Benjamin Franklin was perhaps the greatest practical philosopher
that America has ever produced. His many sayings from Poor
Richard's Alamanac are still widely quoted and followed: "A penny
earned is a penny saved"; "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a
man healthy, wealthy, and wise" and so forth. Franklin was
America's representative to France during the revolutionary war.
Being involved in politics meant that many lesser men of great
ambition were jealous of Franklin and publicly attacked him.
Franklin's great character seldom let him respond to character
assassination. Talking ill of others was beneath him.

Franklin went from colonial America to France in 1776 at the age
of 70. With his age, he suffered from various maladies, such as
boils, psoriasis (skin disease) and a huge kidney stone. Yet he
always remained cheerful. When he was too disabled to leave his
apartment, he would occupy himself creatively, writing letters,
essays, or small satires. His grandson remarked that he realized
that his grandfather was different than other old people. While
most people Franklin's age stayed shut in and were obsessed with
their physical decline, Franklin appeared jubilant and was
fascinated with life, just like a young person.

Franklin once stated that people could be divided into two
categories. One type of person complained about their
circumstances, and the other were always grateful for whatever
life brought them. Franklin was in the latter category, and
perhaps this is what sets him apart from other men of the era. He
noted that success tended to make people more dull and complacent,
while adversity tended to make their minds more active and
intelligence.

There is a story about the poet Rabindranath Tagore. One night, while staying on a houseboat, he was reading by candlelight. He need not have lit a candle; the full moon was illuminating the sky and the waters around him, but the poet, deeply engrossed in a book, failed to notice his surroundings. The night was pervaded by a deep stillness, broken only occasionally by the flap of a bird's wings as it passed over his boat or the splash of water as a fish leapt above the surface of a lake.

Finally, exhausted, he blew out the candle. Doing so, he was suddenly struck by the natural beauty of his surroundings. The pale yellow glow of the candle had been keeping out the moon's brilliant silver beams. A fish jumped, and he looked out to see it splashing back into the water. A few white clouds drifted through the sky and reflected onto the surface of the still, silver waters.

"What a fool I have been!" Tagore murmured to himself. "I have been searching in books for beauty, and all the while was knocking at my door, waiting to be let in. Searching for beauty with the light of a candle, I kept the moonlight at bay."

In the same way, Tagore realized, it is the pale, flickering light of our ego that prevents us from being bathed in the brilliant light of God. All we need do is blow out the candle of the ego, step out of the cabin of our selfish desires, and see the beauty of God in all its glory.

_____________________________________________________________

³Life is not a problem to be solved, it is a
mystery to be lived² - Osho

Yours in the Mysteries,
RAM RAM
christina

Blessings of MAHA LAKSMI'S abundance and benevolence to us all this weekend, may her grace bestow, helath and wealth. May all beings be filled and satisfied.

AUM BRIM BRIHASPATAYE NAMAHA AUM
AUM BRIM BRIHASPATAYE NAMAHA AUM
AUM BRIM BRIHASPATAYE NAMAHA AUM

The same herb planted in various atmospheric conditions will vary in form accordingly, but will retain its characteristics.

Wisdom is the ultimate power. In wisdom is rooted religion, which connotes law and inspiration. But the point of view of the wise differs from that of the simple followers of a religious faith. Whatever their faith, the wise have always been able to meet each other beyond those boundaries of external forms and conventions, which are natural and necessary to human life, but which none the less separate humanity.

People of the same thought and point of view are drawn to each other with a tendency to form an exclusive circle. A minority is apt to fence itself off from the majority, from the crowd. So it has been with the mystics. Mystical ideas are un-intelligible to the many. The mystics have therefore usually imparted their ideas to a chosen few only, to a picked band whom they could trust and who were ready for initiation and discipleship. Thus, great Sufis have appeared at different times, and founded schools of thought. Their expression of wisdom has differed to suit their environments; but their understanding of life has been one and the same. The same herb planted in various atmospheric conditions, will vary in form accordingly, but retain its characteristics.

