Stories

I need a needle so that I can put people together…..

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“It is reported in the life of a great Sufi mystic, Farid, that a king came to see him. He had brought a present for him: a beautiful pair of scissors, golden, studded with diamonds – very valuable, very rare, something unique. He brought those scissors to present to Farid. He touched Farid’s feet and gave him the scissors.

Farid took them, looked at them, gave them back to the king, and said, “Sir, many, many thanks for the present that you have brought. It is a beautiful thing, but utterly useless for me. It will be better if you can give me a needle. Scissors I don’t need; a needle will do.

Putting puzzle together vector

The king said, “I don’t understand. If you need a needle, you will need scissors too.”

Farid said, “I am talking in metaphors. Scissors I don’t need because scissors cut things apart. A needle I need because a needle puts things together. I teach love. My whole teaching is based on love – putting things together, teaching people communion. I need a needle so that I can put people together. The scissors are useless; they cut, they disconnect. Next time when you come, just an ordinary needle will be enough.”

– Osho

Three Stages in the Awakening of Intuition by Paramhansa Yogananda

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Paramahansa Yogananda Standard Pose.jpgIntuition is developed through meditation. The more you meditate and reason in a calm state, the more intuition you will have. Calm reason and calm feeling lead to true intuition. Spiritually advanced souls use their intuition in everything they do, and thus accomplish the seemingly impossible.

I was once at the hermitage of my Guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, when he was away for a few days. He wrote me a letter saying that he was arriving by train at nine o’clock, and that I should meet him. A friend of mine, a new devotee, was also waiting with me. As nine o’clock approached, he said, “Let us go and meet your Master now.”

When I said, “Not yet,” he was astonished. I said that because I had intuitively received Master’s message that he wasn’t coming on the nine o’clock train. My friend, however, went to the station and waited and waited, but Master did not come. Finally he came back.

Shortly afterwards I said, “Let us both go now.”

My friend replied, “Your Master writes you to meet him at nine o’clock and you would not go, but now you want to take me to meet him?”

I said, “Never mind. You will see. The train will be arriving just as we get there. It will be filled with light and my Master will be on that train. When he approaches us, a little boy with a silver jug will be walking in front of him. Master’s first words to me will be, ‘Did you get my message?’”

I went to the station with my friend and sure enough, just as we got there, the train pulled in and Master appeared. There was a little boy with a silver jug just ahead of him.

As soon as Master saw me, he said, “Did you get my message?”

Then he turned and said to the new disciple, “Your mind is too restless and that is why you didn’t get my message.”…

http://www.anandaclaritymagazine.com/2015/04/3-stages-awakening-intuition/

real thing or mere reflection of self…

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Sufi mystic Shibli was asked, “Who guided you in the Path?”

He said: “A dog. One day I saw him, almost dead with thirst, standing by the water’s edge. Every time he looked at his reflection in the water he was frightened, and withdrew, because he thought it was another dog.

“Finally, such was his necessity, he cast away fear and leapt into the water; at which the ‘other dog’ vanished.“The dog found that the obstacle, which was himself, the barrier between him and what he sought, melted away.

“In this same way my own obstacle vanished, when I knew that it was what I took to be my own self. And my Way was first shown to me by the behavior of a dog.”

Reflection collie dog

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The advantages of growing old

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ChipotleA legend tells of a man who used to carry water every day to his village, using two large pitchers tied on either end of a piece of wood, which he placed across his shoulders.

One of the pitchers was older than the other and was full of small cracks; every time the man came back along the path to his house, half of the water was lost.


For two years, the man made the same journey. The younger pitcher was always very proud of the way it did its work and was sure that it was up to the task for which it had been created, while the other pitcher was mortally ashamed that it could carry out only half its task, even though it knew that the cracks were the result of long years of work.

So ashamed was the old pitcher that, one day, while the man was preparing to fill it up with water from the well, it decided to speak to him.

“I wish to apologize because, due to my age, you only manage to take home half the water you fill me with, and thus quench only half the thirst awaiting you in your house.”

The man smiled and said:
“When we go back, be sure to take a careful look at the path.”
The pitcher did as the man asked and noticed many flowers and plants growing along one side of the path.

“Do you see how much more beautiful nature is on your side of the road?” the man remarked.

“I knew you had cracks, but I decided to take advantage of them. I sowed vegetables and flowers there, and you always watered them. I’ve picked dozens of roses to decorate my house, and my children have had lettuce, cabbage and onions to eat. If you were not the way you are, I could never have done this. We all, at some point, grow old and acquire other qualities, and these can always be turned to good advantage.”

 

– Paul Coelho

 

 

 

Is it time to step back, and, take a long view of life and reevaluate priorities ?

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In high school, I had read a story by H. G. Wells about a child who wanders down an unfamiliar street and spots a door in a plain white masonry wall. He opens it and discovers a garden where everything is welcoming and full of peace – a place where he belongs. The next day he tries to go back, but the door has disappeared. Continue reading →

Back end or Heart of House?

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Writer William Gibson once famously said that the ‘The future is already here—it’s just not very evenly distributed.’ I worry more that the past is here—it’s just so evenly distributed that we can’t get to the future.

— Paul Kedrosky

A few years ago, we facilitated an event with a group of luxury car dealers in a Four Seasons hotel. They were all the owners or General Managers of the dealerships: wealthy, shrewd businesspeople with a track record of success going back a decade or more. They had come to the event to learn from other luxury and service businesses. They were exposed to world-class stimuli over the two days: leading-edge technology retailing, high-end customer service, the latest and greatest in travel and hospitality. And yet one of the most illuminating conversations came after a visit to the laundry. Continue reading →

Life isn’t about how to survive the storm, But how to dance in the rain.

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“It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80’s arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound. Continue reading →