The Hell and Heaven

A boy was having a conversation with a holy man one day and said, "I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like. "The holy man led the boy to two doors.

He opened one of the doors and the man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew which smelled delicious and made the boy's mouth water.

The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. The boy shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. The holy man said, "You have seen Hell."

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the boy's mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.

The boy said, "I don't understand." "It is simple" said the holy man, "it requires but one skill. You see, they have learned to feed each other. While the greedy think only of themselves."

Unknown author

Honest

Once a general manager wanted to test his people who had come from all over India, about their values of life. He announced that in their seminar folder, there is PVC pouch and in it there is a seed. When they return, they must put it in a good soil in a pot and look after it very well. He would hold a competition in the next year’s seminar and that the best plants would be awarded suitably.
Everyone did what was told to him. A year passed quickly. And next year in a big hall, there were hundreds of pots and a great variety of plants-a great scene. Except one pot in which the soil was there and no plant! The owner was standing quietly and seemingly ashamed of himself!




The general manager called him on the stage. He asked him what happened and he told him the truth. He planted the seed which he was given – and did that was to be done- but nothing happened!
The general manager declared him the winner!
Everyone was shocked. It was announced, “Gentlemen! The seeds I gave you were boiled seeds. You planted them and nothing happened! You acted smartly and used some other seeds. This man was honest so that he didn't hesitate to proclaim what was really happened.

The power of Love

A mighty King was marching home after being victorious in a gruesome battle. He had captured the crown prince of the neighbouring kingdom and killed the King. The King was crossing through a jungle. He wanted to rest.

The army halted there for the evening. Nearby was a hermitage. The king decided to pay his respects to the sage there. He sent his Minister and some soldiers to seek an audience. They told the disciples there, "Maharaj wants to meet the sage." The disciples said, "Guruji has retired for the day, you can come tomorrow."

The next morning the King came to the hermitage dressed in his royal finery, accompanied by his ministers and attendants. The sage was sitting under a tree and scattering bajra seeds all around. Hundreds of birds of different kinds were eating and the sound of their twittering filled the air. The King walked up to the sage. The sage did not look up. The king said, "Pranam, Guruji!" No answer.

He spoke louder, "Pranam, Guruji!" Still, no answer.

"Guruji, I said Pranam!" he said in an angry voice.

The sage looked up and said, "Stop shouting, you are scaring the birds."


That made the king even more furious. "Do you know who I am?" he shouted. The sage said calmly, "Yes, I do. You are the one who kills for the love of power. You are the one who knows not that this power is temporary. One day another King shall kill you in the same way. The love of power shall bring about your downfall."

The king was beside himself with rage. He said, "Your impertinence is intolerable. I shall behead you just now!" He drew out his sword and raised it to strike the sage.

In an instant, hundreds of birds flew up and attacked the king. They poked their beaks into his face, his eyes and his arms and all over. The king moved his arms up and around to ward off the birds. But the birds wouldn't leave him. The sage said, "Leave him! Leave him! Come to me my dears!" All at once, the birds quietened down and sat meekly at the feet of the sage.





The sage said, "All I ever gave these birds is love. Oh King! Realize the power of love. The love of power has blinded you and brought you to the level of a killer. These birds would have killed you, but that's because they love me. I rule over them like a king too, but the only power I ever exercise over them is the power of love and it is greatest power on this Earth."

It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived

Feeding love

In Japan, a man breaks open the wall to renovate his house. Japanese houses normally have a hollow space between the wooden walls, and when when tearing down the walls, he found that there was a lizard stuck there because a nail from outside had been hammered into one of its feet. The man sees this, feels pity, and at the same time is curious because upon checking the nail he realized it had been there since the house was built ten years ago.

What happened?

The lizard had survived in that position for ten years! In a dark wall partition for 10 years without moving, the man found this to be impossible and mind boggling. Then he wondered how this lizard survived for ten years without moving a single step--since its foot was nailed!


So the man stopped his work and observed the lizard, what it had been doing, and what and how it has been eating. Later, not knowing from where it came, appeared another lizard... with food in its mouth.

Keeping limits

There was once a man who was a champion wrestler. He had mastered 360 holds and tricks, and used a different one every day of the year. It so happened that he was fond of one of his students, and taught him all his tricks, except one. He kept on postponing the day when he would teach him the last trick.
The boy grew in strength and skill, and no one among his contemporaries was able to challenge him. One day, he boasted in front of the king: "My teacher is unchallenged only because he is older than me and because I respect him as my teacher. Otherwise my strength is not less than his and my skill is quite equal to his."
The King did not appreciate this boasting and ordered a match to take place. They cleared the broad wrestling ground and gathered ministers, courtiers and sportsmen to watch.
The boy charged out into the ring like a mad elephant. His master knew that his pupil was not stronger than him, so he used the 360th hold the he had never taught him. The boy did not know how to counter it. He was helpless. His master raised him with both hands above his head and smashed him to the ground. The crowd cheered wildly.
The King congratulated the champion and ordered a robe of honor to be given to him. He reproached the boy, saying: "You were ill-bred enough to dare to challenge your teacher and how you see how hollow your boast was!"
The boy answered: "O lord of the word! He did not overpower me with his strength but rather because of one trick which he never accepted to teach me. Today this one trick gave him the victory."
The King retorted: "It was just for such a day that he had kept his trick! Have you not heard what the wise say? "Never give a friend such power over you that if one day he tries to be your enemy, he can defeat you."
The teacher betrayed by his pupil said: "There is no such thing as loyalty in this world, or at least no one today knows the meaning of loyalty. Whoever learned a trick from me, finally tried to do me down."

