http://www.spiritualbangalore.com One stop point for all your spiritual needs Thu, 22 Sep 2016 15:26:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.3.22

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/a-friend-in-need-panchatantra/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/a-friend-in-need-panchatantra/#comments Sun, 31 Oct 2010 08:51:24 +0000 admin For Children Stories http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=3154 Once upon a time there lived four friends in a forest. They were very different from each other; yet, they were best friends and always came to each other’s aid when required. The friends were: a mouse, a crow, a deer, and a tortoise. This is a story of how these friends, who ordinarily would […]

Once upon a time there lived four friends in a forest. They were very different from each other; yet, they were best friends and always came to each other’s aid when required. The friends were: a mouse, a crow, a deer, and a tortoise. This is a story of how these friends, who ordinarily would have been natural enemies helped each other against their biggest enemy – Man, who was a hunter.

One-day, the mouse, crow, and deer were gossiping under a tree. They suddenly heard a scream. It was their friend, the tortoise! He was trapped in a hunter’s net.

“Uh oh!” exclaimed the deer fearfully, “what do we do now?”

“Do not despair” said the mouse, “I have a plan” and the tree friends huddled together and decided on their plan of action.

The deer ran towards the hunter who was close to the tortoise caught in the net. He reached their without the knowledge of the hunter, and lay down in his path as though dead. The crow flew towards the deer and acted as though he were pecking at the deer. The hunter picked up the net and started walking home, when he suddenly laid eyes on the wondrous sight of a dead deer. “Hey, here is a deer, all ready for me” He thought and put down his net and walked towards the deer. The crow continued circling the deer, and flapping his wings furiously whenever the hunter tried to push him away. In the meantime, the mouse hopped to the tortoise and started chewing the threads of the net. As the crow kept the hunter at bay, the mouse freed the hunter. As soon as the crow saw that the tortoise was free, he let out a loud caw and flew away. The deer suddenly got up and ran! The hunter stood stunned and decided to go back to the tortoise, only to see that his net was torn, and the tortoise had escaped. “If only I hadn’t been so greedy” he thought.

The four friends met again under the tree, and could not stop laughing at the trick that they had played on the hunter. Oh! What good friends they were, always their for each other!

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/sufi-tales/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/sufi-tales/#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:52:28 +0000 admin Stories http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=3029 Do you know who the Sufis are? Their religion was born out of Islam and other influences. They arose in the lands which are now called Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. And there were Sufis in India. Sufism is called a mystical religion because Sufis often seek silence and solitude, and meditate. They search […]

Do you know who the Sufis are? Their religion was born out of Islam and other influences. They arose in the lands which are now called Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. And there were Sufis in India. Sufism is called a mystical religion because Sufis often seek silence and solitude, and meditate. They search for truths which are unseen and difficult to discover by ordinary means. One of their ideas of God is, the Light which illuminates the Heart. Today we shall catch the flavor of their thought through several stories.

The first is by one of the most famous: Shams-e Tabrizi

I have been a misfit since childhood. I knew that no one understood me, not even my father. He once said, “You are not a madman, fit to be put in a madhouse, nor are you monk to be put in a monastery. I just don’t know what you are!”
I replied: “You know, father, I can tell you what it is like. Once a duck egg was put under a hen to be hatched. When the egg hatched, the duckling walked along with the mother hen until they came to a pond. The duckling took a nice dip in the water. But the hen stayed on the bank and clucked. Now, my dear father, after having tried the sea I find it my home. If you choose to stay on the shore, is it my fault? I am not to be blamed.”
There are some who are born to go a very different way.

The Goldsmith and an Old Man

There was an old man who went to a goldsmith and said, “May I use your scales to weigh my own gold?” Goldsmiths keep very sensitive scales.
The goldsmith replied: “Sorry, sir, I don’t have a sieve.”
“Don’t make fun of me, ” said the man: “I asked for your scales, not a sieve.”
“I don’t have a broom either,” the goldsmith said.
“Come on,” said the man impatiently, “Don’t play deaf.”
“I am not playing deaf, my good man, and I heard everything you said.”
Then the goldsmith explained: “Your hands are shaking with old age and your gold is in tiny bits and pieces. When you start weighing, you’ll scatter them on the floor. Then you’ll ask for a broom to pick them up. And then, to separate the gold from the dust and dirt, you’ll ask for a sieve.”

(How would you describe the wisdom of this goldsmith?)

