Stories

a humble heart draws the heaven to itself….

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Have you ever seen a pigeon’s nest? Broken, messy and sometimes it’s not even there, have you wondered why it is so?

There was a time when pigeons used to lay eggs in the bushes; fox would come and eat the eggs. When pigeons couldn’t find a way to guard the eggs they went to the sparrows for help. 

Sparrows said, ‘There is no other option but to build a nest on the tree.’

Pigeons made a nest, but it wasn’t done properly. Finally, they decided to take help from the sparrows to build the nest.

The birds were happy to teach the pigeons to make a good nest. When they had just begun to build the nest, pigeons said.. ‘Even we know how to build it like this, we will make it on our own.’

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Book of the Month – February 2022 – The Psychology of Money

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Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness doing well with money isn’t necessarily about what you know. It’s about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people. How to manage money, invest it, and make business decisions are typically considered to involve a lot of mathematical calculations, where data and formulae tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world, people don’t make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together. In the psychology of money, the author shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to make better sense of one of life’s most important matters

Notes to Myself – Bombay Jayashri

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The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul. by Johann Sebastian Bach
Notes to Myself is one of MOPA’s flagship projects – a series of interactive, expository documentaries that deconstructs the lives and creative processes of some of the most impactful professionals associated with South India’s performing arts. Done in a let-your-hair-down and from-the-heart way, these offer an honest, moving and at times funny and charmingly unguarded look at the lives of these artistes.

This is the voice of Bombay Jayashri, a singer who has performed widely and successfully across genres – Carnatic music, Indian film playback singing, semi-classical music, fusion and more.

No Death No Fear

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Thích Nhất Hạnh

“The day my mother died I wrote in my journal, “A serious misfortune of my life has arrived.” I suffered for more than one year after the passing away of my mother. But one night, in the highlands of Vietnam, I was sleeping in the hut in my hermitage. I dreamed of my mother. I saw myself sitting with her, and we were having a wonderful talk. She looked young and beautiful, her hair flowing down. It was so pleasant to sit there and talk to her as if she had never died. When I woke up it was about two in the morning, and I felt very strongly that I had never lost my mother. The impression that my mother was still with me was very clear. I understood then that the idea of having lost my mother was just an idea. It was obvious in that moment that my mother is always alive in me.

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𝗜 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗺𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 !

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E𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒌𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒆…𝑺𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.

Well ! No one has ever bothered to ask the Hare his side of the story, so let me tell you the story from a different point of view…

I met the Hare and sat down with him for a heart to heart talk.This is what he had to say after we spent the better part of a balmy summer afternoon getting to know one other.It was a wonderful experience, believe me..

“Yes, I am the hare who lost.No, I did not get lazy or complacent.Let me explain.I was hopping over the meadows near the hills and looked back to realize that the tortoise was nowhere to be seen.Assured of my healthy lead, I decided to take a short nap under the large banyan tree near the pond.The anticipation of the race had kept me up all night.For days, that old silly tortoise had boasted about his ability to plod for hundreds of miles without stopping.Life is a marathon, he said, not a sprint.I wanted to show him that I could run both far and fast.

The shade of the tree was like an umbrella.I found an almost oval rock, covered it with grass, and turned it into a makeshift pillow.I could hear the leaves rustling and the bees buzzing – it felt they were collaborating and even conspiring to put me to sleep.And it didn’t take them long to succeed.I saw myself drifting on a log in a beautiful stream of water.

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There are many who do not care about Name or Fame they do whatever needs to be done ……

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The story of Hanuman and Valmiki


When Valmiki completed his Ramayana, Narada wasn’t impressed. ‘It is good, but Hanuman’s is better,’ he said. 

‘Hanuman has written the Ramayana too?!’ Valmiki didn’t like this at all and wondered whose Ramayana was better. So he set out to find Hanuman. 

At Kadali-Vana, grove of plantains, he found Ramayana inscribed on seven broad leaves of a banana tree.
He read it and found it to be perfect. The most exquisite choice of grammar and vocabulary, precise and melodious. He couldn’t help himself and started to cry.

‘Is it so bad?’ asked Hanuman
‘No, it is so good’, said Valmiki.

‘Then why are you crying?’ asked Hanuman.
‘Because after reading your Ramayana, no one will read mine,’ replied Valmiki.

Hearing this Hanuman simply tore up the seven banana leaves stating, ‘Now no one will ever read Hanuman’s Ramayana.’

hanumanji


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Become an instrument only, and my intervention will be constant….. 

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Why Sri Krishna did not save the Pandavas when they played dice with Duryadhana & Shakuni

Since childhood, Uddhava had been close to Krishna, charioting him and serving him in several ways. He never asked for any wish or boon from Sri Krishna. When Krishna was at the verge of completing his life’s mission on earth, he called Uddhava and said, “Dear Uddhava, in this avatar of mine, many people have asked and received boons from me; but you have never asked me for anything. Why don’t you ask for something now?” 

Even though Uddhava had never asked anything for himself, he had been carefully observing Krishna since his childhood. He had always wondered about certain contradictions between Krishna’s teachings and actions, and had always wanted to understand the reasons for these apparent or real contradictions.

So he asked Krishna, “I have observed that several things you have done or not done in your life were different from what you have always taught or stood for. I truly wish to understand why —  for instance, during the great yuddha,  the role you played confounds me to this day. I’m curious and wish to understand. Will you explain?” 

Krishna said, “Uddhava, please ask without hesitation.” 

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Carrying our Heaven Within

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Once the Sun and a Cave struck up a conversation. The Sun had trouble understanding what ‘dark’ meant and the Cave didn’t quite get the hang of ‘light’ so they decided to change places. 

The Cave went up to the Sun and said, ‘Ah, I see, this is beyond wonderful. Now come down and see where I have been living.’

The Sun went down to the cave and said, ‘Gee, I don’t see any difference.’ When the sun went down, it took its light along and even the darkest corners were illuminated. That’s why the Sun couldn’t see any difference. 

There is a quote from an old book that says, ‘The enlightened ones can never be sent to hell or pushed into darkness, they carry their heaven with them wherever they go.’

We think that heaven is a place one should aspire for, perhaps it is a state of mind which can be achieved. 

If we are full of darkness within, full of negativity, fear and doubt, we become a Cave, a dark hell inside. Instead, if we are illuminated, like the Sun, then the darkness of the cave wouldn’t matter. We’ll be able to find a blessing even in the worst of circumstances as we’ll be carrying our Heaven within.“`

– Sufi Story

(Contributed by Mr. Balasunder)