Can you Give UP ?

This afternoon...after having lunch at home ...i sat down to read the magazine "PASSAGE" Vol 1 : 2010 and i came across an article titled " Lighten the Load". And right after reading...i decided to share it with everyone...coz...it is such a simple yet important message to be observed by everyone...so here goes :

" A young man once met a Zen Master and was so impressed that he decided to learn some meditation and live a life of contemplation all alone. " I shall give up everything" he declared. " Dont try anything that doesnt suit your personality, know yourself first", said the Zen Master. But the young man woudnt listen.

He went away to the forest nearby, built himself a small hut of bamboo and palm thatch and began leading a simple life of an ascetic. But soon, he found his hut swamped by rats. They tore away his clothes, gnawed through fruits and berries he gathered for food and even nibbled off patches from the mat he slept on. The young man decided that he must do something about it. So he got himself a cat to hunt the rats.

But cats cannot live on rats alone, they need milk and fish. So the young man went out into the nearest village and begged the people to give him a cow. He needed someone to milk the cow. So he hired a villager. Now he needed to pay the villager. So began spending, two hours every morning gathering berries and fruits from the forest to sell to the villagers. Next he needed a shed for the cow so he began spending five hours gathering fruits, herbs and firewood. He bought building materials, hired some villagers and got the shed built for his cow. His cow needed grass so he cleared out some space in the forest . watered it and turned it into a grazing ground for his cow. He also had to spend a couple of hours everyday taking the cow out to graze.

A year passed by and the old master came by to see how the young man was faring. The young man was so busy that he did not have any time for the master. " Sir , please wait. I shall be with you in an hour. I have to go fruit gathering ....take them to my shop in the village....i have to feed the cow and the cat.....and there are other things to do" The master was amused.

When finally the young man was free in the evening , the master said " i thought you were giving up everything. But you now seem busier than ever. And you possess a great many things - a hut, a shed , a meadow, a cow, a cat, pails for milk and water, baskets for fruit, knifes for weeding, haystacks, a shop in the village...."

The young man grew red in embarrassment. He recounted how it had all happened. The master laughed. "I told you son, it is not easy to give up. If you had not seen the rats as a problem in your life, you woudnt have needed the cat. It is all in the mind: not around you, but inside you. Giving up has to come from within. "

Now..! isnt that an awesome story ?? It is not easy even to give up is it...? Well at least not till we learn how to be at peace within.....coz things around us will always be the same...they will keep bothering us..and pushing us here and there...and we keep hitting one wall to another till we get exhausted...but the moment we learn how to be still and find peace from exactly where we are every moment...then these things around will only hit and bounce away...while we stand firm. And how do we find that balance ? probably just as how we first balanced on a bicycle...we try and we fall to the right and left over and over...then finally you find the balance and once you find it ...you never loose that balance all your life, whether or not you cycle everyday or never cycle again for the next 50 years..you will never fall off the bicycle again...right?...so that balance simply has to come out from us...no one can do it for you...you find it and you have it forever !...so JUST THE SAME.....we have to keep trying to find that balance in life....we might fall here and there a few times....but i am sure we will balance sooner or later...!!

PEACE IS POSSIBLE :)

I read this book ....PEACE IS POSSIBLE , The life and message of Prem Rawat......wow ! While most people are searching too far and too long for the nearest and simplest of things and make everything so complicated by believing in 1000 theories about how to attain peace ...this amazingly peaceful person has proved otherwise by using such simple language and methods to prove that peace is indeed possible ... his answers are crystal clear and fits every human being regardless of the social boundaries or age group....all we need to understand is the phrase " let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me"

And whats even more amazing is ....this person addressed his audience at the age of THREE !!!! If at three he discovered his true self....what are we doing still ? why do we think its impossible to reach to ourselves ...probably it takes a lot of unlearning before we get there....but at least we know its possible :)

I would like to share a little story here which took place in my house last week....my cousin came over to my place and she brought her little 3 years old girl along....it was dinner time for the baby...and she was refusing to eat....and she asked me if she could watch cartoon ...and i told her..." yes u can , but you have to eat first...and then i will switch the tv on for you"....and the little girl says...."no , amma will on the tv" meaning that my cousin would switch it on for her....and my cousin reacts to it by telling her.." no ! i wont, this is not MY tv....its ATHEY's (aunty's) ...so only she can switch it on "...and the little girl keeps telling me....amma will on the TV...

Now ....its such a simple example....that the little girl...does not see whats "YOURS' or "MINE"....a TV was just a TV to her...whether it was in her house....or mine....it didnt make a difference to her...she was at peace...knowing nothing material in this world belongs to anyone...but we adults have started teaching her otherwise....by installing facts like " THIS IS MINE" THAT IS YOURS'...and one thing at a time...soon she will start clinging on to loads of other material things like this is my house, my toys, my books, clothes, my car, and eventually my state , my country .., my people....and then we get exhausted running after peace , and then we look for a GURU to unlearn these things...but by then these material things have been stuck to your soul so hard that ripping it off becomes almost impossible.....so most of us give up on it and simply get used to the material world....but every now and then God reminds us what we are missing....and we choose to ignore these signs coz it has become easier that way....but though getting back to the Three Year old Peaceful Soul isnt going to be an easy task...we could at least eliminate one by one...one at a time....starting with what we think could be the easiest and then keep going to the more difficult ones......and see how far we can go...who knows ....we might just get back there.... :)

LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH AND LET IT BEGIN WITH ME :)