The Tiger and the Fox

A fox who lived in the deep forest of long ago had lost its front legs. No one knew how: perhaps escaping from a trap. A man who lived on the edge of the forest , seeing the fox from time to time, wondered how in the world it managed to get its food. One day when the fox was not far from him he had to hide himself quickly because a tiger was approaching. The tiger had fresh game in its claws. Lying down on the ground, it ate its fill, leaving the rest for the fox.
Again the next day the great Provider of this world sent provisions to the fox by this same tiger. The man began to think: “If this fox is taken care of in this mysterious way, its food sent by some unseen Higher Power, why don’t I just rest in a corner and have my daily meal provided for me?”
Because he had a lot of faith, he let the days pass, waiting for food. Nothing happened. He just went on losing weight and strength until he was nearly a skeleton. Close to losing consciousness, he heard a Voice which said: “O you, who have mistaken the way, see now the Truth! You should have followed the example of that tiger instead of imitating the disabled fox.”

(And Rumi said, “You have feet; why pretend that you are lame?”)

Do you have any idea which poet people are reading the most these days? Let me tell you. His name is Jallal-ud-Din Rumi, and believe it or not, he came from that part of the east which is now called Afghanistan. Rumi’s family moved to what is now Turkey, and there he composed several thousand excellent poems in Persian.
Here is a translation of one of them:

God made the fake look like the real [this world] and he hid the Real [Himself] as if it did not exist. He covered the sea, showing the foam. He hid the wind from our sight but made the dust visible!
This world is an old magician who sells you the moonlight, calling it “silk.”
When you come to your true Self you see that there are no silk clothes, but instead you have spent your money and your purse is empty! In this great market of magic [the world] always look beneath the surface: buy nothing but Truth.

z line

S’adi of Shiraz

S’adi was another Mideastern poet. This, not a poem, is his memory from childhood.
I remember that in the days of my childhood I was a religious boy, earnest in my prayers and devotions. One night I was keeping vigil (staying awake) with my father, the Holy Book on my lap. The people around us in the meeting house were sound asleep, and I said to my father, “None of these sleepers is raising his head to say his prayers or to hear the word of God. You would think that they were all dead.”
Father replied: “My beloved son, it would be better that you too were asleep rather than slandering people behind their backs.”
Here are three of his little stories:

z line

For God’s Sake

A muezzin is one who is appointed to recite the Kor’an in public. Naturally someone with a melodious voice is usually chosen for the job. One day a muezzin with a perfectly horrible voice was doing the reciting. A righteous man passing that way asked him, “What is your salary?”
“Nothing,” said the reciter.
“Why then do you take all this trouble?”
“No trouble,” he replied, “I do it for God’s sake.”
“Then for God’s sake, don’t do it!”

z line

Take My Hand

One day Mullah Nasreddin (a famous Muslim religious leader) saw a crowd gathered around a pond. A Muslim priest with a huge turban on his head had fallen into the water and was calling for help. Evidently he could not swim.
People were leaning over toward him and saying, “Give me your hand, Revered Sir! Give me your hand.” But the priest didn’t pay any attention to them and went on splashing about in his struggle with the water, and calling for help. Finally Nasreddin stepped forward
“Let me handle this,” he said. He stretched out his hand toward the priest and shouted at him: “Here! Take my hand!” The priest grabbed the Mullah’s hand and was hoisted out of the pond. People were very surprised and asked the Mullah how he had managed to get the priest’s cooperation.
“It is very simple,” he replied. “I know that this miser wouldn’t give anything to anyone. So instead of saying ‘Give me your hand,’ I said ‘Take my hand,’ and sure enough he did it.”

z line

The Hungry Sermon

A Fool, penniless, with no money to buy even his next meal, became a preacher. One day he climbed up to the pulpit and asked the congregation if they had any questions to ask, on religious matters.
“Where is Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) at present?” someone asked [This was long after Mohammed had died.]
The fool now regretted that he had invited questions, but he had to give an answer, so he made a “stab in the dark”: “In Heaven,” he said.
“Which level?” the questioner wanted to know.
“The fifth,” the preacher said without hesitating.
“How can he obtain food for eating, in that unearthly place?”
The Fool couldn’t take it any more. “I have been in your town for over a month and you never wanted to know whether I had food to eat or how I got it. And now you are worrying about the Prophet’s dinner in Heaven! You people should be ashamed of your uncaring and heathen ways!”

