heard from a Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev and wanted to share it here.

There were four yogis walking together. They were Jnana yogi(one who follows the path of intelligence and knowledge), bhakti yogi(follows devotion), karma yogi(follows selfless service as path of yoga) and lastly a kriya yogi(one who follows a path that deals with rising up the energy). Usually all these four yogis, don’t stay together. The jnana yogi thinks all others are a fool. Especially those who go on singing the name of God. In his mind these acts are utter foolish. The bhakti yogis have pity for everyone. Because they think that when God is here, why do all these actions and what use is knowledge. Rather just take his hand and walk to him. So they have pity for others. The karma yogis think all these other people are lazy because when you want some thing to happen you should do it. Because they are lazy and unwilling to do they have invented all the other yogas. So they feel the others are lazy. Lastly, the kriya yogis have utter disdain for every body because for them the entire universe is because of energy and without transcending the energy, there is no possibility. Due to all these reasons, these four people don’t come together. 

But today these four yogis were walking together when the rain storm hit them. They were running from getting wet when the bhakti yogi said that he knew a historic temple close by where they can take shelter. So they all go to this temple. The temple is a very old temple with just collapsed walls and just a few columns and a roof. In the center there was a deity of the God. They ran to this place not seeking God in love but to escape the rain. They stood in the temple in four corners. The rain started lashing in all directions and all the four yogis were getting drenched. The only place they could sit was around the deity in the center. They sat around the deity hugging and holding the deity and each other. Again not because out of love or seeking. Just to escape the rain. 

Suddenly God came to them. In all their minds, there came the same question – “WHY NOW? We did so much yoga, did so many pooja(rituals), read so many scriptures(knowledge) and so many things. You didn’t come then. Why now?”. God said – “At last, you four idiots got together. That is why!”. 

The idea here is unless your head(knowledge_, your heart(bhakti – devotion), hands & legs(that is needed for selfless action) and energy(kriya) get together and reach the peak together enlightenment will not dawn. These different yogas are different avenues to help us develop our selves and we need to tap into all of these to peak. So get to know all the types of yoga and enjoy each of them as much as the one you practice. You dont have master all of them but get to know them and practice them and check for yourself. They will only help you in different ways. So infuse all these different types of yoga in your practice and be more happy!

Mahabharata in 36 tweets!

01 Tuesday Apr 2014

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I am a big fan of Devdutt Pattanaik and the way he brings those myths to life with this narrative style and cartoons. I have read most of his books and loved his Jaya, which is the story of Mahabharata with a collection of so many unheard local folk stories. His ideas on culture comparison between the west and east, past and present makes sense and brings about a new outlook on culture and religion. I attended a talk by him in Santa Clara on culture comparisons and it was really awesome. Got to interact with him too 🙂

Here is a link to a twitter page where he has the Mahabharata in 36 tweets! Enjoy!

https://twitter.com/soumyadip/timelines/449096550476566528

You are also correct!

27 Thursday Mar 2014

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In one of my previous post, I was sharing how I realized that there are many facts to the same truth and how people get into arguments thinking that their fact is the ONLY right one. Well, I came across this buddhist story which reminded of this truth. Here it goes 🙂

Two monks who came out of a lecture by their master went on a hot debate regarding what they heard during the lecture. Each of them insited that his understanding was the correct one. To settle the dispute, they went to see the master for a judgement.

After hearing the argument put forth by the first monk, the master said, “You are correct!” The monk was overjoy. Casting a winner’s glance at his friend, he left the room.

The second monk was upset and started to pour out what he thought to the master. After he finished, the master looked at him and said, “You are correct, too.” Hearing this, the second monk brightened up and went away.

A third monk who was also in the room was greatly puzzled by what he saw. He said to the master, “I am confused, master! Their positions regarding the issue are completely opposite. They can’t be both right! How could you say that they are both correct?”

The master smiled as he looked into the eyes of this third monk, “You are also correct!”

Why read the scriptures when you don’t understand it?

08 Saturday Mar 2014

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If you are one of those who is a newbie in reading the scriptures of any religion, then this is one question that will linger in your mind. “I do not understand this scripture then why read it?”. I have had this question in my mind so many times reading many. I would come up with my own answers like – “one day I will get it; If I read it these many times, then it will dawn in me; Lets understand whatever I can now…”.  Then one day I read a story narrated by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar about reading the Bhagavad Gita which was forwarded by Swami Punarchaitanya. Read the story below. (Even though the story is about the Bhagavad Gita, I believe it pertains to any other holy scriptures of any religion.)

Story

An old Farmer lived on a farm in the mountains with his young grandson.Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading his Bhagavat Geeta. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could.

