How to Escape your Suffering-Blind Man vs the Cripple

There is a famous Indian story about the great battle between the blind man and the cripple .
In a remote village in the outskirts of Punjab there lived 2 sworn enemies. One man was blind and the other was a cripple. They were sworn enemies. No matter what one did, it would upset the other and vice versa. For years this battle raged on and the animosity between them grew fierce and caustic.
During one very hot and dry summer a terrible fire broke out in the village and began consuming everything in its path. The villagers began to flee in fear as there was no stopping the inferno. In the panic, the blind man and the cripple were forgotten and left to fend for themselves.
The blind man did not know which way to go in order to escape the fire, and the cripple, who could see the path to safety, could take no action. So both were stuck.Luckily for them, the desire to live was greater than their hatred for each other, so they decided to work together in order to save their lives. The blind man put the cripple on his shoulders, who then directed him which way to go in order to escape. Thus, working as a team, they were successful and even ended up becoming friends.
Who is the blind man and who is the cripple? The blind man is our mind and the cripple is our heart. What is the fire? The fire is our suffering. The mind is the instrument through which you can move, act — but it is blind, in that it does not know which way to go. It endlessly debates, weighing pros and cons, wobbling between what will be gained and what will be lost if certain action was to be taken. It cannot see how to escape the suffering. The heart, on the other hand, can see clearly the way out, but does not have any means to act. In order to act, it needs the mind. So they need each other. But, more importantly the heart needs to sit on top of the mind, as the cripple sat on the shoulders of the blind man. With the heart leading the way, the mind becomes intelligent. Give the heart its precedence and wisdom will then emerge and guide you safely out of your suffering.

Eerie Silence

Cold, dark eerie night
Not a star visible tonight
O! Look yonder
A silver streak sneaking through a cloud.

Sea scary as the night
O! What a sight
Neither a whimper nor a howl
Nor leaves hustling
Nor owls hooting
An eerie silence sighs in solitude.

Silver streak full of valor
A ball of fire
Defies the cloud
Silent night a glowing
Warmth come alive.

Touch so tender
Raising goose bumps up the spine
Heart beats like no tomorrow
Quivering lips touch to kiss
Locked in eternal bliss.

Wash your Hands off Worry

We worry about little things in life, our future, our family, an endless list.Stop Worrying and Start Living, New Motto towards a better and healthy life .Here are two simple methods of ridding away all our worries.1. Make a list of all the worries on a blank piece of paper and then have a 'sacrificial fire ceremony' as you send your worries up in smoke. 2.Worries regarding the future being harmed.Take a moment to visualize what you would do next. What would be the next step, the step beyond what you do now? See yourself taking that step with ease while enjoying and learning from the change to a new chapter in your life. Take the plunge now!!!!!!!!!!!!

Letting Go Of The Past
The past is a mixed bag of our experience, beliefs, our mistakes and all the emotions that go with them. Holding onto the past life truly precipitates as disease until we bid adieu to yesterday at will. Like a filing cabinet, the past is a resource of information for learning, but it is not a place to live. Why spend our day in the filing cabinet? Did you live in the past today? Say goodbye to yesterday, last month and last year and live for today, for this moment. Live for the present with full awareness right now.

Navaratri

Nine forms of Ma Durga..........

The Package

A married lady was expecting a birthday gift from her husband.
For many months she had admired a beautiful diamond ring
in a showroom, and knowing her husband could afford it,
she told him that was all she wanted.

As her birthday approached, this lady awaited signs
that her husband had purchased the diamond ring.
Finally, on the morning of her birthday, her
husband called her into his study room.
Her husband told her how proud he was to have such a good wife,
and told her how much he loved her. He
handed her a beautiful wrapped gift box.

Curious, the wife opened the box and found a lovely; leather- bound
Bible, with the wife's name embossed in gold. & angrily, she raised her
voice to her husband and said, "With all your money you give me a Bible?
And stormed out of the house, leaving her husband.

Many years passed and the married lady was very successful in business!
She managed to settle for a more beautiful house and a wonderful family,
but realized her ex-husband was very old, and thought perhaps she should
go to visit him. She had not seen him for many years.

But before she could make arrangements, she received phone call
telling her that her ex-husband had passed away,
and willed all of his possessions to her.
She needed to come back immediately and take care of things.

When she arrived at her ex-husband's house, sudden sadness
and regret filled her heart.
She began to search through her ex-husband's important
papers and saw the still new Bible, just as she had left it years ago
with tears; she opened the Bible and began to turn the pages.

Her ex-husband had carefully underlined a verse, Matthew 7:11,
"And if you, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more shall your Heavenly Father which is in heaven,
give to those who ask Him?"
As she read those words,
a tiny package dropped from the back of the Bible.

It had a diamond ring with her name engraved on it,
the same diamond ring which she saw at the showroom.
On the tag was the date of her birth, and the words...
'LUV U ALWAYS'...

How many times do we miss God's blessings because
they are not packaged as we expect?

We spoil what we have by desiring what we have not;
Remember what we now have was once among the things
we only hoped for.

IF YOUR GIFT IS NOT PACKAGED THE WAY YOU WANT IT,
IT'S BECAUSE IT IS BETTER PACKAGED THE WAY IT IS!

ALWAYS APPRECIATE LITTLE THINGS;
THEY USUALLY LEAD YOU TO BIGGER THINGS.

Jai Ganesh

Ganesh statue in our residential complex, Mumbai...

Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav initiated by Lokmanya Tilak during British rule in India, has today culminated in one of the biggest festivals of the country with the largest fan following. Ganesh idols of various sizes are brought home amidst fun and frolic.Various mandals across Maharashtra bring in Ganesh statues as large as 20 feet in height.
Although the city is gripped with Swine flu infection, devotees thronged various pandals across the city for darshan of their adorable deity.

Lalbaugcha Raja is the most talked about idol in Mumbai. Being a Ganesh devotee myself, me along with a few friends landed at Lalbaug at 1.00am for darshan of our famous deity. Being my first visit to Lalbaug, I was awed and amazed to witness the longest queue of devotees.

I too mustered up courage and stood in the line of devotees who would be priviledged to touch the deity’s feet. Continuous flow of drinking water, hot and cold beverages and snacks pepped up the devotees. As for us, we sufficed ourselves with drinking water not wanting to eat before the darshan.

After a long wait of about 11 hours, at 11.30am we were blessed by HIS darshan. A wave of calm and peace swept over me. I was overwhelmed with tears of joy and ecstasy.What a sight. One has to experience this phenomenon of BLISS.
We are truly Blessed!!!!!

GANPATI BAPPA MORYA, PUDCHA VARSHI LOVEKAR YA!!!