An elderly woman reflects on her life through the different stages from childhood to old age. In 3 sentences: The poem describes an elderly woman who looks back on her life and remembers her experiences as a child, bride, mother, and grandmother while facing the realities of old age. She asks the reader to look closer and see not a crabby old woman but rather someone who still feels young inside despite the aging of her body.

1. Whatdo you see,whatdoyou see? husband andme.
What are you thinking when you're I'm an old woman now and nature is
lookingatme? cruel; 'tis her jest to make old age look
likeafool.Acrabbyoldwomannotverywise,
The body, it crumbles, grace and vigorUncertainof habit,withfarawayeyes.
depart; there is now a stone where II'm a small child of ten with a mother
oncehadaheart.andfather,
But inside this old carcass a young girlBrothers and sisters who love one
still dwells, and now and again myanother.
batteredheartswells.Abride in her twenties - my heart gives
I remember the joys, and I remembera leap, remembering the vow that I
the pain; and I am loving and living lifepromisedtokeep.
overagain.A woman of thirty, my young now
I think of the years all too few - gonegrow fast, bound to each other with ties
too fast, and accept the stark fact thatthatshouldlast.
nothingcanlast.At forty, my sons have grown and have
So openyoureyes,openandseegone, but my man is beside me to see I
Not a crabby old woman; look closer -don'tmourn.
seeme.At fifty, once more, babies play around
my knees; again we know children, my
A BEAUTIFUL POEM WRITTEN BY AN ELDERLY WOMAN
Contributed by
Maria Jensen
WITSEND WISDOM
Fifteen years ago, I was faced with a parent's
worst nightmare. My son, Ishan, who was just 22
years old at that time, was diagnosed with a
brain tumor. I was in India and he was in
USA. He needed urgent surgery - I had gone into
a state of shock. It was almost as though I had
stepped outside my body and someone else had taken
over. It was just before Christmas and tickets were impossible to
get. I called KLM and told them about my dilemma.The lady who answered
was really kind and said, "We have an emergency quota - I'll make sure to
get 2 tickets for you and your husband and put you on tomorrow's flight!"
When we reached the airport, we found that all out-bound flights had been
cancelled due to heavy fog. The next morning, the airport told us that there
was a 20 minute window of opportunity and out of the 25 delayed flights,
they would manage to clear just 2. One of them was ours! When we arrived
at Seattle, just 10 minutes after our plane landed, there was a terrible snow
storm and the airport was closed. It was as though some guardian angel was
making sure we would reach my son on time. I spent the next few days
wracked by guilt, fear, despair and quiet suffering. I was held up by total
strangers, who would come up to me as I sat, with a haunted look, in the
waiting room or by an elevator. They would put a gentle hand on me and
whisper, "Hang in there - it'll be okay." I had an amazing experience on the
day of the surgery. I went with my son's stretcher right up to the Operation
Theatre door. As I finally let go of his hand, I turned to the OT nurse and
said, "I guess this is where I have to hand him over to your care. Tell me,
what is your name?" And she said, "Faith." To me it was a sign from God
that I must just have faith. And faith is what sustained me throughout. But
there were times, when I felt I was being tested. I remember one night, in
agony and despair, I actually called out to God. "I have kept the faith - Why
have you abandoned me?" That night, as I finally fell asleep. I got a strange
feeling as though someone was saying to me - "Why do you think I've
abandoned you? I've been with you every step of the way. I was there in the
skill of the surgeon's hands. I was there in the compassion of the nurses. I
was by your side as you took care of your son. I was there in the pain you felt
as you watched your son sleep. I was even there in your tears. I have never
left you - and I never will." The next morning I really felt comforted and
able, to face the world with renewed hope and energy. I guess that is the
Power of God's Love.
The night after the surgery, there was a knock on my son's door at the
hospital. A group of carol singers were standing outside and asked if they
could sing to my son.As they sang “Oh, little town of Bethlehem...” I felt a
shiver when they came to the words,"... the hopes and fears of all these
years,"forthatwas preciselywhatIwas feeling.
The next morning I opened the window and a shaft of light fell straight on
my son's bed. It was the first sunny day in weeks. Outside, Mount Rainier
floated above the misty horizon, like a beautiful guardian angel. It was
sometimes shrouded by clouds, and yet, it was ever present and steadfast,
evenwhen itwas invisible.