Everything one sees, hears, or perceives through any sense or experience has a distinct and definite effect upon one's soul, upon one's spirit. What one eats, what one drinks, what one sees, what one touches, the atmosphere in which one lives, the circumstances one faces, the conditions one goes through, all these have a certain effect upon one's spirit. Whether a person eats grosser food or finer and purer food is manifested outwardly. Even if one does not heed it, it is manifested outwardly. The body shows the nature it has inherited from the earth to which it belongs. For the nature of this earth is such that when it receives the seed of a flowering plant it produces flowers, and when the seed of a fruit-tree, it produces fruits.

Renunciation is always for a purpose; it is to kindle the soul that nothing may hold it back from God, but when it is kindled, the life of renunciation is not necessary.
Renunciation has an automatic action on the heart of man, an action which very few realize because very few arrive at that stage where they can renounce. By this action a spiritual spark is kindled in the soul; and when a person has arrived at that stage he has taken the first step on the path of spirituality. The spark produced by this action in the depths of the heart culminates in a flame, a torch in life; and this changes the whole outlook on life. The whole world seems changed, the same world in which one has lived and suffered and enjoyed and learned and unlearned -- everything appears to change once renunciation is learned. ... He alone is capable of renunciation who finds a greater satisfaction in seeing another eat his piece of bread than in eating it himself.
Only he whose heart is full of happiness after an act of renunciation should make a renunciation. This shows that renunciation is not something that can be learned or taught. It comes by itself as the soul develops, when the soul begins to see the true value of things. All that is valuable to others a seer begins to see differently. Thus the value of all the things that we consider precious or not precious, is according to the way we look at them. For one person the renunciation of a penny is too much; for another that of everything he possesses is nothing. It depends on how we look at things. One rises above all that one renounces in life. Man remains the slave of anything which he has not renounced; of that which he has renounced he becomes king. This whole world can become a kingdom to a person who has renounced it. Renunciation depends upon the evolution of the soul. One who has not evolved spiritually cannot really renounce. Toys so precious to children mean nothing to the grown-up; it is easy to renounce them; and so it is for those who develop spiritually; for them all things are easy to renounce.
Be obstinate in the path of success. Nothing should keep you back from your effort when your resolution is once taken. Renounce your object of attainment only when you have reached it and you have a better one in view. But when you have attained the object and you cling to it, then you hinder your own progress, for the object is greater than yourself. You are greater than the object when you are able to renounce it after attaining it.
Some lead the life of renunciation, others have family, friends and all things, because renunciation is always for a purpose. It is to kindle the soul, that there may be nothing to hold the soul back from God, but when the soul is kindled the life of renunciation is not a necessity.

It is as Fariduddin Attar, the great Persian poet, says, 'Renounce the good of the world, renounce the good of heaven, renounce your highest ideal, and then renounce your renunciation.'

As to the religion and the moral of the mystic, the mystic has one moral and that is love. And he has one aim in his religion and that is to make a God a reality. Therefore, his God becomes a greater God than the God of millions of people who only imagine that there is a God somewhere. To him God is a reality.
The work of the inner life is to make God a reality, so that He is no more an imagination; that this relationship that man has with God may seem more real than any other relationship in the world; and when this happens, then all relationships, however near and dear, become less binding. But at the same time, a person does not thus become cold; he becomes more loving. It is the godless man who is cold, impressed by the selfishness and lovelessness of the world, because he partakes of those conditions in which he lives. But the one who is in love with God, the one who has established his relationship with God, his love becomes living ...
Why is it that among simple and illiterate people a belief in God is to be found, and among the most intellectual, there seems to be a lack of that belief? The answer is that the intellectual ones have their reason. They will not believe in what they do not see... But the process that the wise consider best for the seeker after truth to adopt is the process of first idealizing God and then realizing God.
Among millions of believers in God, there is hardly one who makes God a reality, to so many He is an imagination, to many He is in a mosque, a church, or a temple. Many wonder if God is really. Many others think God is goodness, He is a personality separate from us, He is most high, most pure, most beautiful, but He is separate and difficult to reach. Many think that as it takes so long to reach this planet or that, God must be further away still. The purpose of one's whole life is to make God a reality.

