Nothing is yours

Taken from Facebook post of a friend............

There is an ancient story....

A man who has gone out of his town comes back and finds that his house is on fire. It was one of the most beautiful houses in the town, and the man loved the house. Many people were ready to give double price for the house, but he had never agreed for any price, and now it is just burning before his eyes. And thousands of people have gathered, but nothing can be done.

The fire has spread so far that even if you try to put it out, nothing will be saved. So he becomes very sad.

His son comes running, and whispers something in his ear: "Don't be worried. I sold it yesterday, and at a very good price ― three times.... The offer was so good I could not wait for you. Forgive me."

But the father says, "Good, if you have sold it for three times more than the original price of the house." 

Then the father is also a watcher, with other watchers.

Just a moment before he was not a watcher, he was identified. 

It is the same house, the same fire, everything is the same. but now he is not concerned. He is enjoying it just as everybody else is enjoying.

Then the second son comes running, and he says to the father, "What are you doing? You are smiling ― and the house is on fire?"

The father says, "Don't you know, your brother has sold it."

He says, "He had talked about selling it, but nothing has been settled yet, and the man is not going to purchase it now."

Again, everything changes. Tears which had disappeared, comes back to the father's eyes, his smile is no more there, his heart is beating fast. But the watcher is gone.

He is again identified.

And then the third son comes, and he says, "That man is a man of his word. I have just come from him. He said, 'It doesn't matter whether the house is burned or not, it is mine. And I am going to pay the price that I have settled for. Neither you knew, nor I knew that the house would catch on fire.'"

The next moment the father feels, "Somebody else has purchased it, I have nothing to do with it; let the house burn."

Again the father is a watcher. The identity is no more there.

Essentially nothing is changing; just the idea that "I am the owner, I am identified somehow with the house," makes the whole difference.

This simple methodology of watching the mind, that you have nothing to do with it....

Most of your thoughts are not yours but from your parents, your teachers, your friends, the books, the movies, the television, the newspapers......

Just count how many thoughts are your own, and you will be surprised that not a single thought is your own. All are from other sources, all are borrowed ― either dumped by others on you, or foolishly dumped by yourself upon yourself, but nothing is yours.

NOTHING IS EVER YOURS....
Except God
Who is always yours!!!

Be masters of mouths, not slaves of words

There was an old man who spread rumours about his neighbour that he was a thief. And the young man was arrested.

Days later the young man was proven innocent. After been released from the jail, he sued the old man for defamation.

In court, the old man told the judge, “They were just comments. Didn’t mean to harm anyone.”

The judge told the old man, “Write all the things you said on a piece of paper.” The old man wrote.

The judge asked him to cut them into pieces. The old man did.

The judge then said, “On the way home, throw the pieces of paper out. Come back tomorrow to hear the sentence.”

The next day, the judge told the old man, “Before hearing the sentence, please go out and gather all the pieces of paper that you threw out yesterday."

The old said, “How can I do that? The wind must’ve spread them and I wouldn’t know where to find them.”

The judge then replied, "The same way, simple comments may destroy the honour of a man to such an extent that one is not able to fix it. If you can’t speak well of someone, rather don’t say anything.”

Lets all be masters of our mouths and not slaves of our words.

Truth and Self-confidence

Divine Discourse by Sathya Sai Baba, 'My Dear Students', Vol 2, Ch 9, Feb 24, 2005.

Abraham Lincoln learnt to speak truth and conduct himself with self-respect and dignity, unafraid of his financial position, from the lap of his mother.

When little Abraham shared with his mother that he was disrespected and felt ashamed in the midst of his friends for wearing old and shabby clothes, she told him that he need not feel so.

She counselled him that poverty, though viewed in poor light by others, will eventually help him gain respect.

Lincoln later in his life declared, “You may disrespect me, but truth cannot be disrespected. It will emerge triumphant!”

He proceeded on the path of truth and self-confidence taught by his mother and became the President of the United States of America.

In fact, anyone who has the blessing of their mother will emerge very successful.

Not everything in Nature can be explained

The male monkey and the female monkey were sitting on the branch of a tree watching the sunset. At one point, she said: 'What makes the sky change colour when the sun reaches the horizon?'

'If we tried to explain everything, we wouldn't be able to live,' replied the male monkey. 'Just sit quietly and let this romantic sunset fill our hearts with gladness.'

The female monkey grew angry. 'You're so primitive and superstitious. You're not interested in logic any more, you just want to enjoy life.'

At that moment, a centipede happened to be walking past.

'Centipede!' called the male monkey. 'How do you manage to move all those legs of yours in such perfect harmony?'

'I've never really thought about it,' came the reply.

'Well, think about it! My wife would like an explanation!'

The centipede looked at its legs and began: 'Well…first I move this muscle, no, no I don't, first, I have to sway my body in this direction…'

The centipede spent half an hour trying to explain how it moved its legs, and the harder it tried, the more confused it became. Wanting to continue on its way, it found it could no longer walk.

'See what you've done?' it cried out in despair. 'In my eagerness to explain how I work, I've forgotten how to move.'

'Now do you see what happens when someone tries to explain everything?' said the male monkey, turning to enjoy the sunset in silence.

