Another Story of a Man with the Lamp

A man with a lamp in a dark night notices another man coming across with no lamp.

He said, 

"My friend, please take my lamp as you don't have any. I am almost home".

The other man replied, 

"Thanks for your kindness my friend. But I am blind and so there is no use of a lamp to me".

Though taken aback for a moment realizing that the man is blind, he still persuades the blind man to take the lamp. Now his point is that it would help others notice the blind man and thus avoid an unnecessary barging into him. The blind man agrees to this and takes the lamp. 

After walking for a while, the blind man hears another person coming against him.

The blind man asks, 

"Hello friend, do you have a lamp with you?"

The other man replies, no.

Blind man then says, 

"Please take my lamp, I am blind anyway and this lamp would be more useful to you" 

The other man replies, 

"Thank you for offering the lamp, my friend. But it has already gone out"! 

Anything that is owned by someone who doesn't realize the value of, is like the lamp in the hands of the blind. They are too blind to notice it losing all its virtue in their hands!

Indian Thoughts Archives

LL 294 240517 In Finite Blessings

‘Be yourself’, ‘Be aware’……, every body gets a lot of advices like these. The problem of the day is that neither the giver nor the receiver knows what the exchanged information means. When I see beautiful quotes and adages flash through social media popups, many times I had wished if at least the sender had followed the spirit of the message. 

It is part of every religion to keep God restricted to a few narrow roads to earth. Those obedient religious Gods suffer with only a few narrow roads o reach His creations. This is another social puzzle!

Either we understand it or not the Universe is built in such a way that every part of it, be it a tiny particle or a big mass of earth, be it active or inactive, gets a feeling that it is at the centre of it and the whole universe exists just for that element or compound. Measure time by past and future; you will be in the centre. Measure space by north and south; you will be in the centre. This is the case with everything in this Universe. 

Still we do not trust the Universe or the Power we call God, who we believe has created us.  We also end up in the disappointment of having received no blessings. The truth is that it’s because of our holdings and inhibitions that we could not access them. Here is a story:

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car.  Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box.  Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold. Angry, he raised his voice to his father and said, "With all your money, you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to  him.  He had not seen him since that graduation day.  Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.

When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart.  He began to search through his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago.  With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages.  And as he did, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible.  It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words PAID IN FULL.

Joseph Mattappally

The Frogs

A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he could use a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked the man where he could get so many frog legs! The farmer replied, 'There is a pond near my house that is full of frogs - millions of them. They all croak all night long and they are about to make me crazy!' So the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement that the farmer would deliver frogs to the restaurant, five hundred at a time for the next several weeks.

The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather sheepish, with two scrawny little frogs. The restaurant owner said, 'Well.... where are all the frogs?' The farmer said, 'I was mistaken. There were only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure were making a lot of noise!'

Next time you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you, remember, it's probably just a couple of noisy frogs. Also remember that problems always seem bigger in the dark which seem almost overwhelming like a million frogs croaking?

Indian Thoughts Archives

Where are all the sermons gone?

A Church goer once wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!" 

It is true that we can not remember all what we have heard, all the lessons we have learned, all the experiences – sweet as well as bitter - that we have had, but they all have had their share in the making of what we are today.

Indian Thoughts Archives

To Calm a Disturbed Mind

 

Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were traveling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, "I am thirsty. Please get me some water from that lake there."

The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, "How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!"

So he came back and told Buddha, "The water in there is very muddy. I don't think it is fit to drink." After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. 

This time too he found that the lake was muddy. He returned and informed Buddha about the same. After sometime, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back. The disciple reached the lake to find the lake absolutely clean and clear with pure water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be.... and the mud settled down on its own - and you got clear water. Your mind is also like that! When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don't have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.

Don’t act or react when your mind is agitated. Give it some time to settle down before you do anything about the matter; and you will have no regrets later.

Indian Thoughts Archives

Gospel of prosperity and wellness

‘The evolution of the original Christian faith to its present state can be traced out in five important stages, as I see it. The first was the ‘Jewish phase’. The second was the ‘Greek phase’, then came the ‘Roman phase’. Much later came the ‘Colonial phase’. The latest is the ‘Commercial phase’…. 

‘The Jewish ‘creation mythology’ speaks about the ‘original sin’ committed by the first human parents, Adam and Eve. They were driven out from the ‘Paradise’ by God for this unpardonable ‘original sin’….

