This week's story !!

[Guest guest]

Guru Nanak was making a tour of the country to

understand and made himself understood. His two disciples

Bala & Mardana (1 hindu & 1 muslim) were with him on

the journey.<br><br> They reached a village and

knocked at some doors asking for something to eat.

Surprisingly the villagers behaved in a strange way and

started abusing them calling them fakes and

thieves.<br><br> Soon the whole village collected and they started

throwing stones at them and guru nanak and his disciples

were driven out of village. That evening they remained

hungry. After the evening prayers, Guru Nanak prayed," O

God please do not send any troubles to this village.

Please see to it that all villagers of this village

remain together always". His disciples were angry on

this good prayer for bad people.<br><br> Next day they

reached a village and all villagers gave them respect.

They not only arranged good food for them but also

made comfortable arrangements for their sleep. And in

his prayer guru Nanak said," O God please send some

calamities to this village so that they are all displaced".

Now his disciples were mad with anger and asked their

guru why such bad prayer for good people and blessings

for bad people.<br><br> Guru Nanak smiled and said,"

The villagers who chased us out and abused us, are a

bad group. They dont believe in religion or kindness

or love...so i prayed god to let them remain in this

one place. And I prayed god to give troubles to the

good and kind people so that they are dispersed and

each family settles in another village and spread

their positive energies of kindness and love in other

villages too. <br><br>Hari Aum

[Guest guest]

The story reminds one of another one regarding

Shiva, highlighting the inherent deep wisdom underlying

his apparently innocent demeanour for which he is so

lovingly called Bholenaath.<br>Parvati, the consort of

Shiva once got curious that among the countless bhaktas

of her lord, who was the most devoted. Upon being so

questioned by her, Lord Shiva smiled and said that presently

there were two who were on an almost equal level, one

very rich and other a poor brahmin, and as it was due

time to give them a visit, why not she join him in the

tour to karmabhoomi(this earth of ours).<br>So both of

them in a disguise of mendicants(Jogi and jogan)

proceeded first to the rich fella. The merchant was a very

devout bhakta of Shiva and his free time was spent in

the beautiful Shiva temple in his courtyard, doing

pooja most of the time. The twosome happened to arrive

at his gate just at the time of his special pooja

and called out for alms. The merchant was 'too busy',

but in accordance to his standing instruction, the

'beggars' were given a couple of blankets and some food and

then shooed away when they asked for the darshans of

the benefactor as he was busy appeasing Shiva.

Parvati was not too happy, but Shiva "the giver beyond

compare", simply blessed his devotee with a thousandfold

increase in his wealth; Bang! Just like that.<br>Now they

proceeded to the other devotee, the poor brahmin. This

brahmin was quite old and his wife had passed away,

neither did he have any progeny. For his livlihood he

just had an old cow whose milk he used to consume and

sell the rest; thus just managing to scrape through.

He was just biding his time till his death happily

repeating Shiva's name. Upon the arrival of two

athitis(unexpected guests), he fed them with what little he had

deciding to go hungry for that day. Shiva also gracefully

accepted as alms, the only tattered blanket he had. The

"mendicants" departed from the brahmin's door quite satisfied.

After covering some distance, Parvati was curious and

asked the Lord, why did he not bless the poor brahmin.

"Ahh, I just forgot my dear", replied Shiva, "May the

brahmin's cow die".<br>May be members would like to post

something on the wisdom behind Bhole Baba's

bholaapan(innocence).<br>regards

[Guest guest]

well, i think Jesus said it best, "It is far easier for a camel to pass through

the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter heaven."<br><br>om tat

sat<br><br>>:*)

[Guest guest]

"replied Shiva, "May the brahmin's cow die".<br>And what is the Catch? I didnt

get it really-i-am

[Guest guest]

Shiva's portrayal in the scriptures is very

varied. While people have spoken about the fierce Raudra

avataras, there are also instances (well, I really cant

quote or say exactly where from) wherein one gets to

see an entirely different aspect of Shiva. <br>Shiva

is one who is lost in Meditation. Dress in a tiger

skin and covered in ashes he roams around the

cremation grounds. Folklore has stories of the times when

Parvati has got very angry and has left and then Shiva

has had to go and please her.<br>The biggest point in

Shiva's character is undoubtedly his 'bholapan'

(innocence). He has needed help from the 'more cunning' Gods

who have had to tell him what to do.<br>As far giving

boons is concerned, Shiva has got himself into trouble

with that too. Bhasmasura comes to mind when Shiva had

granted the boon to him. The asura prayed to Siva and

when Shiva appeared, he asked for a boon from the in

that whoever he (Bhasmasura) touched on the head with

his hand would be turned into ashes. To test the

efficacy of this boon, Bhasmasura tried to touch the head

of Shiva himself. And Shiva was scared. He was not

sure what to do. He knew that his boon was effective

and now????????? So Shiva had to run to Vishnu for

help.<br><br>Innocence is bliss. Innocence is the way to God. With all

the evils of the worldly matters not surrounding

oneself, the path to 'Mukti' is simple. The bible says (I

am not sure of the exact words and I think it is the

bible) that the child is closer to God (because of it's

innocence). <br><br>Now, though being a God himself, whom

does Shiva meditate on?

[Guest guest]

"The more you hurt me, the more I will remember

you" Someone great saint had said this. The rich

merchant with more wealth would get more immersed in his

riches and would forget all about Bhakti - the poor

brahmin would wail and weep and pray harder to Shiva.