5.SATSANGAM

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5.SATSANGAM

(Read, Understand, Appreciate, Internalise and Assimilate to reach

the Ultimate)

 

PRAYER

 

Sincere prayer draws the Grace of the Lord. Prayer sharpens the

brain and the intellect. Prayer elevates the mind. It can reach a

realm where reason dares not enter, the Kingdom of God. Prayer is a

mighty spiritual force. Prayer generates good spiritual currents and

produces tranquility of the mind. If you pray regularly, your life

will be gradually changed and moulded. Prayer purifies the mind and

the intellect of man and fills them with Sattwa.

.... HH Pujyasri B V Narasimha Swamiji

 

The Prayers of Queen Kunti

 

Kunti was the mother of the Pandavas and she has given so many nice

prayers: " My Dear Krishna, Your Lordship has protected us from a

poisoned cake, from a great fire, from cannibals, from the vicious

assembly, from sufferings during our exile in the forest, and from

the battle where great generals fought. And now You have saved us

from the weapon of Asvatthama. " I wish that these calamities would

happen again and again so that we could see You again and again, for

seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and

deaths. " My Lord, Your Lordship can easily be approached, but only

by those who are materially exhausted. One who is on the path of

[material] progress, trying to improve himself with respectable

parentage, great opulence, high education and bodily beauty, cannot

approach You with sincere feeling. " My obeisances are unto You, who

are the property of the materially impoverished. You have nothing to

do with the actions and reactions of the material modes of nature.

You are self-satisfied, and therefore You are the most gentle and

are master of the monists. " My Lord, I consider Your Lordship to be

eternal time, the supreme controller, without beginning and end, the

all-pervasive one. In distributing Your mercy You are equal to

everyone. The dissensions between living beings are due to social

intercourse. "

 

.... Srimad Bhagavatam 1.8.24-28

 

A Simple, but Useful Tale

 

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life an how

things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to

make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and

struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose.

 

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water

and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In the

first, she placed carrots, in the second, she placed eggs, and in

the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil,

without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the

burners.

 

She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the

eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out

and placed it in a bowl.

 

Turning to her daughter, she asked, " Tell me, what do you

see? " " Carrots, eggs, and coffee, " her daughter replied.

 

She brought her daughter closer and asked her to feel the carrots.

The daughter noted that they were soft. She then asked her to take

an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, the daughter

observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked her daughter

to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.

Then the daughter asked, " What does it mean, mother? "

 

Her mother explained, " Each of these objects has faced the same

adversity -- boiling water -- but each reacted differently. The

carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being

subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg

had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid

interior, but, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside

became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. They

changed the water. " " Which are you? " she asked her daughter. " When

adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot,

an egg, or a coffee bean? "

 

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but

with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose my

strength? Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but

changes with the heat? Did I once have a fluid spirit, but after

death, breakup, financial hardship, or some other trial, have I

become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the

inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened

heart? Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the

hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the

water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. When things

are at their worst, do I get better and change the situation around

me?

 

How do you handle adversity? When the hours are the darkest and

trials are their greatest, do you elevate to another level? What

gives you the greatest opportunity for long term happiness? That is

your highest choice.

 

May you be blessed and bless others By Always making your Highest

Choice.

 

Always Awake to the Self

 

How can the mind which has itself created the world accept it as

unreal? That is the significance of the comparison made between the

world of the waking state and the dream world. Both are creations of

the mind and, so long as the mind is engrossed in either, it finds

itself unable to deny their reality. It cannot deny the reality of

the dream world while it is dreaming and it cannot deny the reality

of the waking world while it is awake. If, on the contrary, you

withdraw your mind completely from the world and turn it within and

abide there, that is, if you keep awake always to the Self which is

the sub- stratum of all experiences, you will find the world of

which you are now aware is just as unreal as the world in which you

lived your dream.

.... Sri Ramana Maharshi

Sri P Gopi Krishna

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