Teachings of the Sufis, by Farzan

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/one-mother-everywhere-parvati/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/one-mother-everywhere-parvati/#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:39:26 +0000 admin Short Stories Stories http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=3013 You’ve often heard of God, the Father, creator of the universe. Have you ever heard of God, the Mother? Mothers create too, don’t they? — even more than fathers, because we draw our very life and nourishment from them. So, do not be surprised that in some countries and among some people, God is also […]

You’ve often heard of God, the Father, creator of the universe. Have you ever heard of God, the Mother? Mothers create too, don’t they? — even more than fathers, because we draw our very life and nourishment from them. So, do not be surprised that in some countries and among some people, God is also worshiped as “Mother”. This is especially true in India. Over there, October is the time when the year’s crops of vegetables, grains and fruits are harvested. In the festival to celebrate this many people gather around images of “the Mother” — beautiful, painted and decorated forms depicting the Divine Mother, looking just as they have imagined (or perhaps seen) Her, for centuries. They praise Her and sing hymns and dance in honor of Her who has given them land and crop, cattle and goods. In short, everything has come from the hand of the Mother, who is Creator, Sustainer and Dissolver of it all.

Here are two stories often told, about how one little boy, son of the Divine Mother Durga, discovered Her true nature. His name was Ganesha. He is considered to have been very wise, which is one reason he’s shown in pictures with the head of an elephant!

Ganesha went outdoors one day to play and found a stray cat. Too small to know better, he began to pull her ears and tail. He roughed up that poor cat and even began to beat her with a stick, making marks on her head till, yowling, she ran for her life. Some hours later Ganesha went into the house. His mother, to his astonishment and dismay, was looking terrible. Her hair was a mess, she had scratches on her face and she limped from the bruises on her body.

“Mom!” cried Ganesha. “Who beat you up?”

Sadly Sri Durga replied, “It was you, I’m afraid.”

“No way! What do you mean? I never did it!”

“Do you remember, his mother asked, “a while ago, how you treated a certain cat?”

Now Ganesha though that the cat’s owner must have come and beat Mother Durga on account of him, and he burst into tears.

“Where is that man?” he sobbed.

“No, not that. You see, my boy, I am not just your physical mother. I have filled the whole universe with My Being. As a matter of fact, whatever you do to any least part of it, you do that to Me.”

Some years later the Mother was sitting in her dressing room in a very lofty mood. She had recently been meditating and in that mood had become quite conscious of her own divinity. Now she put around her neck a lovely necklace of gems, a gift from her husband, Shiva. But seeing Ganesha and her other son, Kartik (Karteek), playing nearby, she said to them “Look, I will give this precious necklace to whichever of you comes back first, after traveling all around the universe. So run this race, but cover every mile of the universe.”

Kartik immediately dropped what he was doing, went out, and finding the animal he most liked to ride upon (which was a magic steed), he set off on the long journey. He went as fast as he could, over the earth, out to the moon and planets, sailed through the galaxies and visited the asteroids, even peeping into a black hole or two. Almost exhausted, he recalled that he had to save energy enough to return. When Kartik finally reached home he saw his brother was already wearing the necklace of gems! Ganesha, you see, had become much wiser now: he had simply gone all the way around his Mother’s body and then bowed down before Her. He knew full well that apart from Her there was no universe.

Puranas

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/sri-krishnas-birth/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/sri-krishnas-birth/#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:35:19 +0000 admin Stories http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=3007 We don’t know how long ago he was born. It was long centuries ago. There are many legends, as you know, about some of the people who leave their mark on history. One of these is Sri Krishna, whom millions of people have looked upon as God, born in India in a human body. One […]

We don’t know how long ago he was born. It was long centuries ago. There are many legends, as you know, about some of the people who leave their mark on history. One of these is Sri Krishna, whom millions of people have looked upon as God, born in India in a human body.

One day when he was just a baby, still crawling on the ground, he got into a mud-puddle, and you can well imagine that very soon he was putting some of the mud into his mouth — it looked so good! Something like chocolate? Boys of the neighborhood saw Krishna eating the mud and, knowing it would not be good for him, ran to tell his mother.

She hurried to the mud-puddle. Worried to know how much the baby had put into his mouth, she placed her hand on it and asked him to open it. And you cannot imagine what happened to her. Instead of the usual pink tongue, palate and little teeth, Mother Yashoda saw the whole universe in the mouth of her baby. Krishna’s mouth displayed the entire solar system in the Milky Way, the sun, moon and earth itself, crawling with its many living creatures.

Do you understand why she saw it this way? Her vision was changed. Like clouds dispersing before a blazing sun, her ordinary ideas about this baby being just human like the rest of us vanished, and by the power of God even in that tiny body, the divine nature of this child shone through.

But his mother didn’t understand this right away. She thought she must be dreaming. When she realized she was actually seeing God in her baby, she became very humble. Aware, now, of his real power and holiness, she gave voice to a prayer: “O Lord of Love, who has entered our world as a human child, you have given me the honor of taking care of you; please shower Your blessings on us forever!”

