Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Love, Wealth and Success

Love, Wealth and Success
 
A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them.

She said "I don't think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat."

"Is the man of the house home?", they asked. 
"No", she said. "He's out.
"Then we cannot come in", they replied.

In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened.

"Go tell them I am home and invite them in!"
The woman went out and invited the men in.

"We do not go into a House together," they replied.

"Why is that?" she wanted to know.

One of the old men explained: "His name is Wealth," he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, "He is Success, and I am Love." Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home."

The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. "How nice!!", he said. "Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!"

His wife disagreed. "My dear, why don't we invite Success?" Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house.

She jumped in with her own suggestion: "Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!"

"Let us heed our daughter-in-law's advice," said the husband to his wife. "Go out and invite Love to be our guest."

The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, "Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest."

Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: "I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?"

The old men replied together: "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would've stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!"

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Manmukh and Gurmukh

Manmukh and Gurmukh
 
Once there were two friends, one was a Gurmukh and the other was a Manmukh. Their friendship was deep but Gurmukh
believed in God while Manmukh did not. Gurmukh would wake up early in the morning, take a bath and recite the holy
hymns while Manmukh would still be in bed sound asleep.

Once they were traveling through a forest. As they were passing through the forest, Manmukh found a bag of coal.
He was very happy because he could sell it and make some money. As they further walked while talking about how lucky
Manmukh was to find the bag of coal, Gurmukh screamed with pain. It appeared that a splinter went in Gurmukh's foot.
While Gurmukh was in pain, Manmukh started laughing. Gurmukh was surprised and asked him why was he laughing?
Manmukh said, "You have been worshipping God everyday and what you got as a result is a splinter in your foot.
I have never worshipped God and I still got a bag full of coal."

An old wise man happened to be passing by when he heard Manmukh's comments. The old man had a big ironic smile on his face.
Manmukh was astonished when he saw the old man smile. Manmukh asked the old man about the reason for his smile.
The old man replied, "You are naïve. You do not worship God. You were destined to find a bag of diamonds today if you
have been worshipping God. And Gurmukh, you were destined to die at the moment you got the splinter in your foot.
Because you have been worshipping God, the pain of death simply turned into a splinter." whereas Manmukh's bag of
gold/diamond turned into coal !!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Dhan Dhan Guru Nanak Dev Ji Maharaj

Dhan Dhan Guru Nanak Sahib Ji
( Soruce : Sri Nanak Parkash - Bhai Santokh Singh ji http://sikhscriptures2english.blogspot.com/  )
 