‘The Jewish people of early history had also believed that God would not forgive them their sins unless they made sacrifices to Him. Their God had preferred the sacrifice of innocent lambs…. 

‘Some of the Jewish communities even used to tie heavy bundles on innocent lambs and send them out into the dessert or jungle to die there or be eaten up by wild animals. This they used to do every year. The heavy bundle tied on the lamb represented their sins for which the lamb was being sacrificed!….

‘Unsatisfied with these kinds of sacrifices, their just and severe God finally decided to send His own only begotten Son to be sacrificed as the ‘Lamb of God’ for the sins of the world….

‘It was from this background that John the Baptist saw Jesus of Nazareth as the ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’. A large number of Christians are yet to outgrow this primitive Jewish phase of their faith. Even now many Christian Churches continue to live in this ‘Jewish phase’ seeing Jesus of Nazareth as the ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’……

‘The second phase through which the Christian faith evolved was the ‘Greek phase’ wherein Jesus of Nazareth was seen as the ‘Christos’ and ‘Logos’. The Greek term ‘Christos’ means ‘the anointed one of God’. The English word ‘Christ’ has come from the Greek, ‘Christos’. ‘Logos’ implies the ‘Primordial Word’. It is similar to our concept of ‘Aadi Sadba’. Christianity received its philosophical foundations from the Greek thought. Without this Greek philosophical support Christianity could not have grown as a world religion….

‘But it was the ‘Roman phase’ that saw the emergence of Christianity as a powerful world religion. This began when emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire. The titles of Jesus of Nazareth as the ‘King of kings’, ‘Prince of peace’, the ‘Lord’, ‘Saviour’ etc. came from this ‘Roman phase’. Wealth and power became central to the Church, and the Church also became the most powerful political force in Europe during this phase. Kings were anointed and appointed by the Pope..….

‘The ‘Roman phase’ contained within itself the seeds of the fourth phase, the ‘Colonial phase’. It was during this ‘Colonial phase’ that had begun from medieval Europe, that Jesus of Nazareth became the ‘only’ Son of God and Christianity became the ‘only’ true religion. The Bible also became the ‘only’ true Word of God during this phase…

‘Such exclusive claims were products of a colonial mindset which saw whatever the rulers said, did or believed as the ‘only truth’. All others were ‘pagans’. Their practices of prayer and worship were ‘pagan’ practices. Their religions were ‘pagan’ religions. It is unfortunate that this ‘Colonial phase’ of the Christian faith still holds its sway over many Christian missionaries all over the world even in this twenty first century….

‘But the latest phase of the Christian faith is the ‘Commercial phase’ wherein Jesus of Nazareth and his Gospel of light and love are made saleable commodities for wealth, wellness and comforts…

‘A ‘Gospel of prosperity and wellness’ is being preached during this latest phase of the Christian faith that had its origin in the United States of America. Preaching the Gospel is a multi-million dollar business there today….

Excerpts from Integral Revolution

Love Matters

In the beginning there was only one thing - Nature. As humans with double consciousness took shape in cloths, Nature further split into Me and the Nature around Me. Words with reference to Nature were the first to form in every vocabulary. Me further split into Others and My People. It continues growing down and down. 

It wouldn’t have been bad if we had been closing into ‘self-love’; but what is happening is that we are moving towards ‘selfishness,’ which is its’ opposite in every sense. ‘Self -love’ holds the theory that everything in Nature is close-knit and we are supposed to consider everything here, though our concern is limited to a small area. In Selfishness Nature and the Self are two entities positioned at opposite poles. In selfishness we don’t like others having the same thing or pleasure – that is the problem! It shows that we are slowly losing our touch with Nature. 

Have anybody thought of what happens when we lose our touch with Nature? I just copy and paste a Social Media post. It reads:

“If you lose touch with nature you lose touch with humanity. If there's no relationship with nature then you become a killer; then you kill baby seals, whales, dolphins, and man either for gain, for "sport," for food, or for knowledge. Then nature is frightened of you, withdrawing its beauty. You may take long walks in the woods or camp in lovely places but you are a killer and so lose their friendship.” 

And finally you reach a point where you probably are not related to anything even to your spouse or children.

Joseph Mattappally