Food for thoughts

A Conversation  With A  Christian David: Hi. Where do you come from? Gopal Das: Hare Krishna. I come from Italy. David: I am David Raja. What is you name? Gopal Das: Gopal Das. David: Oh, you have changed your name. What is your original name? Gopal Das: Spiritual name is the original name. David: No, I mean the name that your parents gave you. Gopal Das: I had so many names, so many parents, so many lives. All these things I have changed, but the spiritual name refers to the spirit soul, and the soul is not going to change. So the spiritual name is the real name. David: Oh, I see. I think that Italy is a Christian country. What is your original religion? You were Christian isn’t it?  And now you have been converted to Hinduism. Gopal Das: Well, you do not look to me as someone who just came out of Jerusalem, so it must be that you are also converted Mr. David Raja. David: No, no, I am a born Christian. My grandfa...

आज माझंच मला कळून चुकलं, मलाच नातं नीट जपता नाही आलं. आज जेवून झाल्यावर बाबा बोलला,"मी आता रिटायर होतोय, मला आता नवीन कपडे नको, जे असेल ते मी जेवीन, जे असेल ते  मी खाईन, जसा ठेवाल तसा राहीन." काहीतरी कापताना सुरीने बोट कापलं जावं, आणि टचकन पाणी डोळ्यात यावं, काळीजच तुटावं, अगदी तसं झालं. एवढंच कळलं कि आजवर जे जपलं ते सारंच फसलं. का बाबाला वाटलं तो ओझं होईल माझ्यावर ? मला त्रास होईल जर तो गेला नाही कामावर ? तो घरात राहिला म्हणून कोणी ऐतखाऊ म्हणेल, कि त्याची घरातली किंमत शून्य बनेल. आज का त्याने दम दिला नाही,"काय हवं ते करा माझी तब्बेत बरी नाही, मला कामावर जायला जमणार नाही." खरंतर हा अधिकार आहे त्याचा सांगण्याचा, पण तो काकुळतीला का आला? ह्या विचारातच माझं मनं खचलं. नंतर माझं उत्तर मला मिळालं, जसा जसा मी मोठा होत गेलो, बाबाच्या कवेत मावेनासा झालो. नुसतं माझं शरीर वाढत नव्हतं, त्याबरोबर वाढत होता तो अहंकार, आणि त्याने वाढत होता तो विसंवाद, आई जवळची वाटत होती, पण बाबाशी दुरावा साठत होता. मनाच्या खोल तळापर्यंत प्रेमच प्रेम होतं, पण ते शब्दात सांगताच आलं नाही, बाबाने...

It will take just few seconds to read this and change your thinking.. Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.. Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and colour of the world outside. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young...