Monday, March 26, 2007
PRAYER
Saint Francis of Assissi’s prayer summarises a religious person’s function in society:
“Lord make me an instrument of Thy peace;
That where there is hatred, I may bring love;
That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
That where there is error, I may bring truth;
That where there is doubt, I may bring faith;
That where there is despair, I may bring hope;
And where there are shadows, I may bring Thy light;
That where is sadness, I may bring joy;
Lord grant that I may seek rather to comfort that to be comforted;
To understand than to be understood;
To love than to be loved;
For it is by giving that one receiveth;
It is by self-forgetting that one finds;
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven;
It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.”
“Lord make me an instrument of Thy peace;
That where there is hatred, I may bring love;
That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
That where there is error, I may bring truth;
That where there is doubt, I may bring faith;
That where there is despair, I may bring hope;
And where there are shadows, I may bring Thy light;
That where is sadness, I may bring joy;
Lord grant that I may seek rather to comfort that to be comforted;
To understand than to be understood;
To love than to be loved;
For it is by giving that one receiveth;
It is by self-forgetting that one finds;
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven;
It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.”
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
IS THERE JUSTICE IN LIFE? - M. RAMADAS
A salt doll had once gone to measure the depth of the sea and it failed to come out to announce its finding, because the salt doll itself got dissolved in the sea water.
- Sri Ramakrishnar Parahamasar's answer to the question about his experience of God.
It is said once Einstein was asked at a social gathering, by his hostess to explain his theory of Relativity to which, he said, "Madam, i was once walking in the country on a hot day with a blind friend and said that i would like a drink of Milk.
'Milk'?, said my friend'.
Drink i know, but what is milk?
'A white liquid', i replied.
Liquid, i know, but what is white?
The color of a swan's feather'.
Feather i know, what is a swan'?
A bird with a crooked neck.
Neck,i know, but what is crooked?
Thereupon I lost patient, i sized his arm and straitened it. 'That is right', i said and then i bent it at the elbow, that is crooked.
'Ah said the blind man, now i know what you mean by milk'.
- Sri Ramakrishnar Parahamasar's answer to the question about his experience of God.
It is said once Einstein was asked at a social gathering, by his hostess to explain his theory of Relativity to which, he said, "Madam, i was once walking in the country on a hot day with a blind friend and said that i would like a drink of Milk.
'Milk'?, said my friend'.
Drink i know, but what is milk?
'A white liquid', i replied.
Liquid, i know, but what is white?
The color of a swan's feather'.
Feather i know, what is a swan'?
A bird with a crooked neck.
Neck,i know, but what is crooked?
Thereupon I lost patient, i sized his arm and straitened it. 'That is right', i said and then i bent it at the elbow, that is crooked.
'Ah said the blind man, now i know what you mean by milk'.
Friday, March 16, 2007
TOLSTOY
THE KREUTZER SONATA – TOLSTOY
‘Ah, you want us to be merely objects of sensuality – all right, as objects of sensuality we will enslave you,’ say the women … And to make up for the right she acts on man’s sensuality, and through his sensuality subdues him so that he only chooses formally, while in reality it is she who chores. And once she has obtained these means she abuses them and acquires a terrible power over people.’
‘But where is this special power?’ I inquired.
‘Where is it? Why everywhere in everything! Go round the shops in any Big town. There are goods worth millions and you cannot estimate the human labours expended on them, and look whether in nine-tenth of their shops there is anything for the use of men. All the luxuries of life are demanded and maintained by women.
‘Count all the factories. An enormous proportion of them produced are useless ornaments, carriages, furniture and trinkets for women. Millions of people, generations of slaves perished at the hard labours in factories merely to satisfy woman’s caprice. Women, like queens kept nine-tenth of mankind in bondage to heavy labour. And all because they have been abased and deprived of equal rights with men. And they revenge themselves by acting on our sensuality and catch us in their nets. Yes, it all comes of that.
A hen is not afraid of what may happen to her chick, does not know all the diseases that may befall it, and does not know all those remedies with which people imagine that they can save from illness and death. And for hen her young are not a source of torment. She does for them what it is natural and pleasurable for her to do; her young ones are a pleasure to her. When a chick falls ill her duties are quite different: she warms and feeds it. And doing all that is necessary. If her chick dies she does not ask herself why it died, or where it has gone to; she cackles for a while and then leaves off and goes on living as before.
.