Then — to finish our story — you must know that her consciousness changed again. Yashoda became her usual self and was able to pick Krishna up and take him to a basin and wash off all the mud. And she warned him about eating it. So once again the Lord, covering himself with a human disguise, so to say, allowed himself to be brought up as babies always are.

When they are a bit older babies can also be naughty and get into worse trouble. Sri Krishna was not different in this respect. One day his mother had churned milk to make fresh cheese. She had kept it in a pot where she thought it would be safe. But Krishna found the pot, pulled it down and broke it. Putting his little hand in, he pulled out some cheese and crawled to a dark corner to eat it. Just then a monkey wandered in (as they sometimes do in India) and Krishna fed some of his cheese to the monkey. When Mother Yashoda discovered all this, she gave the boy a good scolding and decided to fasten him somewhere with a rope, so she might go on with her work.

She thought she had chosen a long enough piece of rope, but it proved too short when she tried to use it. So she got more rope, and still more, and tied them together, but Krishna seemed so big she could not get the rope around him! How could He, who has no beginning or end, and is everywhere in space, and who is all powerful, ever be bound with ropes? Yet little Krishna, secretly smiling, finally allowed his mother to fasten the rope around him. Because of her great love, he could not resist her any longer and let her have her way.

We too can come close to Sri Krishna, by the love we have for Him: He hears the call of a loving and devoted heart and responds. You’d better believe it!

Srimad Bhagavatam

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/squirrel-helping-rama-in-building-a-bridge/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/squirrel-helping-rama-in-building-a-bridge/#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:25:26 +0000 admin Stories http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=2995 How the chipmunk got his stripes, is one of the episodes in the Ramayana. It happened in this way: King Rama has to get a bridge built, from the land of India to the island of Sri Lanka. It looks like quite a jump, doesn’t it? Actually there is ocean bed not far under the […]

How the chipmunk got his stripes, is one of the episodes in the Ramayana. It happened in this way: King Rama has to get a bridge built, from the land of India to the island of Sri Lanka. It looks like quite a jump, doesn’t it? Actually there is ocean bed not far under the water — a kind of natural bridge. Well, the whole of Rama’s army and all the company which followed him are anxious to have the king rescue his queen, Sita, from the demon kingdom in Sri Lanka. They all pitch in to pile up stones and logs and soil and sand to bridge the gap.

One day what do they see but a little chipmunk, rolling himself in sand and running back and forth to the bridge and shaking himself there.

“What are you doing?” someone asks him. “I am helping to build Rama’s bridge,” said the little one. Everybody laughs. They are bringing tons of sand for the bridge, and here is what the chipmunk is doing! But Rama had made many friends among the birds and animals of the forests, during his long exile. He sees all this and says, “Blessed be the little chipmunk; he is doing his work as best he can, he is just as great as any of you.” Affectionately he bends down and strokes the little animal down its back. And because Rama is God Himself, you can see the marks of his fingers on all the descendants of the chipmunk.

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/mr-ant-hillvalmiki/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/mr-ant-hillvalmiki/#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:23:54 +0000 admin Stories http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=2993 In ancient India there lived a robber whose name we do not know, because, as you will see, he got a new one. It is by this new name that he got famous. Young and strong, he could easily attack and overcome travelers going by lonely roads. Then he would take their money and all […]

In ancient India there lived a robber whose name we do not know, because, as you will see, he got a new one. It is by this new name that he got famous. Young and strong, he could easily attack and overcome travelers going by lonely roads. Then he would take their money and all the valuables they had with them. Many were his victims. This man knew better, but he thought it was the only way he could make his livelihood. Moreover, his father, mother and wife were there at home, depending on him.

One day the robber caught hold of a traveler who had nothing. Angry, he asked him how he could wander around like that. “I am the sage Narada,” said he. “I travel freely even between heaven and earth. I am one of the ‘immortals’.” As we said, the robber had a sense of right and wrong, and he felt some respect for the sage.

“Don’t you know it is a great sin to rob and kill human beings?” asked Narada; “Why do you do all this?”

“I want to support my family,” the robber replied.

“All right,” said Narada, “you tie me up here securely and then go ask your family if they will share in your sin, the way they share your money.”

The robber agreed, tied Narada to a tree, and went to find his father.

“Do you know how I support you?” he asked.

“No, I have always wondered,” the father replied.

“I am a highwayman — I rob — and sometimes I have to kill.”

