Akhanda Jyoti

[Guest guest]

A few snippets from the monthly magazine of Gayatri Parivar,

entitled " Akanda Jyoti " . Please enjoy.

 

1.

When Lord Buddha left his home and started the search of the Path

which could relieve a person from suffering, for a number of years

he went from one teacher to another begging them to show the Path of

Nirvana. When his efforts to find the truth path through teachers

failed, there came a voice from with him - " Light the Lamp of

Enlightenment within through Tap or prayers " . He then took a vow to

attain Enlightenment WITHIN himself through balanced Tap; got the

Supreme Wisdom, became The Buddha and showed the Path of Nirvana to

millions of suffering souls through his Eight-fold Path.

 

2.

At the time of Lord Buddha, Shravasti was struck by a severe

drought. All the well-to-do people hid themselves in their own

houses, hording whatever food articles and clothing they could.

During these had times a daughter of a respectable family named

Supriya, took an oath in front of The Buddha, to take care of and

feed the whole state. She started visiting every well-to-do house

and begged for food and clothing. Due to her dedication to the noble

cause the common people were filled with altruistic feelings for the

needy and in no time a sizable force of volunteers could be raised

to fight against the drought.

 

3.

The chief of the noblemen of Sravasti used to indulge in account

keeping of his wealth even during meals. His wealth was worth crores

of gold coins.

 

One day he sat for his meal and as soon as he had taken the first

morsel, his daughter-in-law asked, " Father, is the food tasteful and

nourishing? "

 

" Ayusmati! Why do you ask this? Can an accomplished cook like you

make any mistake? "

 

The daughter-in-law replied: " Sir you are under a wrong impression.

I have been serving you stale food for quite sometime although it

has been my cherished desire to provide you freshly cooked tasteful

meal once you are able to appreciate it. But I knowthat you will

remain completely oblivious to its pleasures because you are all the

time lost under the mesmeric spell of money " . This felling comment

of his daughter-in-law helped the rich man to extricate himself from

obsessive attachment to wealth.

 

4.

Alexander got afflicted with an apparently incurable disease. As all

the renowned physicians of Alexander were aware of his approaching

death they did not take risk of treating him, for they were afraid

of their defamation.

 

During this state of confusion a sincere and devoted servant of

Alexander named Philip prepared a medicine and assured him of

healing.

The jealous people complained, in a letter to Alexander, that the

king of Faras had plotted a conspiracy to poison Alexander through

Philip, promising him a huge sum as reward.

 

Alexander kept the letter under his pillows and continued taking

Philip's treatment. In the course of time he got totally cured of

the malady. When this concocted story about the so-called plot to

poison him to death was conveyed to him he had said that man could

not live by losing faith in basic goodness of the human soul.