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart." Helen Keller

Birbal and red hot iron

One day, one rich man wanted to punish a man named Hasan. He blamed him that he had stolen necklace from his house, and reported to Akbar . The case was brought in the court.

Akbar asked the man, “Why do you think that Hasan has stolen your necklace?” 

The man replied, “Your Honor, I have seen him stealing the necklace.” 

Hasan said, “No Huzoor I am innocent, I do not know anything about necklace.”

The rich man said, “Huzoor If he is innocent, let him prove his innocence. Let me bring the hot iron, and if he can hold it in his bare hands, then I will agree that he has not stolen my necklace, and he is speaking truth.”

Hasan said, “If I am speaking the truth, then I will not burn my hands with that hot iron?”

“You are right. God will protect you,” said the rich man.

Now Hasan could not do anything to prove his innocence. He asked Akbar to give him one day to prove that he was speaking the truth and he went home.

He took advice from Birbal . 

When he returned next day, he said, “I am ready for that. But the same thing should apply to him too. If he is speaking the truth, then the red hot iron should not burn his hands also. So let him bring that red hot iron holding in his both hands, then I will hold that iron in my bare hands.”

Now the rich man was speechless. He told Akbar that he would go and search his necklace again in his house, maybe it was misplaced somewhere there.

Akbar ordered to give necklace to Hasan as a punishment to the rich man.

Justice should prevail

Vikram and Betal story

Once there lived an old and pious man, renowned for his honesty.

One day his neighbor, a rich merchant came to him with a request.

The merchant was leaving on a voyage and wanted the old man to safeguard his wealth, until his return. The old man agreed and with God as witness, promises to protect and safeguard the merchant’s wealth.

The old man then entrusted the safe keep of the merchant’s wealth to his son, from whom he took an oath of propriety and honesty.

Slowly the son started dipping into the merchants wealth, people noticed this and warned the old man of the son’s misdeeds.

The old man called his son asks him to explain, he also reminded him of his oath on following the right path. The son rubbished the accusations as rumors and the idle gossip of jealous people, who could bear to see his prosperity. The old man accepted the son’s explanation and things go on as before.

The merchant returned and demanded his wealth. The old man called his son, who handed over a quarter of the merchant’s wealth saying that is all there was.

The merchant realizing that he had been cheated approached the King. The King listened to the merchant’s complaint and summoned the old man.

The old man came to the court with his son and handing him over to the King said, “your majesty, the merchant is right. My son has confessed to the crime. Please punish him.”

The king had the son flogged and imprisoned. He then praised the old man's honesty and dismissed the case.

But the merchant demanded punishment for the old man saying, “I have still not received justice. I had entrusted my wealth to the old man which he swore by God to safeguard. The old man’s integrity is intact, but what of me, I have been robbed of my life’s savings and made a pauper. It was the old man’s decision to entrust my wealth to his son for safekeeping. As far as I am concerned the old man is the culprit, and should be punished."

The old man, was neither a party to the theft nor did he benefit from it. In fact, he had sent his son to jail. Yet, the merchant was asking for the old man’s punishment.

The Betal asks Vikramaditya, “What should the King's decision be?”

Vikramaditya replied, “Though the old man is innocent of the actual theft, he is guilty of dereliction of duty. The son’s crime was a straight forward one, the old man’s was a graver crime. He did nothing to protect the merchant’s wealth. Far from being vigilant he failed to take action even when he was warned of his son’s misdeeds. Because of his laxity the merchant is condemned to a life of penury. He should be punished.”

It is justice, more than charity, that is wanting in the world today. Justice is a collective conscience of the whole humanity. Justice is in reality is a Truth in action. Where there is justice, there is peace. It lies in finding the right and upholding it against any odds. "Blessed are they who maintains Justice, who constantly do what is right" Psalm 106:3

We are all One

Author Unknown

After years of searching, the seeker was told to go to a cave, in which he would find a well. 'Ask the well what is truth', he was advised, 'and the well will reveal it to you'.

Having found the well, the seeker asked that most fundamental question.

And from the depths came the answer, 'Go to the village crossroad: there you shall find what you are seeking'.

Full of hope and anticipation the man ran to the crossroad to find only three rather uninteresting shops.

One shop was selling pieces of metal, another sold wood, and thin wires were for sale in the third. Nothing and no one there seemed to have much to do with the revelation of truth.

Disappointed, the seeker returned to the well to demand an explanation, but he was told only, 'You will understand in the future.' When the man protested, all he got in return were the echoes of his own shouts.

Indignant for having been made a fool of - or so he thought at the time - the seeker continued his wanderings in search of truth.

As years went by, the memory of his experience at the well gradually faded until one night, while he was walking in the moonlight, the sound of sitar music caught his attention. It was wonderful music and it was played with great mastery and inspiration.

Profoundly moved, the truth seeker felt drawn towards the player. He looked at the fingers dancing over the strings. He became aware of the sitar itself.

And then suddenly he exploded in a cry of joyous recognition: the sitar was made out of wires and pieces of metal and wood just like those he had once seen in the three stores and had thought it to be without any particular significance.

At last he understood the message of the well. "We have already been given everything we need; our task is to assemble and use it in the appropriate way. Nothing is meaningful so long as we perceive only separate fragments. But as soon as the fragments come together into a synthesis, a new entity emerges, whose nature we could not have foreseen by considering the fragments alone."