“What! Horrible!” the father exclaimed, “Get away from me.”

“So will you not share in my guilt, in the eyes of God?”

“No! Why should I?” answered his father.

In the same way he told his mother and his wife, asking if they would share in his sin, help to bear his karma. The mother said, “Why should I? I never stole anything in my life!” And his wife said, “Of course not! It is your duty to support me.”

The robber’s eyes were opened. Going back to the tree where Narada was tied, he told the sage what had happened. “Now I see that each of us travels a lonely road, a single track in life. Even my nearest and dearest, who live by my plunder, do not agree to share in my guilt! Tell me, O sage, what can I do?”

“Give up your life-style, foolish one. The ‘love’ of your loved ones is fair-weather love: it lasts while riches last, and leaves when riches leave. Learn to love and worship Him who is the only one who stands by us, in our good and in our evil.”

Narada taught the young man to worship and told him to go into the forest. He went into solitude and began to practice meditation and prayer. He kept this up for many years, living at first on fruits and roots. Eventually he became totally absorbed in meditation and forgot himself, losing awareness of his body. As a result, ants even came and made ant-hills around him, heaped up high, so that he looked like a mountain of ants.

After many years a divine voice came to him. “Arise, O Sage.” it said. “Sage?” he exclaimed; “I am a robber.”

“No more robber,” the voice went on, “you are a purified soul. Your guilt has been erased; you have had a new birth, and you now have a new name: Valmiki — meaning, he that was born in an ant-hill.”

One day when he went to the river Ganges to take his bath, Valmiki saw a pair of doves whirling around and around and kissing each other. They were about to make a nest. Valmiki felt happy at the sight. The next moment an arrow whizzed past his ear and brought down the male dove. Hunters were near. The female dove went on whirling around her dying companion with cries of shock and anguish. Valmiki, now enlightened, filled with compassion, could at once feel her distress. He turned around and saw the hunter.

“You are a wretch” he cried, “without an ounce of mercy! Your slaying hand would not stop even for love!”

Valmiki was surprised. The words that had come from his mouth were strange. “I have never spoken in this way before,” he thought to himself. Then he heard the divine voice again: “Do not be alarmed. What is coming out of your mouth is poetry; your true nature is that of a poet. Write now the life of Lord Rama in poetry for the benefit of the world.” When the former robber discovered what was hidden within him, he began to write the book called Ramayana.

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/sanskrit-dramas/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/sanskrit-dramas/#comments Fri, 07 May 2010 16:20:40 +0000 admin Drama http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=2516 Sanskrit Dramas Document: Download here

Sanskrit Dramas Document: Download here

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/vibgyor-entertainment-presents-twisted-tales-a-10-day-theater-workshop-for-children-between-13-and-10-years/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/vibgyor-entertainment-presents-twisted-tales-a-10-day-theater-workshop-for-children-between-13-and-10-years/#comments Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:02:42 +0000 admin Summer Camps http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=2133 VIBGYOR Entertainment presents Twisted Tales a 10 day theater workshop for children between 13 and 10 years facilitated by Anish Victor of Rafiki Murray Culshaw Consulting No 583, HBCS Layout near Hebbal Veeranapalya April 2 to 11

VIBGYOR Entertainment presents Twisted Tales a 10 day theater workshop for children between 13 and 10 years facilitated by Anish Victor of Rafiki

Murray Culshaw Consulting

No 583, HBCS Layout near Hebbal

Veeranapalya

April 2 to 11

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/creativity-workshop-for-children-between-9years-12-years-and-13years-16-years/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/creativity-workshop-for-children-between-9years-12-years-and-13years-16-years/#comments Mon, 22 Mar 2010 07:27:28 +0000 admin Summer Camps http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=2130 Smriti Nandan, Nandidurg Road from April 12 to 23

Smriti Nandan, Nandidurg Road from April 12 to 23

http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/innovators-chess-academy-conducts-summer-camp-age-group-6-15-years-from-april-5th-to-28th-may/ http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/innovators-chess-academy-conducts-summer-camp-age-group-6-15-years-from-april-5th-to-28th-may/#comments Mon, 22 Mar 2010 07:04:52 +0000 admin Summer Camps http://www.spiritualbangalore.com/?p=2123 Innovators Chess Academy will  conduct a Summer Camp for children between 6 and 15 years from April 5th to May 28. Last date for registration is April 2nd. Contact:98863-58313/98808-14027

Innovators Chess Academy will  conduct a Summer Camp for children between 6 and 15 years from April 5th to May 28. Last date for registration is April 2nd.

Contact:98863-58313/98808-14027