‘Ah, you want us to be merely objects of sensuality – all right, as objects of sensuality we will enslave you,’ say the women … And to make up for the right she acts on man’s sensuality, and through his sensuality subdues him so that he only chooses formally, while in reality it is she who chores. And once she has obtained these means she abuses them and acquires a terrible power over people.’
‘But where is this special power?’ I inquired.
‘Where is it? Why everywhere in everything! Go round the shops in any Big town. There are goods worth millions and you cannot estimate the human labours expended on them, and look whether in nine-tenth of their shops there is anything for the use of men. All the luxuries of life are demanded and maintained by women.
‘Count all the factories. An enormous proportion of them produced are useless ornaments, carriages, furniture and trinkets for women. Millions of people, generations of slaves perished at the hard labours in factories merely to satisfy woman’s caprice. Women, like queens kept nine-tenth of mankind in bondage to heavy labour. And all because they have been abased and deprived of equal rights with men. And they revenge themselves by acting on our sensuality and catch us in their nets. Yes, it all comes of that.
A hen is not afraid of what may happen to her chick, does not know all the diseases that may befall it, and does not know all those remedies with which people imagine that they can save from illness and death. And for hen her young are not a source of torment. She does for them what it is natural and pleasurable for her to do; her young ones are a pleasure to her. When a chick falls ill her duties are quite different: she warms and feeds it. And doing all that is necessary. If her chick dies she does not ask herself why it died, or where it has gone to; she cackles for a while and then leaves off and goes on living as before.
.
Monday, March 12, 2007
TOLSTOY
WORK, DEATH AND SICKNESS – TOLSTOY
Then God said to Himself: ‘ If even this means will not bring men to understand where in their happiness lies, let them be taught by suffering ‘. And God left men to themselves.
And, left to themselves, men lived long before they understood that they all ought to, and might, be happy. Only in the very latest times have a few of them begun to understand that work ought not to be a bug bear to some and like galley slavery for others,but should be a common and happy occupation uniting all men. They have begun to understand that with death constantly threatening each of us, the only reasonable business of every man is to spend the years, months, hours, and minutes, allotted him – in unity and love. They have begun to understand that sickness, far from dividing men, should, on the contrary, give opportunity for loving union with one another.
ESARHADDON, KING OF ASSYRIA – TOLSTOY
Life is one in them all, and yours is but a portion of this common life. And only in that one part of life that is yours, can you make life better or worse – increasing or decreasing it. You can only improve life in yourself by destroying the barriers that divide your life from that of others, and by considering others as yourself and loving them. By doing so you increase your share of life. You injure your life when you think of it as the only life, and try to add to its welfare at the expense of other lives. By doing so you only lessen it. To destroy the life that dwells in others in beyond your power. The life of those you have slain has vanished from your eyes, but is not destroyed. You thought to lengthen your own life and to shorten theirs, but you can not do this. Life knows neither time nor space. The life of a moment and the life of a thousand years, your life and the life of all the visible and the invisible beings in the world, are equal. To destroy life, or to alter it, is impossible, for life is the one thing that exists. All else, but seems to us to be.
THE COFFEE – HOUSE OF SURAT – TOLSTOY
‘So on matter of faith’, continued the Chinaman, the student of Confucius, ‘it is pride that causes error and discord among men. As with the sun so it is with God. Each man wants to have special God of his own, or at least a special God for his native land. Each nation wished to confine in its own temples Him whom the world cannot contain.
‘Can any temple compare with that which God Himself has built to unite all men in one faith and one religion?
‘All human temples are built on the model of this temple, which
is God’s own world. Every temple has its fonts, its vaulted roof, its lamps, its pictures or sculptures, its priests. But in what temple is there such a font as the ocean; such as the sun, moon and stars; or any figures to be compared with living, loving, mutually – helpful men? Where are there any records of God’s goodness so easy to understand as the blessings which He has strewn abroad for man’s happiness? Where is there any book of the law so clear to each man as that written in his heart? What sacrifices equal the self-denials which loving men and women make for one another? And what altar can be compared with the heart of a good man on which God Himself accepts the sacrifice?
‘The higher a man’s conception of God the better will he know Him. And the better he knows God the nearer will be draw to Him, imitating His goodness, His mercy, and his love of man.
‘There fore, let him who sees the sun’s whole light filling the world, refrain from blaming or despising the superstitious man who in his own idol sees one ray of that same light. Let him not despise even the unbeliever who is blind and cannot see the sun at all’.
So spoke the Chinaman, the student of Confucius; and all who were present in the coffee house were silent, and they disputed no more as to whose faith was the best.
