Smiling

February 23, 2004

-

George4Mata

ammachi

Monday, February 23, 2004 2:30 PM

Smiling

Dear George,

I like your greeting, but if there's immortal bliss running around anywhere, I

think I'm missing it lately. I love my kids at school, but I find myself being

impatient with their silliness, which is not my norm. Thirteen IS silly and I

usually find a great deal of humor in their fiddling around (not that they

always know how tickled they make me!!), but not recently.

Similarly, my patience at home is running thin; my mind keeps turning to

these issues, and to Mother, and I almost get resentful when the world intrudes.

I don't think that's the attitude we're supposed to have, but there it is.

Thanks for bringing this up; I was also feeling grouchy that we weren't doing

much on the list, too!

Love to all from your whine-whine-whine sister,

Snehalata

Members of Immortal Bliss

Amma instructs us to smile. Can we talk? This is group therapy is'nt it? Oh

wrong door sorry. Smiling goes counter to a sour puss. My face has

concretized.

Here is an excerpt from Annachi Satsang during Her 2000 North Indian Tour. I

found this on the Santa Fe Satsang website:

"Mother said that a smile is like a bridge that people can use to cross a

river. Nowadays, we smile when we see other peoples' weaknesses. This is not

good. This is a bad smile and it sets up many bad reactions. Good smiles set up

many good reactions.

The Rich Miser

There was a man that was a very rich miser but then he lost all of his money.

One day he was walking down the street and someone smiled at him. Because of

this smile he felt very good and he thought of a person that had done him a

favor but he had never thanked any one so he sent this person a letter thanking

him for what he had done. This man did not open the letter but he took it to a

restaurant with him and then he opened it. When he saw that it was a thank you

from the miser he felt so good that he gave the waiter a big tip. With this

money the waiter decided to buy a lottery ticket and he won the lottery.

He then saw a homeless man who was very sick. Feeling so happy, he decided to

pick up the homeless man and carry him to the hospital and pay for his care.

When this homeless man left the hospital he saw a sick dog and he thought that

he should pick up this dog in a similar fashion to how he had been treated. He

then saw a house and he slept in front of the house. When the house caught on

fire, the dog started barking and this woke the family in the house and they all

ran to safety. One of the boys in the house was actually a mahatma and because

he survived the fire he was able to lead thousands to liberation. This shows the

power of a simple smile. Sometimes we think that another person is wrong and

should change and only then will we change ourselves. This is the wrong

attitude. We should always work to change ourselves. If we change then maybe the

people around us will change."

Anyone in this group struggling with the Smile issue like this gloomy son?

Monday Salutations,

G3M

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February 24, 2004

Namah Shivaya:

Forgive me for not making the context of my post called Smiling clear The

aspect creeping up on the psyche is smiling at strangers eg. smiling as you walk

down a city street. I live in an urban situation. Small town smiling is

seemingly simpler.

Mothers satsang referred to the chain reaction originating from smiling at a

down on his luck miser. Below is an internet post (from a different website)

that I cut and pasted for this discussion:

"I am a mother of three, ages 14, 12, 3, and have recently completed a

college degree. The last required class was Sociology. The instructor was

inspiring, graced with the qualities I would love to find in every human being.

Her last project of the term was called "Smile."

Our homework was to go out and smile at three people and to document their

reactions. I am a friendly person and always smile at everyone and say "hello"

anyway, so, I thought, this would be an easy assignment for me.

On a crisp March morning, my husband, youngest son, and I were having breakfast

at McDonalds. It was our way of sharing special play time with our son. As we

were standing in line, waiting to be served, all of a sudden everyone around us

began to back away, even my husband did. I did not move an inch. An overwhelming

feeling of panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had moved.

As I turned around, I smelled a horrible "dirty body" smell, and there, standing

behind me, were two poor homeless men. As I looked down at the shorter gentleman

close to me, he was smiling. His beautiful sky-blue eyes were full of God's

light as he searched for acceptance. "Good day," he said as he counted the few

coins he had been clutching. The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood

behind his friend, and I recognized the signs of mental deficiency. The

blue-eyed gentleman was his salvation.

I held back tears, as I stood there with them. The young lady at the counter

asked him what they wanted. "Coffee is all, Miss," he replied, because that was

all they could afford. The restaurant required a purchase in exchange for the

privilege of warming up. The coffee was the lowest priced item on the menu.

Then I really felt it, a compulsion so great I almost reached out and embraced

the little man with the blue eyes. I noticed that all eyes in the restaurant

were set on me, judging my reaction. I smiled and asked the young lady behind

the counter for two more breakfasts on a separate tray.

I then walked around the corner to the table which the men had chosen as a

resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue-eyed

gentleman's cold hand. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes, and said,

"Thank you." I leaned over, began to pat his hand, and said,"I did not do this

for you. God is here working through me to give you hope."

As I walked away to join my husband and son, I started to cry. When I sat down,

my husband smiled at me and said, "That is why God gave you to me, Honey, to

give me hope."

When I returned to my last class, I turned in my project. The instructor read it

and asked if she could share the story with the class? I slowly nodded as she

got the attention of the class. As she was reading what I had written, I knew

that we, as human beings, share this need to heal people and be healed.

In my own way, I had touched the people at McDonalds, my husband and son, the

instructor, and every soul in the classroom on my last night as a college

student. I graduated with one of the most valuable lessons I would ever learn,

unconditional acceptance."

Pranams,

G4M

George4Mata <leokomor wrote:Members of Immortal Bliss

Amma instructs us to smile. Can we talk? This is group therapy is'nt it? Oh

wrong door sorry. Smiling goes counter to a sour puss. My face has

concretized.

Here is an excerpt from Annachi Satsang during Her 2000 North Indian Tour. I

found this on the Santa Fe Satsang website:

"Mother said that a smile is like a bridge that people can use to cross a river.

Nowadays, we smile when we see other peoples' weaknesses. This is not good. This

is a bad smile and it sets up many bad reactions. Good smiles set up many good

reactions.