One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa! I try to read the Bhagavat Geeta just like you but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bhagavat Geeta do?” The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, “Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water.” The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, “You’ll have to move a little faster next time,” and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again. This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead.

The old man said, “I don’t want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You’re just not trying hard enough,” and he went out the door to watch the boy try again. At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got back to the house. The boy again dipped the basket into river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, “See Grandpa, it’s useless!” “So you think it is useless?” The old man said, “Look at the basket.”

The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basket was different. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out.

“Son, that’s what happens when you read the Bhagavat Geeta. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be changed, inside and out. That is the work of Krishna in our lives.”

Let the Divine be my Valentine

14 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by in Art Of Living, Inspirational Quotes, Stories

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Happy Valentine’s Day to all. Here is a beautiful question asked to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the answer comes in the form a story that wil touch all. Enjoy!

Question : Do we go to the Guru, or does the Guru find us?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:       There was a talented teacher. He was a great orator, who would convince people very well. He had a fair knowledge of scriptures and spiritual techniques also. He was very good, but he was not complete; he was in search of a Master. Everyone used to honor him, but he lacked that final touch. He just wanted to surrender to a Master. He didn’t have a Master at that time. Only when the time comes, the Master also comes.

So, the time had come. He knew who his Master was, and he was in search for him. When he was departing from the kingdom, the king asked, “Where do you want to go”? He said he wanted to meet such and such a Master in such and such and such a place. Then king said, “Oh, it is so far, 300 kilometers away. You cannot walk and go. You can take my palanquin”. So, he sent his palanquin. The teacher sat in the palanquin and started going towards the Master.

And then he arrived in that town. He asked a person carrying the palanquin to take him to the Master, and one of them, who was carrying the palanquin, stood up and said, ” I am him”.

The teacher was so moved that he fell at his feet. He said, “How could you do this?’ How could you carry me? From where you have been carrying me?”

He answered, “Half the way. I heard you were coming to see me, so half the way I came to bring you to me. Now come, Lets go.” So half the way Master came and carried the palanquin of the disciple and brought him to the place and said,” Here I am the person you are looking for.”

Like that God is already carrying you and is right there with you. You take one step towards the Master, and He will take ten steps towards you. But that one step has to be taken. If you take one step back, God will take ten steps back. This is the tradition of Masters. So much humbleness, humility and simplicity is needed.

Cup or Coffee?

09 Saturday Feb 2013

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I read this story somewhere and it made so much sense to me that I wanted to share it with all of my friends.

” Once a group of highly educated students visited their university professor. Conversations soon turned into the complaints into stress in work and life. The professor  went into the kitchen to make some coffee for his students. He poured the coffee into a pot and kept many different cups made up of porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking and some expensive, some exquisite ones. He asked the students to help themselves with the coffee.

When the students had taken the coffee in their hands, the professor said, “If you all noticed, all the nice expensive cups are taken up, leaving behind the plain ones. While it is normal for you to want the best, that is also the source of your stress. What you really want is coffee, not the cup, but you all still went for the best looking cups and you all were also eyeing each other’s cups! Don’t let your cups drive your life. Enjoy the coffee!”

If life is the coffee, then jobs, money, status in the society are the cups. They are just the tools that are used to hold the life in it. While we all are busy in trying to choose the best of the tools, we totally miss why we want these tools in the first place. We get stressed out when we focus so much on choosing the cups rather than enjoying the coffee in it. The cups will keep changing with time. Dont miss the coffee in it. 🙂

Karma of Karna

27 Tuesday Nov 2012

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I love reading stories. I think stories are the best form of parting knowledge and wisdom to anyone. One of the ideas I had for this blog was to tell the untold stories from the hindu mythology and its interpretations. I was asking a friend of mine to start a blog to tell stories of with her take on it when I realized that I dont have any stories in my blog. So here is a beautiful unknown story from my favorite epic – The Mahabharata; favorite subject – Karma; favorite character – Karna or Radheya.

His story is a unique one with topcis like friendship, dharma, compassion and charity moulded together. he was known for his charity through out the Mahabharata. He kind of sacrificed his life even before the war just for his friendship towards Duryodhana by giving away his “born with” armor and earrings. Though he knew that his side would loose the war, he still fought for his friend on the wrong side. I read somewhere that he had a blessing that anyone who read about true story would have a special liking for him. He was a HERO, the most powerful one, the bravest and yet the most tragic warrior of the Mahabharata. He was the son of the Sun god, Surya. Not many know about the real story of Karna- who he was in the previous life, how did he get the armor and why did he have go through so much of pain. It is a fascinating tale which is very closely tied to the birth of Lord Krishna and Arjuna. Read it below and enjoy!

