Guest guest Posted July 17, 2000 Report Share Posted July 17, 2000 Namaste, The story impressed two lessons on me: 1. God's compassion outweighs that of any intermediary; and 2. No intermediary is needed to approach God! Regards, s. >Beth302002 >advaitin >advaitin >Re: the prayer of the frog - 8 >Mon, 17 Jul 2000 19:10:18 EDT > finding the thought behind the story? ______________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2000 Report Share Posted July 17, 2000 namaste. Continuing on with the excerpts from "The prayer of the frog" by Anthony de Mello. I must say I am not sure of what is the right interpretation of this story. The story seems to be amenable to more than one interpretation. Would the learned members be able to help in finding the thought behind the story? Regards Gummuluru Murthy ------ PRAYER The village priest was a holy man so each time the people were in trouble they had recourse to him. He would then withdraw to a special place in the forest and say a special prayer. God would always hear his prayer and the village would be helped. When he died and the people were in trouble they had recourse to his successor who was not a holy man but knew the secret of the special place in the forest and the special prayer. So he said, "Lord, you know I am not a holy man. But surely you are not going to hold that against my people? So listen to my prayer and come to our assistance." And God would hear his prayer and the village would be helped. When he too died and the people were in trouble they had recourse to his successor who knew the special prayer but not the place in the forest. So he said, "What do you care for places, Lord? Is not every place made holy by your presence? So listen to my prayer and come to our assistance." And once again God would hear his prayer and the village would be helped. Now he too died and when the people were in trouble they had recourse to his successor who did not know the special prayer or the special place in the forest. So he said, "It isn't the formula that you value, Lord, but the cry of the heart in distress. So listen to my prayer and come to our assistance." And once again God would hear his prayer and the village would be helped. After this man died, when the people were in trouble they had recourse to his successor. Now this priest had more use for money than for prayer. So he would say to God, "What sort of a God are you that while you are perfectly capable of solving problems that you yourself have caused, you still refuse to lift a finger until you have us cringe and beg and plead? Well, you can do as you please with the people." Then he would go right back to whatever business he had in hand. And, once again, God would hear his prayer and the village would be helped. ----- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2000 Report Share Posted July 17, 2000 In a message dated 07/17/2000 3:24:46 PM Eastern Daylight Time, gmurthy writes: > Would the learned members be able to help > in finding the thought behind the story? Hello. I am far from learned...but That God would have helped the people anyway...that there was no special formula. The people set up the formulae for success, God didn't...IMHO... Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2000 Report Share Posted July 17, 2000 Namaste, I would continue... .... And than he, too, has died, people of the village had no one to recourse to. And still, each time the people were in trouble, they would be helped. Whatever happens, happens for better...Could it be that the problems are as imaginary as are the solutions? Imaginary solutions for imaginary problems are easy to come by... With peace, Lilia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2000 Report Share Posted July 17, 2000 - Stepanova, Lilia 'advaitin ' Monday, July 17, 2000 4:32 PM RE: the prayer of the frog - 8 Namaste, I would continue... .... And than he, too, has died, people of the village had no one to recourse to. And still, each time the people were in trouble, they would be helped. Whatever happens, happens for better...Could it be that the problems are as imaginary as are the solutions? Imaginary solutions for imaginary problems are easy to come by... With peace, Lilia ..and the story continues that Mullah was observed to sprinkle left over bread crumbs around his house ritually every morning. Unable to contain his curousity, his neighbour approached him and inquired about his strange practise. "Well it to keep away the tigers" replied Mullah, "But we don't have tigers in this town for perhaps 1000 miles from here" protested his neighbour, "Pretty effective isn't it..and its working even better than I thought!" replied Mullah. ~dave Discussion of the True Meaning of Sankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy focusing on non-duality between mind and matter. Searchable List Archives are available at: http://www.eScribe.com/culture/advaitin/ To from the list, send Email to <advaitin- > For other contact, Email to <advaitins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2000 Report Share Posted July 17, 2000 Hari Om Murthyji: I am happy to say that I am also not sure of the right interpretation of this story. However, it didn't stop me to invent one to suit my taste. We seldom want to accept any outcome and we try all available resources to change unpleasant outcomes. Our habits don't change unless circumstances force us to change our thoughts and the process of rationalization. The story develops a progressive series of circumstances to change our beliefs on the compassionate nature of God: (1) Holy person conducting special prayers at a designated location. (2) Ordinary person conducting special prayers at a designated location. (3) Ordinary person conducting special prayers in ordinary location. (4) Ordinary person conducting ordinary prayers in ordinary location. (5) materialistic person abandoning prayers. As Sunilji has rightly pointed out, when we mature spiritually, we are able to recognize the "True Nature of Brahman." Brahman is always the Brahman with no change whatsover. All we observe is the change within our personality. The change in our attitude to our own life is retraced through the character of different priests. This may partly explain the symbolism behind our worship - Shiva at top of Mount Kailas, Shiva at Badrinath, Shiva at Chidambaram, Shiva at the Village temple, Shiva inside our homes and most important, Shiva in our hearts! This is another way of expressing the spiritual growth. When we are more ignorant, we need more supports, and more extra efforts. When the ignorance is expelled, we adopt to the world and accept all outcomes without disappointments and excitements. regards, Ram Chandran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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