Opinion is an outcome of mind. It is an outburst of its reasoning and judging faculty. And so, according to the evolution of a particular mind, its opinion is. Opinions clash when two people of different stages of evolution express themselves. Therefore the wise are more reluctant to express their opinion, whereas for the unwise it is easy. A simpleton is only too glad to express his opinion uninvited.

Everyone, consciously or unconsciously, is striving after spiritual attainment. Sometimes he does not take the same way as we do, sometimes his point of view and his method differ, and sometimes one person attains to spiritual realization much sooner than another. It may be reached in a day, and another person may have striven for it all his life and yet not have attained to it. What determines it? It is the evolution of a particular soul.

Every step one takes in evolution changes one's ideal. In your stage, if you love a jasmine today, it is possible that in your next step in evolution you may have grown above it and you love a rose. And it is not necessary that you should keep to the jasmine when your evolution brings you to the love for the rose -- thus one is kept from progressing.

To the question, "Are you a Christian?", "Are you a Muslim?", "Are you a Jew?", the Sufi's answer would be 'yes' rather than 'no', for the Sufi opposes no religion but sympathizes with all. In fact Sufism cannot be called a religion, for it does not impose either belief or principle upon anyone, considering that each individual soul has its own principles best suited for it, and a belief which changes with each grade of evolution. ... A Sufi does not dispute on spiritual subjects with everyone, for this reason: the spiritual evolution of each one differs from that of the other, the knowledge of one cannot be the knowledge of the other, nor is the understanding of one the understanding of the other. ... at every step in spiritual evolution a person's belief changes until one arrives at a final belief which words cannot explain.

~~~ "Gathekas for Candidates", by Hazrat Inayat Khan (unpublished)

Somtimes i go about pitying myself
And all the time
I am being carried on great winds across the sky

- chippewa proverb

May we harvest abundantly and rest in GOD's grace!

Ram Prasad



Ramprasad was a Bengali mystic and poet who lived in the 19th
century. His father was an Ayurvedic physician. Ramprasad's guru
taught him all the spiritual disciplines. By the time he was
twenty-eight, Ramprasad was regularly experiencing deep, mystical,
and meditative states.



When his father died, Ramprasad became overwhelmed with his duties
taking care of his wife and his other householder
responsibilities. He prayed to the Divine Mother for help. His
prayers were answered and he was offered an excellent accounting
job in Calcutta. On his first day on the job, his supervisor
handed him accounting ledgers and left him to work on them for
several hours. When Ramprasad started his work, he began to fill
his account books with songs in praise of the Divine Mother. He
became so lost in bliss while composing his hymns that he
completely forgot about the clerical work for which he was hired!
When his supervisor returned to view Ramprasad's ledgers, he cried
out in horror! He took Ramprasad to the owner to request his
immediate dismissal.



The owner Durgacharan Mira opened the ledgers. Instead of neat
rows and columns of numbers he found written across the pages
poetic expressions of the soul's longing for union with the
Divine. Upon reading the first song - "What records can I keep,
when You are the Divine Accountant of all?" Durgacharan was so
moved he began to weep. "Just go home and write poetry", he told
Ramprasad. "You will continue to receive your salary." The
owner became a devotee of Ram Prasad.



In time, Ramprasad became famous, and royal invitations to hear
him sing became common. But he preferred to stay in his
"panchavati bedi", a grove of five different types of trees, and
spend his days performing fire ceremonies, chanting, worshipping,
and meditating on the Divine Mother. He constantly prayed for the
vision of the Divine Mother. One day, Devi granted him his
request and appeared before him in a mystical vision. After that
experience, Ramprasad emanated such a great light and exuded such
purity and divinity that it is said he was virtually
unrecognizable, even to his friends and family.