A Glass of Milk

One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry.

He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door.

Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water! She thought he looked hungry so brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it so slowly, and then asked, How much do I owe you?"

You don't owe me anything," she replied. "Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness."

He said ... "Then I thank you from my heart."

As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strong also. He had been ready to give up and quit.

Many year's later that same young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease.

Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes.

Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room.

Dressed in his doctor's gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at once.

He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day he gave special attention to her case.

After a long struggle, the battle was won.

Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval. He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge, and the bill was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill. She read these words ...

"Paid in full with one glass of milk"

(Signed) Dr. Howard Kelly.

What is freedom

Once there was a rebel sufi sage. He was known for his love for freedom. He used to go around the country singing songs of rebellion. So the Caliph arrested him and put him in the shackles, from his neck downward, but no one could prevent him from singing songs of freedom. After many days, the Caliph thought of meeting the sage in prison. So he visited him and asked whether he had any trouble.
The sage said, “What troubles? I am utterly happy as I am a royal guest, your guest; how can troubles even touch me? I used to live in a hut but now you have put me in a palace. Thank you!” The Caliph was amazed hearing such words. He said, “Are you joking?” The sage said, “I can say so as I have turned life itself into a joke.” The Caliph asked him a straight question, “Are the chains on your hands and feet heavy and painful?” The Sufi glanced at his chains and said, “These chains are far away from me; there is a greater distance between the chains and me. Don’t be under the illusion that you have imprisoned me, it is my body, which you have imprisoned, not my freedom. You cannot turn freedom into prison, because I know how to turn prison into freedom.”

This is good

An African king had a friend who had the habit of uttering "This is Good" about anything and everything that occurred. One day the two friends went out for hunting where the friend loaded the gun for the king to shoot. But since he had loaded it wrong, the king's finger was blown off when the gun was fired. He immediately remarked as he normally did, "this is good" The king got furious as he writhed in pain. Consequently the friend was jailed.

A year later the king went on hunting all by himself unescorted. To his horror he was captured by some cannibals and was tied up to a tree. The king watched in dismay as the cannibals stacked some wood to set up a stake and tied him to it. Just as they were about to set fire, they noticed the missing thumb of the king in one hand. With superstition overriding them, as they would not feed on a man who is disabled, they set him free.

When the king reached the palace, he wasted no time to release his friend. He apologized whole heartedly for the wrong that he had committed against him. The friend as customary of himself remarked, "this is good!" When the stupified king asked why he said so, the friend replied that had he not been imprisoned he would have been killed by the cannibals as he would have escorted the king!

The Sun and Wind

Once upon a time, the Sun and the Wind got into an argument about who was the greater force of nature. The Wind was very proud of his unstoppable strength, so he challenged the Sun to a test.

Looking down at the world, they saw an old man walking down a village road wearing a coat. So, they decided that whoever can get the coat off the man would win, and be declared the strongest.

The wind tried first. He became a great storm, howling and pushing the man around. The sound was deafening, and the wind was freezing cold. But the old man had survived many storms in his years, so he just wrapped his coat around himself even tighter and continued walking against the force of the wind. Eventually, tired from all that effort, the wind gave up. He told the Sun it was impossible, for that man was surely a powerful wizard for having stood against his great powers.

The Sun listened patiently. It was now his turn to try, so he smiled his warm smile down on the old man. Feeling warm in the sunlight, the man took off his coat himself, without a struggle.

It’s usually easier to get someone to do somthing with kindness and warm smile than it is by force and shouting. And so the wind learnt his lesson.

Life time happiness

A young man, a student in one of the universities, was one day taking a walk with a professor, who was commonly called the students' friend for his kindness to those who waited on his instructions.

As they went along, they saw lying in the path a pair of old shoes, which were supposed to belong to a poor man who was working in a field close by, and who had nearly finished his day's work . . .

Student turned to the professor, saying: "Let us play the man a trick:

We will hide his shoes, and hide ourselves behind those bushes, and wait to see his perplexity when he cannot find them ..."

"My young friend," answered the professor, "We should never amuse ourselves at the expense of the poor ... . . But you are rich, and may give yourself a much greater pleasure by means of this poor man.

Put a coin in each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch how this affects him.." Visit: The student did so and they both placed themselves behind the bushes close by. The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes . . .

While putting on his coat he slipped his foot into one of his shoes, but feeling something hard, he stooped down to feel what it was, and found the coin. Astonishment and wonder were seen upon his countenance.

He gazed upon the coin, turned it around and looked at it again and again.

He then looked around him on all sides, but no person was to be seen. He now put the money into his pocket, and proceeded to put on the other shoe; but his surprise was doubled on finding the other coin . . .

His feelings overcame him . . . He fell upon his knees, looked up to heaven and uttered aloud a fervent thanksgiving in which he spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his children without bread, whom this timely bounty, from some unknown hand, would save from perishing . . .

The student stood there deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears.

"Now," said the professor, are you not much better pleased than if you had played your intended trick?"

The youth replied, "You have taught me a lesson which I will never forget. .. I feel now the truth of these words, which I never understood before: "It's more blessed to give than to receive."

"If you want happiness... .For a lifetime - help someone."

Dad's gift

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 Holy book, 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 Holy book?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the Holy book. Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had not seen his father since that graduation day. One day, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. 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 Holy book, just as he had left it years ago.
With tears, he opened the Holy book and began to turn the pages. And as he did, a car key dropped from the back of the Holy book. 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.
How many times do we miss Spirit's blessings and answers to our prayers because they do not arrive exactly as we have expected?