Sunita Khosla
May 2013 has been a month of unforeseen trials and
unprecedentedreceiving.
From having lived a life, most often in the role of a giver, my eyes often
closed to the enormous grace of god in my life.As much as I saw how I gave
relentlessly to humans in my private life, I failed to see how much I received
fromthemandtheworldaround.
He, whose khazana, is where we, as humans are born into, receive amply,
yet sometimes; we need to be shaken to see it. It is easy to forget, that it is He
who is the Provider unless we are bought to acknowledge and surrender to
His force.
As part of my self-actualization process, I have started to do, what I see
myself to have been destined to do. I write for my own enjoyment and thrill
and publish with the hope that there will be something, someone will find in
mywords thattheycankeepintheirheartsasgoldennuggets.
In the last book I published, I was not so careful about the editing process
from my end and sent it to my publishers in USA, who did the bare
minimum editing. I realize, that is their way of working. Hence, this time, I
sent my second novel for editing from Facebook connects who are from the
writers/authors category. And I was in for a very big shock! When the first
deadline to revert back with feedback was delayed by weeks and a cascade
of excuses followed, I was gentle. But when the same set of excuses
followed after the said editor was supposed to return the manuscript, my
alarm bells went off. I wrote email after email, sms after sms, but received
no answer. For days, I panicked and lost sleep for two nights. I was
exhausted and dreaded that my work would be plagiarized. I tossed and
turned and thought of all the characters so dear to my heart being born
through a mother that is not theirs. My heart ached and my womb began to
painasiftherewas alumptherethatrefusedtobeborn.
And then, the miracle happened! I let go! That morning I prayed and
literally felt something falling off from my head. I could breathe again.And
lo! And behold! When I opened my email box I found the first edited
version of my book, looking neat and clean as any publisher would like to
seeit,on theirlaptop.Intime,thefinalversioncameaswell.
I prayed giving thanks for His wonders! I realized, this was His way to bring
me back to His folds, for it is He who writes and He who edits, and He who
finds the publisher best for me. And it is He who protects the manuscript
fromtakingbirthfromanyotherwomb.
So why do I need to get the worry warts then, if all is His doing? Just
becausetoberemindedis tore-discoverHis graceinmylife.
Julia Dutta
BY THE GRACE OF GOD!
THANK GOD IMMEDIATELY
One day a construction supervisor from 6th floor of building
was calling a worker working on the ground floor. Because of
construction notice, the worker on ground floor did not hear
his supervisor calling.
Then, to draw the attention of worker, the supervisor threw a 10 rupee note
fromup whichfellrightaroundinfrontoftheworker.
The worker picked up the 10 rupee note, put it in his pocket & continued
withhis work.
Again to draw the attention of worker, the supervisor now threw 500 rupee
note & the worker did the same, picked 500 rupee note, put it in his pocket &
starteddoinghis job.
Now to draw attention of the worker, the supervisor picked a small stone &
threw on worker. The stone hit exactly the worker head. This time the
workerlookedup &thesupervisor communicatedwiththeworker.
This story is same as of our life. Lord from up wants to communicate with
us, but we are busy doing our worldly jobs. Then God gives us small gifts &
wejustkeepitwithoutseeingfromwherewegotit.
Then God gives us amounts (gifts) & we are the same. Just keep the gifts
without seeing from where it came & without thanking God. We just say we
areLUCKY.
Then when we are hit with a small stone, which we call problems, then we
lookup &wecommunicatewithGod.
So every time we get gifts, we should thank God immediately, and not wait
tillwearehitbyasmallstone,andthencommunicatewithGod.
As a boy, I listened to a drama story about a young
paratrooper in the U.S. army, named Keith, who
depended on his faith and connection with the Lord
to bring him through many perils. So strong was his
faith in the Lord’s protection that he refused to even
carryagun, despitetheprotestsofhis friendsandsuperiors.
One day, while on a plane with a failing engine, with nothing but the ocean
below and still a good way from land, instead of panicking along with the
others on board, Keith prayed out loud, beseeching God to make the motor
start again. It did so before his prayer was even finished, eliminating the
needtoparachuteoutoftheplane.
“Say,” said one of his buddies, “are your prayers always answered like
that?”
“Jesus is afriendwho neverfails,”repliedtheyoung believer.
“Nowonderyoudon’tneedagun!”exclaimedtheformer.
