Makara Jyothi

Two friends, Ballu and Shallu lived in a village. Ballu was a very religious man, but Shallu was not.
Shallu was very successful, whereas Ballu was facing hurdle after hurdle in his life.

Though happy for his friend, Ballu felt that God was being unfair to him, despite Ballu being religious.

Once, a wise sage visited their village and Ballu asked the sage the reason for God showering his choicest blessings on Shallu who was not religious at all.

The wise sage closed his eyes and meditated on the question that Ballu had asked and then after a few minutes told Ballu,

"Sir, I have searched you through various places for more than five years now to have a question of mine answered", exclaimed Ranjan to the elusive wise man who stayed in the deep jungles on the western ghats.

"What is the questions?" asked the wise man.

"Sir, I would like to tell me what the purpose of my life is?" enquired Ranjan

"Are you married?", asked the wise man

"Yes, sire and I have been blessed by 2 children", answered Ranjan

"How is your family?" asked the wise man

Manu was an atheist. He used to ridicule his friends who believed in God.

One day a sage visited their village. The whole village had assembled to seek blessings from this sage. Manu was also present in the crowd. His main intention was to test the wisdom of the sage.

When his turn came to seek the blessings of the sage, he asked the sage,

"Sir, have you seen God"

"I see him everywhere and in everything", said the sage

"Can you show me?", asked Manu

"Will you please close your eyes and extend your arm?", asked the sage

"Dear Master, I have come from far to seek your guidance!", said Harihar to the old monk.
"What guidance can I give you?", asked the monk.
"I want to reach the state where I desire nothing.", said Hairhar.
"I see." pondered the monk.
"If you wish to be free of all desires, why do you desire the state of desirelessness?", asked the monk to Harihar "Stop desiring the state of desirelessness and you will be desireless" completed the monk.

Received the following message from a friend by email.

Thought I must share this with everyone:

If you think you are unhappy, look at them

If you think your salary is low, how about her?

Chitrasena was a learned brahmin priest.  Once while crossing a river on a boat, he happened to chat up with the boatman.  Chitrasena was very proud about his knowledge of the scriptures.
"Have you read the Vedas?" asked Chitrasena to the boatman.
"No, sir", replied the boatman.
"You have wasted 25% of your life.  Never mind, have you read the Upanishads?" asked Chitrasena
"No, sir.  We are not fortunate enough to afford it." answered the boatman.

In the world today, meditation is considered one of the most effective stress busters.  However, there seems to be many different defintions of Meditation - some say its concenteration, focus, chanting a mantra and many many approaches to meditation.  But what exactly is meditation?

Sometime ago, there was a furore in India over idols of Ganesha drinking milk all over India.  People started to flock temples to witness these 'Miracles'.

I wonder why Ganesha being a god needs miracles to convince his followers.  I am sure he has been blessing them since eons without as much as a public display of his powers. Why then would he choose to do a miracle to prove his existence? Does he need to prove his existence at all? and To whom?

"O, enlightened master, how do I dispel the darkness of ignornace within me?", asked the disciple to his master.

"Does darkness exist? What is darkness?", asked the master.

"Well, dont you witness darkness in the night, every night? How can you then suggest that darkness does not exist?", asked the confused disciple.

Mattu was a successful business man in the town. He was very popular and known for his highly principled life.

He suffered from a disease in which he could no experience pain at all. His life did not know what pain was. Everyone envied him. He simply could not feel pain.

When he was 40, he partnered with an international business house and was about to take his business globally. After having signed the contract papers and a dinner in a swank hotel, he returned home.