Couplet – The earth had become over burdened with the sin of these individuals and the spirit of
righteousness had vanquished. The loving devotion of God had disappeared from the world and
the people began to live in fear. 15.
Quatrain – In the end the earth remembered the name of God she requested shelter and support
from the Lord. She said, "O Lord you are the greatest of all and have no beginning. O God you are
the supreme deity and leader of the demi gods who forever remains the same." 16.
O God you are the protector and helper of the meek and poor. O Lord you are the master of the
meek who cares for them whilst invisible to the human eye. You are exempt from old age,
immortal, who cannot be eulogised and does not adopt guises or forms. You are exempt from fear,
away from the effects of Maya, unaccountable and unknowable. 17
During the age of Kaljug the amount of sin has increased and due to this I am overburdened by its
weight. The present time is very painful and hurtful. Without your assistance O Lord I am unable
to survive. 18.
Couplet – In the age of Satjug righteousness had four feet (Sat, Soch, Tap and Daan) whilst in
Treta there was only three. In the age of Dwapur two feet remained whilst the age of Kaljug was
left with one. 19.
Quatrain – The dark age of sin known as Kaljug has started and for this reason I am over
burdened by this weight. With righteousness standing on its last foot (Daan) the world cannot be
sustained and without your assistance the world can not survive. 20
O the great Lord please listen to my supplication, please assist me in such a way that I will be able
to settle. After listening to the supplication of the earth who was in considerable distress then the
Lord responded. 21.
"For this specific reason I have sent many people to the earth who have started their various
faiths. The reason for which I had sent them was not carried out instead they started their various
orders. 22.
"They did not tell the earth about the glory of my name and did not teach people about loving
devotion to me. Through the name of God the earth can gain support and shelter." These are the
words said by the Lord. 23
"When the name of God and its keertan is done in the world then you will be sheltered. For this
reason I personally will adopt a transcendent form and manifest on the earth as no one else will be
able to perform this task." 24.
In this way God's words gave a refuge to the lamenting earth. By adopting this faith all the burden
of the earth will be decimated. In this way the words of the Lord resonated from the sky causing
great happiness in the heart and in the mind of the earth. 25
The progeny of Sri Ram Chandar was still in existence and had no blemishes and for this reason
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji manifest into the clan of the Bedi's who like a night lotus bloomed with the
arrival of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji who was like the soothing moon. The non transcendent Lord
adopted a transcendent form and manifest on the earth and was known in the form of the
Satguru. 26.
Couplet – The bad deeds are like the night and the age of Kaljug is wrought with fear. The false
hood spread in the world was like the array of stars in the night sky. In the way that many
nocturnal flowers bloom in the night so had many faiths and beliefs bloomed. At that time the
majority rule was by the Islamic faiths. 27.
Quatrain – In order to dispel the darkness Guru Nanak Dev Ji manifest as if he was the rising sun.
In this way Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji illuminated the world. The Guru was like the sun whilst his
discourses were like the rays of the sun. The saints on seeing the sun like Guru had their lotus like
hearts in full bloom. 28.
Those living in falsehood and atheists all felt the pain of the sun like Guru as the owls do when the
sun rises. Those who believed in the Guru were in bliss as the Chaki is when it sees the sun rise.
The radiance of meditation was illuminated throughout the world. The ignorance within the
devotees was dispelled by the Guru. 29.
Those great beings were awoken once they gained wisdom and knowledge. In the way a person
leaves a dream and awakens the devotees left their sinful past gaining knowledge and devotion. In
order to sustain the wisdom of the great beings Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji manifest into the clan of the
Bedi's. 30.

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Prayer of a Sikh

Prayer of a Sikh
( Source : Book - The spirit born People by Puran Singh)
 
A poor Sikh retailer was once arrested in that wild savage Kabul, in those old days of Guru Har Rai ji, the Master of Amritsar. The charge against him, the shopkeeper, was that he weighed less. His particular weight was not up to the right legal standard. The law makers of Kabul were bent upon throwing the Sikh, the disciple of the Master, into the burning oven, for he was weighing less than the material needed for making bread. The law of Kabul had neither pity nor sympathy for him. But whatever his fault, his wife and daughter and children were all dependent upon him and they cried. He, if alone, could have endured any punishment, but seeing the piteous condition of his family, he too cried out to the Master. With all his faults, he had the unique distinction of being His disciple. The cry reaches the throne of Amritsar, for the Master is so close to his disciples. He hears the soft moaning of his children that went crying to sleep in the street dust of Kabul. He hears the soft sobs of a wife that lay fainting on the floor of her house at Kabul, crying to the Master, "Save him, pray, save him!" and so intensely that her cry stabbed her dead on the floor.

The Master sat at Amritsar. It is written that a devotee had just then come and offered five copper pice to Him. The Master did not notice the corner, but took his five pice and began, in a meaningless way, putting them now in his right, then in his left hand and went on doing this wayward act for a couple of hours or so. As he threw the pice down he said, "Thank God, My Sikh is saved."

And there in Kabul, at that very time, the balance was trembling in favour of the disciple. His weight was being tested, now on the right pan, then on the left. They found at last that the weight was quite accurate. It was certainly immaterial whether the man or his family was destroyed or not, but when the Man of Prayer chose to throw the weight of his faith into the balance for being weighed along with the disciple as a reality of the soul, and not as a mere illusion, like many things of the earth earthly, he was saved. The Response of the Guru is varied and, at all times, living. The mother covers all the faults of her child. As justice is tempered with mercy, so it is with the Guru, the Personal God of men. A thief no more remains a thief after having obtained faith and a thief, too, is bound to be saved when he, in some unknown strange kind of distress, calls upon Him for His Mercy in such an undetermined way that he himself does not know to repeat it in that way at another time. Prayers like this, too, are forms of inspiration.