At another point in the story, a fellow soldier called out to the two
paratroopers to come to a gathering in a Flying Fortress1 to hear a radio
broadcast from America. This greatly interested Keith’s buddy. Keith, on
the other hand, insisted that they should continue with what they were
doing.
“Don’tyouliketolistentothenews fromhome?”askedhis buddy.
“Yeah, but I have a feeling,” said Keith. His friend agreed to stick with him.
No sooner had they turned down the offer and continued on their way, when
an enemy plane came flying by, bombing the Flying Fortress and killing all
of its occupants. “That would have included me, except for you and your
‘feelings,’ commented Keith’s friend. Through these and other such
incidences,theyoung manbecameabeliever.
Anumber of happenings in my own life have caused this story to ring true -
making me see the urges I often feel, as more than mere “feelings” My
family and I currently live in Northern Mexico, where there is much crime
and insecurity. We regularly learn the importance of keeping in tune with
theLord,obeyingthetugs andnudges Heputs on our hearts.
A few months ago, my stepmother was preparing to go to a nearby store to
buy some needed items. Just as she was about to step out of the door, she felt
a strong urge to not leave then but to work at home instead. She had not been
working for long, when she heard shootings at a distance. She later found
out that a shooting had occurred on the very road she had planned to walk, in
order to get to the store. It is often easy to dismiss or brush off the urges of
the Spirit, especially when following them means a change in routine or an
interruption.WhenIwas ateenager,Iwas taughtalesson alongthisline.
My father was out sharing the Gospel in a rather dangerous part of Los
Angeles, California. At one point during the day, my mother felt a strong
urge to stop what we were doing back home and pray for him. Not wanting
to be interrupted, I dismissed her suggestion, thinking she was overly
concerned. Only minutes later, Dad called, informing us that the car had
been stolen. Although it was miraculously found and brought back to us
onlydays later,thelesson was notloston me.
Just recently, we planned to attend a weekly Bible study with some good
friends of ours. But, at nearly the last minute, we felt the urge to stay home
instead and do an activity with the little ones. The next day, we found out
that violence had broken out throughout the city, including in the area where
the meeting was held. We praised the Lord for His prompting and direction
andforhelpingus followit.
One evening several years ago, while visiting my relatives, I felt a strong
urge to pray for the safety of an aunt who was on her way over. I stopped
what I was doing to pray. She arrived several minutes later and told us that
while stopped at a light, she’d had a close call with a driver who was heading
full speed in her direction. She shot up a prayer for him to put on the brakes
and he did, just in the nick of time for a serious accident to be averted. When
I asked what time this had happened, I found out that it was the exact same
momentinwhichIwas urgedtopray.
How easy it is to overlook prayer at times and focus instead on the multitude
of things that “need” to get done. Yet, in doing so, we may fail to see what a
“lifeline” prayer and communication with the one above, really is. No
matter how many gifts we have, prayer is, and will always be, our best
lifeline.
By Steve Hearts
OUR BEST LIFELINE
WHAT I LEARNED IN LIFE IS...
That no matter how good apersonis,
sometimes, they can hurt you &
because of this we mustforgive.
It takes years to build trust and only
seconds to destroy it..
We don’t have to change friends if we
understand that friendschange..
The circumstances & environment influence our lives, but we are the one
who are responsible for ourselves, that you have to control your acts or they
willcontrolyou..
Thatpatiencerequiresmuchpractice..
Thattherearepeoplewho loveus, butsimplydon’tknow how toshow it..
That sometimes the person you think will hurt you and make you fall.. is
insteadoneofthefewwho willhelpyoutogetup..
You should never tell a child that dreams are fake, it would be a tragedy if
theyknew..
It’s notalwaysenoughtobeforgivenby someone,
inmostcasesyouhavetoforgiveyourselffirst..
That no matter in how many pieces your heart is broken, the world doesn’t
stop tofixit..
Maybe God wants us to meet all the wrong people first before meeting the
rightones.
So when wefinallymeettherightone,wearegratefulforthatgift..
Whenthedoor ofhappinesscloses,anotherdoor opens..
but often we look for so long at the closed one, we don’t see what was open
forus ..
The best kind of a friend is the kind in which you can sit on a porch or
walk… without saying a word & when you leave, it feels like it was the best
conversationyoueverhad.
It’s truewedon’tknow whatwehaveuntilwefindit,butitsalsotrue,
wedon’tknow whatwe’vebeenmissinguntilitarrives..