Then God said to Himself: ‘ If even this means will not bring men to understand where in their happiness lies, let them be taught by suffering ‘. And God left men to themselves.
And, left to themselves, men lived long before they understood that they all ought to, and might, be happy. Only in the very latest times have a few of them begun to understand that work ought not to be a bug bear to some and like galley slavery for others,but should be a common and happy occupation uniting all men. They have begun to understand that with death constantly threatening each of us, the only reasonable business of every man is to spend the years, months, hours, and minutes, allotted him – in unity and love. They have begun to understand that sickness, far from dividing men, should, on the contrary, give opportunity for loving union with one another.
ESARHADDON, KING OF ASSYRIA – TOLSTOY
Life is one in them all, and yours is but a portion of this common life. And only in that one part of life that is yours, can you make life better or worse – increasing or decreasing it. You can only improve life in yourself by destroying the barriers that divide your life from that of others, and by considering others as yourself and loving them. By doing so you increase your share of life. You injure your life when you think of it as the only life, and try to add to its welfare at the expense of other lives. By doing so you only lessen it. To destroy the life that dwells in others in beyond your power. The life of those you have slain has vanished from your eyes, but is not destroyed. You thought to lengthen your own life and to shorten theirs, but you can not do this. Life knows neither time nor space. The life of a moment and the life of a thousand years, your life and the life of all the visible and the invisible beings in the world, are equal. To destroy life, or to alter it, is impossible, for life is the one thing that exists. All else, but seems to us to be.
THE COFFEE – HOUSE OF SURAT – TOLSTOY
‘So on matter of faith’, continued the Chinaman, the student of Confucius, ‘it is pride that causes error and discord among men. As with the sun so it is with God. Each man wants to have special God of his own, or at least a special God for his native land. Each nation wished to confine in its own temples Him whom the world cannot contain.
‘Can any temple compare with that which God Himself has built to unite all men in one faith and one religion?
‘All human temples are built on the model of this temple, which
is God’s own world. Every temple has its fonts, its vaulted roof, its lamps, its pictures or sculptures, its priests. But in what temple is there such a font as the ocean; such as the sun, moon and stars; or any figures to be compared with living, loving, mutually – helpful men? Where are there any records of God’s goodness so easy to understand as the blessings which He has strewn abroad for man’s happiness? Where is there any book of the law so clear to each man as that written in his heart? What sacrifices equal the self-denials which loving men and women make for one another? And what altar can be compared with the heart of a good man on which God Himself accepts the sacrifice?
‘The higher a man’s conception of God the better will he know Him. And the better he knows God the nearer will be draw to Him, imitating His goodness, His mercy, and his love of man.
‘There fore, let him who sees the sun’s whole light filling the world, refrain from blaming or despising the superstitious man who in his own idol sees one ray of that same light. Let him not despise even the unbeliever who is blind and cannot see the sun at all’.
So spoke the Chinaman, the student of Confucius; and all who were present in the coffee house were silent, and they disputed no more as to whose faith was the best.
TOLSTOY
WORK, DEATH AND SICKNESS – TOLSTOY
Then God said to Himself: ‘ If even this means will not bring men to understand where in their happiness lies, let them be taught by suffering ‘. And God left men to themselves.
And, left to themselves, men lived long before they understood that they all ought to, and might, be happy. Only in the very latest times have a few of them begun to understand that work ought not to be a bug bear to some and like galley slavery for others,but should be a common and happy occupation uniting all men. They have begun to understand that with death constantly threatening each of us, the only reasonable business of every man is to spend the years, months, hours, and minutes, allotted him – in unity and love. They have begun to understand that sickness, far from dividing men, should, on the contrary, give opportunity for loving union with one another.
ESARHADDON, KING OF ASSYRIA – TOLSTOY
Life is one in them all, and yours is but a portion of this common life. And only in that one part of life that is yours, can you make life better or worse – increasing or decreasing it. You can only improve life in yourself by destroying the barriers that divide your life from that of others, and by considering others as yourself and loving them. By doing so you increase your share of life. You injure your life when you think of it as the only life, and try to add to its welfare at the expense of other lives. By doing so you only lessen it. To destroy the life that dwells in others in beyond your power. The life of those you have slain has vanished from your eyes, but is not destroyed. You thought to lengthen your own life and to shorten theirs, but you can not do this. Life knows neither time nor space. The life of a moment and the life of a thousand years, your life and the life of all the visible and the invisible beings in the world, are equal. To destroy life, or to alter it, is impossible, for life is the one thing that exists. All else, but seems to us to be.
