Sai Inspires - 22nd January 2006 from Prashanti Nilayam

[Guest guest]

Sow the seeds of evil, you reap a harvest of pain. You are the cause of either

of these. Do not blame others or impute partiality to God. Above all, do not

rely on this impermanent objective world. It is full of sorrow and change.

Cultivate detachment, equanimity, self-control and love. - Sathya Sai Speaks,

Vol. 11, pg. 12. Happiness is Union With God. - Baba Loving Sai

Ram and greetings from Prashanti Nilayam. Today, we are giving you little

stories sent to us by a kind reader. We thought they were great stories with

profound meaning. We hope you would think so too.

12.0pt">YOU HAVE COME TO THE WRONG ADDRESS A Rabbi was delivering his lectures

on the Torah, the sacred Hebrew scripture, to a few young Jewish students. One

day in the course of their studies, they came across a line which said, “The

truly evolved person is only he, who continues to smile in the midst of the

greatest of difficulties.”

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0in 0in 0in 0in"> The young students had a problem in accepting this statement

at its face value. “If we are truly in difficulty, how is it possible for us to

smile under such conditions?” they asked the Rabbi. The Rabbi took off his

spectacles and looked at his young pupils thoughtfully. “To be perfectly honest

with you,” he said, “I myself cannot answer that question. The truth is

that I, too, cannot smile when I am in the midst of difficulties. At such

moments, I seem to forget how to smile.” Silence prevailed in the class as

the teacher and the students pondered over the issue. The Rabbi continued after

a pause, “However, I believe there is someone who can give you the answer.” He

proceeded to tell his students of an old man who lived in their city, not far

from the synagogue. He had been an abandoned child – an orphan. When he grew

up, both his legs were paralyzed in an accident. His life had been a series of

struggles, a saga of pain and suffering. “And yet,” concluded the rabbi, “he

always wears a lovely smile! He is a wonderful human being. You must go to him

and ask him to answer our question.” The students were amazed to hear of this

brave man. In a group, they went and knocked at his door. The door was opened by

the man himself – moving briskly on a wheel-chair. He welcomed the young

students cordially, and asked them the purpose of their visit.

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0in"> “Sir, It’s this text we are discussing in the class,” said one of them

hesitantly. “It’s all about how one must continue to smile amidst the greatest

of difficulties in life. The Rabbi told us that you were the best person to

talk to.” “Tell us please, sir,” added

another. “How do you continue to smile amidst so much pain and suffering?”“I’m

afraid you’ve come to the wrong address!” replied the old man, with genuine

surprise. “I am 73 years old, and in all these years I have never had to face

any difficulty! The Lord has always been good to me, and protected me in His

mercy. How can I teach you how to smile in the midst of difficulties?” This was

indeed a man who lived in close proximity with God!In times of difficulties,

don’t ever say, “God, I have a big problem!” Instead say, “Hey problem, I have

a big God!” and everything will be all right.

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0in"> BOX OF KISSES

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TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-border-bottom-alt: triple windowtext 2.5pt;

mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in"> The story goes that some time ago, a man

punished his three-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.” He was

embarrassed by his earlier over reaction, but his anger flared again when he

found

the box was empty. He yelled at her, “Don't you know that when you give someone

a present, there's supposed to be something inside it?”The little girl looked

up at him with tears in her eyes and said, “Oh, Daddy, it is not empty. I blew

kisses into the box. All for you.” The father was crushed. He put his arms

around his little girl, and he asked for her forgiveness. It is told that the

man kept that gold box by his bed for 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 of us as humans have been given a gold

container filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, friends,

family or God. There is no more precious possession

anyone could hold. Aren’t they nice stories? Jai Sai Ram With Love

and Regards, "Heart2Heart" RadioSai's e-Journal Team, In Sai Service.

To see the complete schedule of today's RadioSai programmes, Visit

us at www.radiosai.org to know more about RadioSai and our e-Journal "Heart 2

Heart".

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