Itonlytakesaminutetooffendsomeone,anhourtolikesomeone,
adaytolovesomeone,butittakesalifetimetoforgetsomeone.
Don’t look for appearances, they can be deceiving, don’t go for wealth, even
thatcanfade,
Find someone who makes you smile, because it only takes a smile to make a
daybetter,
findwhatmakesyourheartsmile..
There are moments in life when you miss someone so much, that you wish
you cantakethemoutofyourdreamandhugthemforreal..
Dream what you want, go wherever you want to go, because you have only
onelife...andonechangetodo thethingsyouwanttodo..
The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything, they just
makethebestofeverythingthatcomestheirway.
Thebestfutureisbasedontheforgottenpast..
You can’t go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and
heartaches.
From the blog of
Paulo Coelho
Poverty? When you touch God, you serve others, and you are crucified. What
can you hold on to? Nothing. Not even your will.That is poverty! The things of
God areso simple..wearecomplex.
Catherine de Hueck Doherty
(Author of Poustinia)
'Tis heavenalonethatisgivenaway
'Tis onlyGod maybehadfortheasking...
James russell lowell
According to Dada, at the lower state, we are concerned
more with words and when you reach the higher stage,
words losetheirmeaning.
In fact, if you enter samadhi and come out of it, you
cannot describe it in words. “On the physical plane, we
have to work for unity. On the spiritual plane, unity is
already established; there is no difference between the
two ofus.”
Speaking of higher planes, would he explain the concept of zero in Sindhi
traditionwhichisdifferentthan‘nothingness’?
“Itis thepoint(notacircularsymbol)whereyouregohas tovanish.
Sadhu Vaswani used to say, ‘I am only a zero but not the English zero,
becausetheEnglishzerooccupiessomespace.
I am the Sindhi zero; am just a point.’ It’s what we call nukta in our Sindhi
language.”
How do you arriveatnukta,andhow do you vanish?
Dadasays itcanonlyhappenwiththegraceoftheguru.
“The guru first draws you to himself - so much so, that you arrive at a point
where you know you cannot do without him; you cannot live away from
him.Oncethatpointisreached,hestartshis play.
Hebecomesabutcher.
Hepicksupthetridentandstrikesyou (yourego).
You cry, you want to run away, but the pull of the guru is such that you cannot
evenrun away.
Then,hetakesyoutoapointwheretheegovanishes,”hesays.
However, the guru’s grace and the disciple’s ego vanishing does not happen
toall,for youhavetobereadytoreceivethatgrace.
“Narendra (Vivekananda) was ready, he was a prepared soul; therefore,
ZERO IS HERO
Sanjay Thakker
DearSanjayUncle,
In one of the matches in the chess tournament which I was
participating in, I agreed to draw a match that I was
winning.Iwas veryupsetaboutitandIcried.
Then mumma told me that the truth was that, I could not see
the win myself when I was playing, then how could I win the
match?
I learnt to trust and stand by my decision. I also learnt that while I should
hear everyone out I should not worry about them feeling bad, if I decide on
myown afterthat.
Mummaalsotoldmethatthisisnotafailure,butabreakdown.
I realized that I can build up my game further from here. I got over my crying
fastandwas readyformynextgamesandfinallywon thetournament.
Please take my mumma to theAshram before all my tournaments so that she
cangivemesomegoodandinterestingbhashans.
Love Aditya (Age 10)
Thankssir!
What we are learning in our journey with you and all my companions adds
so muchvaluetothelifewelive.
I feel my kiddo is learning faster and absorbing more than me and is making
mylifemorebeautiful.
Manju (Mother)
FAILURE TO FUTURE
Sanjay Thakkar is the creator of Corporate SSY (Siddha Samadhi Yoga founded by Guruji Shri Rishi
Prabhakar). He has trained and transformed several thousands of people through programmes like
Corporate SSY, Care for Life, Leadership Training Programme, Blissful Bonding and several more. He
also leadssilencecamps attheDehariAshram.
THE MIRACLE OF MY LIFE
My Name is Mark De Souza and I am a Qualified Chef and have been a chef
for all my life, around 24 years.As a chef, you work under a lot of pressure,
feeding thousands of people , and have to make sure its all ready in time and
served hot and fresh...Over the years, working in Kuwait, I developed high
bloodpressure,whichinturnleftmewithkidneyfailure.