THE COFFEE – HOUSE OF SURAT – TOLSTOY
‘So on matter of faith’, continued the Chinaman, the student of Confucius, ‘it is pride that causes error and discord among men. As with the sun so it is with God. Each man wants to have special God of his own, or at least a special God for his native land. Each nation wished to confine in its own temples Him whom the world cannot contain.
‘Can any temple compare with that which God Himself has built to unite all men in one faith and one religion?
‘All human temples are built on the model of this temple, which
is God’s own world. Every temple has its fonts, its vaulted roof, its lamps, its pictures or sculptures, its priests. But in what temple is there such a font as the ocean; such as the sun, moon and stars; or any figures to be compared with living, loving, mutually – helpful men? Where are there any records of God’s goodness so easy to understand as the blessings which He has strewn abroad for man’s happiness? Where is there any book of the law so clear to each man as that written in his heart? What sacrifices equal the self-denials which loving men and women make for one another? And what altar can be compared with the heart of a good man on which God Himself accepts the sacrifice?
‘The higher a man’s conception of God the better will he know Him. And the better he knows God the nearer will be draw to Him, imitating His goodness, His mercy, and his love of man.
‘There fore, let him who sees the sun’s whole light filling the world, refrain from blaming or despising the superstitious man who in his own idol sees one ray of that same light. Let him not despise even the unbeliever who is blind and cannot see the sun at all’.
So spoke the Chinaman, the student of Confucius; and all who were present in the coffee house were silent, and they disputed no more as to whose faith was the best.
Then God said to Himself: ‘ If even this means will not bring men to understand where in their happiness lies, let them be taught by suffering ‘. And God left men to themselves.
And, left to themselves, men lived long before they understood that they all ought to, and might, be happy. Only in the very latest times have a few of them begun to understand that work ought not to be a bug bear to some and like galley slavery for others,but should be a common and happy occupation uniting all men. They have begun to understand that with death constantly threatening each of us, the only reasonable business of every man is to spend the years, months, hours, and minutes, allotted him – in unity and love. They have begun to understand that sickness, far from dividing men, should, on the contrary, give opportunity for loving union with one another.
ESARHADDON, KING OF ASSYRIA – TOLSTOY
Life is one in them all, and yours is but a portion of this common life. And only in that one part of life that is yours, can you make life better or worse – increasing or decreasing it. You can only improve life in yourself by destroying the barriers that divide your life from that of others, and by considering others as yourself and loving them. By doing so you increase your share of life. You injure your life when you think of it as the only life, and try to add to its welfare at the expense of other lives. By doing so you only lessen it. To destroy the life that dwells in others in beyond your power. The life of those you have slain has vanished from your eyes, but is not destroyed. You thought to lengthen your own life and to shorten theirs, but you can not do this. Life knows neither time nor space. The life of a moment and the life of a thousand years, your life and the life of all the visible and the invisible beings in the world, are equal. To destroy life, or to alter it, is impossible, for life is the one thing that exists. All else, but seems to us to be.
THE COFFEE – HOUSE OF SURAT – TOLSTOY
‘So on matter of faith’, continued the Chinaman, the student of Confucius, ‘it is pride that causes error and discord among men. As with the sun so it is with God. Each man wants to have special God of his own, or at least a special God for his native land. Each nation wished to confine in its own temples Him whom the world cannot contain.
‘Can any temple compare with that which God Himself has built to unite all men in one faith and one religion?
‘All human temples are built on the model of this temple, which
is God’s own world. Every temple has its fonts, its vaulted roof, its lamps, its pictures or sculptures, its priests. But in what temple is there such a font as the ocean; such as the sun, moon and stars; or any figures to be compared with living, loving, mutually – helpful men? Where are there any records of God’s goodness so easy to understand as the blessings which He has strewn abroad for man’s happiness? Where is there any book of the law so clear to each man as that written in his heart? What sacrifices equal the self-denials which loving men and women make for one another? And what altar can be compared with the heart of a good man on which God Himself accepts the sacrifice?
‘The higher a man’s conception of God the better will he know Him. And the better he knows God the nearer will be draw to Him, imitating His goodness, His mercy, and his love of man.
‘There fore, let him who sees the sun’s whole light filling the world, refrain from blaming or despising the superstitious man who in his own idol sees one ray of that same light. Let him not despise even the unbeliever who is blind and cannot see the sun at all’.
So spoke the Chinaman, the student of Confucius; and all who were present in the coffee house were silent, and they disputed no more as to whose faith was the best.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