Long long ago(my favorite line in any story!), even before the Mahabharata, there lived an asura(demon) named Dambhodbhava. He wanted to become immortal and so prayed to the Sun god, Surya. Pleased with his penance, Surya appeared before him. Dambhodbhava asked Surya to make him immortal. But Surya couldnt grant this boon since anything, anyone who was born on this planet will have to die. Surya offered him to ask for something else instead of immortality. Dambhodbhava thought of a different way to gain immortality and came up with this request.

‘My Lord! I want to be protected by a thousand armors! The thousand armors can be broken only by someone who performs penance for a thousand years! Whoever breaks my armor should die immediately!’

Surya was horribly worried. He knew that Dambhodbhava had performed a very powerful penance and that he could get the entire boon he had asked for. And Surya had a feeling that Dambhodbhava was not going to use his powers for good. However having no choice in the matter, Surya granted Dambhodbhava the boon. But deep down Surya still admired Dambhodbhava for the devotion with which he prayed to him.

Immediately after getting the boon from Surya, Dambhodbhava started wrecking havoc on people. People were scared of fighting with him. There was no way of defeating him. Anybody who stood in his way was crushed by him. People started calling him Sahasrakavacha [meaning one who has a thousand armours]. It was around this time that King Daksha [the father of Sati, the first wife of Shiva] got one of his daughters Murti married to Dharma – one of the ‘Mind’ sons of Lord Brahma, the God of Creation [It is said that Lord Brahma created his mind sons or Manas putras from his thoughts].

Murti had also heard of Sahasrakavacha and wanted to put an end to his menace. So she prayed to Lord Vishnu to come and help the people. Lord Vishnu pleased with her appeared before her and said

‘I am pleased with your devotion! I will come and slay Sahasrakavacha! Because you have prayed to me, you would be the reason for slaying Sahasrakavacha!’.

Murti gave birth to not one child, but twins- Narayana and Nara. Narayana and Nara grew up in the ashrama surrounded by the forests. They enjoyed praying to Lord Shiva. The two brothers learnt the art of warfare.The two brothers were inseparable. What one thought the other was always able to finish. Both of them trusted each other implicitly and never questioned the other.

As time went on, Sahasrakavacha started attacking the forest ares surrounding Badrinath, where both Narayana and Nara were staying. As Narayana was meditating, Nara went and challenged Sahasrakavacha for a fight. Sahasrakavacha looked at the calm eyes of Nara and for the first time since he got his boon, felt fear building inside him. He said nervously, ‘I can be killed only by performing penance for a thousand years. You cannot….’ Nara looked at Sahasrakavacha and spoke with you. ‘I have not done any penance….My brother Narayana is doing it for me! And instead of him, I come to fight with you!’

Sahasrakavacha faced the attack of Nara and was astounded. He found that Nara was powerful and had indeed got a lot of power from the penance of his brother. As the fight went on, Sahasrakavacha realized that the penance of Narayana was giving Nara strength. As Sahasrakavacha’s first armour broke he realized that Nara and Narayana were for all purposes one. They were just two persons having the same soul. But Sahasrakavacha was not too worried. He had lost one of his armours. He watched in glee as Nara dropped dead, the minute one of his armours broke!

As Nara fell down dead, Narayana came running towards him. By his years of penance and pleasing Lord Shiva, he had gained the Maha Mritunjaya mantra – a mantra which brought back dead to life. Now Narayana took the fighting with Sahasrakavacha while Nara meditated! After thousand years, Narayana broke another armor and dropped dead while nara came back and revived him. This went on until 999 armors were down. Sahasrakavacha realized that he could never beat the two brothers and ran away seeking refuge with Surya. When Nara and Narayana approached Surya to give him up, Surya did not since he was protecting his devotee. Nara cursed Surya to be born as a human for this act and Surya accepted the curse for this devotee.

All this happened at the end of Treta yuga. [In Hindu mythology there are four yugas – the Satya Yuga, the Dwapara Yuga, Treta Yuga and the Kali Yuga. Each Yuga steadily results in the deterioration of human values with the worst in the Kali Yuga. At the end of each yuga, nature starts afresh.] Immediately after Surya refused to part with Sahasrakavacha, the Treta Yuga ended and the third Yuga started. To fulfil the promise to destroying Sahasrakavacha, Narayana and Nara were reborn – this time as Krishna and Arjuna.