When I came to Australia, in the first year itself, I was diagnosed with this
disorder. I had a check up and they told me I had just 18% of my Kidney
Function left.The Doctors here in Perth, tried a lot of different medication to
regress the kidneys from failing with steroids and other heavy drugs too, but
theywould notwork onme.
The side effects were really bad. I
they gave me a kidney. It was that time also
when my dad visiting from India, got a heart attack and passed away, here in
Perth.
I could not travel overseas due to the infection problems, as the problems of
having my glucose liquids, shipped with me to other countries. I began to get
very frustrated, and kept asking God, Why me?? What have I done to
deserve this. Although, I was a regular church goer, my faith was not that
strong.
Then, one day I visited the church in Maddington and heard
Fr. Varghese, preaching and having the healing prayers, I felt so good. I
began going to the church whenever I could. I was lucky that I even had him
lay his hand and pray specially over me. I had terrible pain in my heels, while
I was sick and on one of the healing sessions in Maddington, I experienced a
miracle and the pain from my heels just vanished. Praise God for that. And
myhopes wereraisedso much...
After a few months though, again the dialysis treatment started getting to me
again. Then, in the month of August 2012, I met a friend, who said she had
some terrible back pain and she prayed to the Divine Mercy and she was
healed. And so I said, I must pray from my heart to over-come this kidney
th
failure. On the 26 of August 2013, I set to work in my breaktime and just
started praying in my heart, and kept saying Divine Mercy, heal me with
your precious Blood, and told my friends around me, that I was loosing hope
and desperately needed to be well again. They all said it will happen Mark,
justkeephopeandpray.
Three days later, I was at work and I got this call from the Hospital, They
said, they had a match for my kidney and I had to drop every- thing and just
come straight to the hospital. Thats what I did, I informed my manager and
called my wife, who by God 's grace had off that day. We rushed to the
hospital and after a few tests, I was taken to the operation theatre and got a
new kidney put into me. In three days I recovered and on the fourth day I was
sent home. I was one of the first cases, to heal so fast, and get on my feet and
go home. It was a miracle, which changed my life for ever. The kidney has
been working in my body and I feel 10 years younger. I have unlimited
energy and eat and drink everything, can go swimming! Man just do
everything... praise God... I just can't thank Him enough... All my friends
and family who have prayed for me over the years are overjoyed to see me
well again... and keep praying and giving thanks for my miracle of a second
life.
It's 7 months on now and by the grace of God... I am a perfect human
specimen...well that's what the kidney specialist, said to me, after he
examinedmeamonthago.
-Mark De Souza
became hyper for those months. Just
sleeping 3 hours a night, working 2 jobs, 12 hours a day. Having arguments
and fights at home. Going out and doing random things like buying a new
car, ordering a thousand pavers, etc, and could not recollect doing them. Not
tomentionthewaterretentionIhad,inthefaceandwholebody.
I put my wife and kids through hell at one point I had to go for counseling
justtokeepmyfamilytogether.
Then in 2009, my kidneys failed completely and I was put on dialysis. I used
to be plugged in to a machine every night for 8 hours and the machine would
do what my kidneys couldn’t. Even with this condition, I worked full time as
itwas toughnottoo,withallthefamilyandmedical expenses.
This changed my life, drastically, as I could not go out for late night parties,
could not dance.. not having enough energy to spare and most of all on a
strict diet. I could not swim in public pools and the sea, due to infections I
would pick up as I had a hole in my stomach, where a tube went into a
peritonealcavityinmystomacharea.
Could not drink more than 1.5 liters a day and had restrictions on my
favoritesstufflikechocolate,mackarel,beef,lambandallprotein.
All this tore me to pieces. The first few months I rarely went out and it took
me 6 months in and out of hospitals, clinics & pathologists to get stable with
the dialysis. Then there were occasions, when infections would set in and I
would be rushed to hospital for treatment, where I was given heavy
antibiotics and injections, just to stop the horrible pains in my stomach,
which would go on for a couple of hours before stopping slowly.
I would be sedated and this would happen, sometimes
at 9 P.M. in the night, just after having my dinner. It
would be a nightmare, getting the infections, as at
any hour of the night I had to wake up my wife, jump
into the car drive down to the Royal Perth Hospital,
wait in the emergency, get taken in, have blood tests,
get sedated, get admitted, and then only my wife would
leave the hospital, sometimes at 1 A.M. in the morning,
sometimes at 3 A.M. in the morning. Then she would
come back the next day to pick me up, after sending the
kids to school take me home, she would have to clean and
sanitise the whole bed room to avoid me from getting
anotherinfection.Thiswenton for3yearsofmylife.
