Guest guest Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Dharma simplified so that it can be easily put into practice. Just do whatever you want keeping in mind the Indweller in your heart and offer everything to Him - that automatically becomes Dharma. "My Krishna is Suffering!" When Krishna was suffering from a headache He asked for dust from the feet of His devotees to cure it. There were intellectuals and scholars who recoiled at the possible blasphemy - but the Gopikas did not listen to this. They said, "My Krishna is suffering! All that I want is just to carry this dust and to place it lovingly on His head!" The scholars argued with them saying, "How dare you do this? It is sinful? You will end up in hell for all the remainder of your lives for having done such a thing!" But the Gopikas replied "We don't mind spending the rest of our lives in hell! But if it gives a moment of joy to our beloved Krishna, that is enough!" What can be greater Dharma than pleasing God?Top Marks From God! Once it so happened that the examinations in the Institute were going on. A boy who was on his way to the examinations hall found an old woman who had met with an accident lying in a pool of blood! Not knowing what to do, He prayed to the Lord within His heart; He prayed to His Dearest Swami. He then took the lady to the General Hospital and made sure that she received treatment. He then ran to the examination centre. By then, most of the time which was allotted for writing the paper had elapsed. He wrote whatever he could for the paper and then went to the Mandir. That day Bhagavan called him and said: "Good boy! You will get top marks!" Needless to say, that boy got top marks! One's Own Heart…The Simplest Guide Thus, to the question "What is Dharma?" there arises the simplest of answers. Follow whatever pleases the Lord most. If one ponders what is the means by which the most complicated dilemma of Dharma can be understood, it can be realised that the devotee's own heart is the simplest of guides. PEACE When one practises Dharma it leads to the next level of the Human Values…Peace. When one practises Dharma to the extent that he surrenders himself totally at the Lotus Feet of his Lord… Sarva Dharman Parityajna Mam Ekam Saranam Vraja Aham Tvan Sarva Papebhyo Moksha Yisyami Ma Suchah. (One who surrenders to Me forsaking all, I will take care of Him and even grant Him liberation). That Moksha, the Peace that he feels, is the Peace which is mentioned as one of the Four Pillars of Human Values. The Temple of a Thousand Bells! A traveler once heard that under the ocean lay buried a temple of a thousand bells. He was gripped by a wish to find this temple and so he went to the ocean. Day after day, he put his ear to the sands to listen for the faintest tinkle of a bell. But he never came across any sign of this. After searching for many days he finally decided to give up. And on the last day he was standing on the seashore one final time, just looking at the magnificent ocean as the waves came crashing onto the shore; and he gently lost himself in the symphony produced by the waves. He slowly went deeper and deeper inside that experience. And in that depth, he heard a small bell ring. And then he heard two…and then three…and then thousands of bells ringing! So much so that he did not hear the voice of the ocean - he only heard thousands of bells ringing all around him. LOVE - The Ultimate Purpose! Similarly, when man loses himself totally in what God is telling him…what he hears, and what he feels is Peace - the Voice of the Lord. And that Peace leads him to the Ultimate Love. I used to wonder, God is such a poor businessman! He does not know how to barter! How could He barter a few handfuls of puffed rice and shower boundless wealth on Sudamma? How could He take a piece of cloth from Draupadi's sari and shower an infinite number of saris when she needed help? How could the Lord eat the berries eaten by Shabari? How could the Lord eat banana peels which had been already partaken by Vidura? I could see the material actions but there was a hidden aspect behind - the aspect of Beautiful Love! Once a T.V mechanic went to a particular devotee's house. And as he was repairing the T.V., he saw the Bhagavan's photograph there. He asked the owner, "Do you believe in this person?" The devotee humbly said, "He is my Master…my Guide, my Everything." The mechanic said, "Mine too!How can you say that?" said the devotee. The repair man gave a very simple answer, saying, "If I have ten rupees in my pocket, I would see it to it that come what may this ten becomes a hundred, the hundred into a thousand, and the thousand into ten thousand. But here is God Who is giving away whatever He has! Sometimes in the form of a Super Specialty Hospital, sometimes in the form of a Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, sometimes in the form of a Water Supply Project…and His projects never end! One after another, even before a project can come to an end another project starts! It is impossible for an ordinary human being to do all this - He can only be God, our Bhagavan! In what way can one measure Thy Love!? Saint Francis of Assisi once said, "Oh Lord! All through the day I searcheth for You! And all through the night, as I dream, You searcheth for me! When, when shall this dream come to an end and I shall meet You?" There was once a boy who had newly joined the hostel and had been brought up in luxury at his home. He had never learnt the art of sweeping and one day he found that it was his turn to sweep the room. With great effort, and with whatever courage and talent he could muster, he swept the room. At the end of it and with the broom in one hand, and the dust-pan in the other, he went in front of Bhagavan's photo and said, "Swami, I have accomplished such a great task! Now give me my reward!" But then, at the following Darshan, Swami came right in front of him, materialized Vibhuti and gave it into his hands saying, "This is the reward for the great task that you accomplished this morning." Sweeping the room is such a small thing; does it require any merit or any talent? But what transpired was just Love! Anything that can make us become better human beings and a little more evolved, maybe sweeping, maybe mopping, helping in some way - that is dear to the Lord! And when He sees that, He does not mind to come down to our level and reward us even for sweeping! That is the Love of God! After Love, What Next? Finally, what does this lead to? What does Love lead to? Once, there was a disciple who was always at his prayers. His Master took him to task "How long will you keep praying like this?" The disciple replied, "Master, it is you who taught me to pray like this! It is you who taught me that I should lean on God as He will solve our problems." The Master retorted, "When will you learn that God is not a person to lean on? He is the one who rids us of our tendency to lean. He makes us realize that we are no ordinary human beings. We too are Divine! The day you learn that lesson, you will no longer lean." Lord, I would like to close with a prayer inspired by a story which Shri Ramakrishna Parmahansa beautifully narrated. It is about a small salt doll that tried to measure the depth of the ocean. It went into the ocean and it found that it could measure nothing. It just dissolved. Let each one of us, who are simply puppets, merge into the Fathomless Infinity, into the Fathomless depths of Love that You are! Jai Sai Ram! Source: http://www.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_04/01JAN06/our%20journey-to-love-with-love.htm" target=_blank>http://www.radiosai.org/Journals/Ram ChuganiKobe, Japan Brings words and photos together (easily) with PhotoMail - it's free and works with Mail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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