Due to the curse, Dambhodbhava and Surya together were born as Karna, the eldest son of Kunti! Karna was born with one of armours as a natural protection, the last one left of Sahasrakavacha. As Arjuna would have died if Karna had had the armour, Indra [Arjuna’s father] went in disguise and got the last armor of Karna, much before the war began. As Karna was actually the monster Dambodbhava in his previous life, he led a very difficult life to pay for all the sins committed by him in his past life. But Karna also had Surya, the Sun God inside him, so Karna was a hero as well! It was Karna’s karma from his previous life that he had to be with Duryodhana and take part of the all the evil things he did. But the Surya in him made him brave, strong, fearless and charitable. It brought him long lasting fame.

Karna

THere are many many stories about Karna in the Mahabharata which are heart rendering, touching but also sometimes evil and wrong. This was because of the conflict of the qualities of a deva, Surya and asura, Sahasrakavacha in him. This reminds me of the conflict in all of us. Sometimes we do good but sometimes we take to the other side. Everyone has got these both qualities inside them – the godly qualities and the animalistic ones. How we tame the animalistic qualities and let our good ones spread determine how “good” we are. The other thingI got from the story is no matter what the situation is there is always a way out – sometimes it takes just one to get there and sometimes two- like Nara and Narayana.

The one question that was unanswered for me was -how did Sahasrakavacha die in the first place to be reborn? He still had one more armor to go and was protected by Surya! Well, I couldnt find this answer anywhere.

I hope you enjoyed reading this long story of Karna!

Thanks to http://hindumythologyforgennext.blogspot.com/ from where I was able to read this story!

Donkey and Dirt

20 Tuesday Nov 2012

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Here is a beautiful story that I read today! A story on how nature helps one to grow and pull oneself from any pit!

One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey.
He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him to bury the donkey. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

MORAL

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest pits just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up. The more you get up – the faster the dirt will come but the dirt is only help you come out of the pit faster! If you can remember this, nothing will stop you from growing!

Avatars in the Mahabharat

03 Wednesday Oct 2012

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Avatars or incarnations in Hinduism is the descent of a Supreme Being on earth to accomplish a specific mission. This term has become famous with the ten avatars of Lord Vishnu who came to Earth. The ten main incarnations of Vishnu are known as “Dasavatars” and is part of any puranas or stories of Vishnu. Now why am I talking about Avatars and what am I coming to tell? Well, I was reading about avatars and came across a very nice article talking about the avatars in the Mahabharat, the greatest epic ever written. Did you know that almost all the main characters in the epic are reincarnations of some deva, deity, rakshasa or asura? I have collected them and here are some of them

Character

Avatar of

NOTES
Krishna Vishnu
 Lord Vishnu’s 9th incarnation was Shri Krishna
Rukmini Lakshmi
 Lakshmi is Lord Vishnu’s consort. She incarnated as Rukmini who was Krishna’s wife
Draupadi Sachi
 Sachi Devi is Lord Indra’s wife.
Duryodhana Kali  Kali is the reigning lord of Kali Yuga and is considered as a negative manifestation of Lord Vishnu. He operates to destroy this world and is a demon and arch enemy of Vishnu.
Bhishma Dyaus He is the divine consort of Prithvi maa and was cursed by Vasishta for hurting Nandini, the divine cow to be born as a human.
Drona Brihaspati
 Brihaspati is the Deva guru to the devas.
Vidura Dharma  The diety in charge of dharma in this world
Ashwatthama Rudra
 A god associated with wind or storm. An aspect of Lord Shiva.
Shantanu Varuna
 Shantanu was the father of Bhishma. Varuna is the Lord of the Ocean
Bharata Kama
 Bharata was one of the righteous king. Kama is the Lord of Love
Vyasa Vishnu Vyasa was also an incarnation of Lord Vishnu who came down to classify the Vedas
Abhimanyu Varchas
 Varchasi is the son of Lord Soma who was destined to be on Earth only for 16 years.
Durvasa Shiva Rishi Durvasa is an amsa of Lord Shiva. He was known for his anger.
Balarama Shesha Shesha is the thousand headed snake on whom Lord Vishnu rests.
Kamsa Kalanemi
 Kalanemi is a demon who had special powers to break himself into atoms.
Dhrishtadyumna Agni
 Lord of Fire
Pradyumna Sanatkumara
 One of the 4 sons of Lord Brahma
Jarasandha Viprachitti
 One of the asura king who married the sister of Hiranyakashipu. Rahu was his son.
Arjuna Nara One of the twin reincarnations of Lord Vishnu – Nara-Narayana.

We all have read the story of Maabharatha many times but did you know about these avatars being in the story all along? Interesting isn’t it – how many things we still don’t know about our epics?