I was beginningto loose hope of gettinga kidney donatedto me.
Both my brothers did not qualify as they had pre-existing ailments, which
would make them vulnerable if
‘God is so good to me’- This has been my experience all through my life. I
experience enormous protection from the Lord as a result of the daily
prayingofPsalm91.
An experience: I was in a deep slumber on the night of June 30, 2013. Quite
early in the morning around 1.30 am, I was awakened by a hissing sound
outside and I opened my eyes and found brightness in my room.As I looked
out, saying, “Jesus save us.” Immediately the ball of fire dropped down and
there was darkness and a burnt smell all around. Once again I took the torch
and looked around for the fire. But to my surprise I found no fire anywhere, I
thanked God for a few minutes for his goodness to us. Then I woke up and
calledthe watchmanwho went out and found the whole electricalwire burnt.
The fire ceased and we went back to bed. The next morning we sent for the
electrician to check the spot. He was surprised to see how
the fire had stopped at the point outside, since the wire
was continuing up to my room. Had the fire entered my
room, the curtains, my clothes and books would all
have burnt. The name of Jesus is so powerful; he not
onlysavedme,butthewholehousehold.
Believe it: Psalm 91 is so powerful and much more is
thenameofJesus.
Sr. Victorine CSTT
SAVED FROM A FIRE
The door to heaven is a broad mind that digests everything from the past,
mind that is broad enough to digest mistakes made by others, not keeping it
in our minds and chewing on it. This is called Vairagya or dispassion.
digestingthepast;howeveritwas.
Being like an elephant. Do you know elephants eat the leaves, the bark, the
fruit; they eat absolutely anything from coconut leaves to bamboo to
bananas.The banana is so soft, the bamboo is so hard, yet they eat and digest
itall.
Similarly, in life, there are many pleasant things and unpleasant things, good
people and bad people. (In my life, there are no bad people. There are only
good people, who sometimes behave badly.) Thus, whatever has happened,
digestitall.Digestingthepastbrings happinessandreliefinthepresent.
We should become strong, like an elephant; digest everything; the soft fruit
and the hard bark, i.e. digest everything of the past and move on. That is
calleddispassion.
What happiness will, dispassion not bring you.All types of happiness come
toyou indispassion.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Contributed by
Ekta Sharma
DOORS TO HEAVEN
Countries where income is under US$
10,000 a year, are countries where
majority of the population is unhappy.
However, it was discovered that from
that figure upwards, monetary
differenceis notallthatimportant.
Ascientific study conducted on the 400 richest persons in the United States
shows thattheyareonlyslightlyhappierthanthosewho earnUS$ 20,000.
The logical consequence: of course, poverty is something unacceptable, but
the old saying that “money does not bring happiness” is being proved in
laboratories.
Happiness is just another of the tricks that our genetic system plays on us to
carryoutitsonlyrole,whichisthesurvivalofthespecies.
So, to force us to eat or make love, it is necessary to add an element called
“pleasure”.
However happy people say they are, nobody is satisfied: we always have to
be with the prettiest woman, buy a bigger house, change cars, desire what
wedo nothave.
This is also a subtle manifestation of the instinct of survival: at the moment
when everyone feels completely happy, no-one will dare to do anything
differentandtheworld willstop evolving.
Therefore, both on the physical plane (eating, making love) and on the
emotional plane (always wanting something we do not have), the evolution
of humanity has dictated one important and fundamental rule: happiness
cannotlast.
It will always be made of moments, so we can never get comfortable in an
armchairandjustcontemplatetheworld.
Conclusion: Better forget this idea of seeking happiness at any cost and look
for more interesting things like unknown seas, strangers, provocative
thoughts,risk.
Paulo coelho
HAPPINESS CANNOT LAST
JUST ONE THOUGHT
- Sanjay Thakkar
Two things define you: your patience
when you have nothing, and your
attitudewhen you haveeverything.
- Mahatma Gandhi
We cannot be together in Heaven
unless we have begun to live so in this
world.
St. Jean Vianney
If the only prayer you said was Thank
You, thatwould beenough.
Meister Eckhart
I really only love God as much as I
lovetheperson Ilovetheleast.
Dorothy Day
Angels are so unemployed these days. Call on the angels today and everyday;
they will not refuse the assistance you need. - Mustard Seeds
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Trust: How much is enough?
Vol 19 - No.2May-June-July 2013
Trust with all you have, trust from the bottom of your heart, trust as if
yourentirebeingdependson it.
Sometimes I wonder at myself and the idiocy of all human beings. Do
we ever sleep in the night doubting whether the sun will rise? Are we
not certain that the night will fall and the moon will wax and wane as
per the natural cycle? Every animal, insect, bird and nature at large
knows it is being taken care of. Then, why do we need to be taught to
trust? By the time we become adults we need to unlearn so many
things we have inadvertently learnt. We have to go to Gurus and other
spiritual teachers only to relearn what we are naturally born with. If
you ever get the opportunity watch a film called 'The Shift' By Wayne
Dyer. It is an eye opener. He says that when we were in our mother's
womb we were completely taken care of. All the nutrients required
were provided to us. We were blissfully trusting and safe. So what
happenswhenwecomeintotheworld?
Let us reclaim our natural selves. We are meant to trust. We will be
taken care of. After all it is not ' The End' until everything sorts itself
out like they show in our Indian Films. All loose ends are neatly tied.
There is a universal order which exists and if we are aligned to the
feeling of peace, trust slowly starts reappearing in our life. All we
needtodoisaccessit.How do weaccessit?
Prayer, deep breathing, silence and connecting to the universe
amongstotherthings.
Miracles will follow.
Kiran Bhat
MAILBOX
DearEditor,
I have been an avid reader of this
wonderful journal of creative faith.
I'm so glad that now I can receive it
online. Hence this email to ask you
to add to the mailing list for the
online version of TMS as there are
times when I don't get the Mustard
Seed.
Pleasedo considerthesame.
Regards,
Jen Mathew
DearEditor,
I enjoy reading all the copies of The
Mustard Seed as they give a lot of
insighttoour spirituallives.
I would like you to stop sending the
copies to me at the present as I am
movingtoanewplaceshortly.
I will inform you about my new
addresslater.
I have been sharing my copy with
others & they in turn pass it on to
theirfriends.
Thank you once again & may God
bless you & your team in the years to
come.
Regards,
Marina Fernandes
DearEditor,
Keep up the good work . The world
needs spiritual articles to restore
goodness, kindness & love of
neighbors for there is too much
selfishness & materialism and
corruption.
Regards,
Denise Lobo
DearEditor,
Loving greetingsofpeaceandjoy.
Recently one of my friends
introduced me to your journal The
Mustard Seed. I read the above
magazine with gratitude and it was
an inspiring and enhancing
experience for me which helped me
goclosetoGod andothers.
May I request you to kindly send
the magazine every month for
whichIwillbeverygratefultoyou.
Regards,
Mary Francis SJL
RespectedMadam,
I have gone through your edition ' reclaim your life' in Feb-
MarchApril2013journal.
Just as you had experience of two miracles. I too had an experience
of God's miracles.
In 1973 I was a Judicial Officer inAnantapuram. I had to appear for a test at
Thirupati and when I with my relative reached the abode of the Lord, there
was a big Q and it was impossible for me to have darshan. It was 4.30pm
then I said that it would be better to give up the attempt and go down the
hill to see the lord the next day. Just then three police constables arrived on
thesceneandaskedmetoaccompanythem.
I said I was the magistrate. Hearing this the three persons immediately took
us all to the lord despite there being a long queue on one side.
I was able to stand before the lord for 15 minutes. At one time, the lord did
not do what I wanted. I stopped puja to him. Then every day I got Prasadam
from Thirupati and I resumed my Puja again. The lord after wards did
everythingforme.As youcorrectlyputit,wecannotignorethesemiracles
You say that the journal is a prime example as each issue is a miracle and
how just enough money appears for every issue. You also say that the
Mustard seed as usual comes to us free of charge and again say that
monetary contributions are welcome. We are prepared to subscribe for the
journal.
K. S. Shiva Rao
EditorsNote:
The Mustard Seed is a Journal of Faith. Readers can contribute in any way, any amount they
wish to. The smallest contribution made in good faith will go a long way to keep the journal
going.
It continues to amaze me everyday that when others come in contact with a
person of virtue, they comment in awe rather than commenting on a desire to
imitatethevirtueofthatperson.
- Mustard Seeds