The Day The Earth Turned Gold

 
 
The story is about a King and a Mendicant. The king was famous for his charity. People said, “To the hungry he gives food; to scholars he gives rewards; to noblemen he gives titles and honours. In fact, he is never tired of giving.”
 
But he had in fact, already tired of giving. He thought, “All my life I have been giving alms and awards. Where is the end? Are the people really needy or they continue to flock simply because I give? Don’t I see the same faces coming to me again and again wearing a standard mask of gratitude?”
 
He thought a lot and decided to stop the practice. “If give I must, it should be only to those who are really needy. It is high time I know who are really needy and, to begin with, I must find out the poorest man in my kingdom,” he decided.
Accordingly he sent his minister to find out the poorest man.
 
A week later the minister returned and announced in the tone of a successful explorer, “My Lord, not far from here, inside the forest, there is a small mountain. On top of that sits the poorest man of our land – a mendicant. He had no roof on his head, nothing on his body except a yard of bark; he lives on whatever fruits some wood-cutters leave beside him on their way home from the forest.”
 
“Is there really such a man in my kingdom? I must see him,” said the king and rode into the forest and then climbed the mountain and found out the mendicant sitting still, his eyes closed.
 
The king had to wait for a long time. When the mendicant opened his eyes, he said, “I am the king of this land. I am sad to see the miserable condition in which you are living. I want you to dress well! Tell me, which dress will you like? Dhoti or gown?” The mendicant smiled, but kept quiet.
 
The king said again, “I would like to build a house for you; tell me, what kind of house would you like to own?” The mendicant smiled again; yet he did not speak.
 
A little later the king again said, “I will arrange to send some food for you everyday. Tell me your preference in matters of food.” The mendicant smiled but still kept mum.
 
The king began losing patience and cried out, “I appeal to you, do speak!”
 
Slowly but sweetly the mendicant said, “My dear king, you are mistaken. I am not the poorest man. There is another man in the kingdom who is poorer than myself. So far as I am concerned, although I look poor; I am very rich, for I can change the earth into gold.”
 
The king gaped with amazement for some time and asked, “Will you kindly tell me who is poorer than you? And will you kindly reveal to me the secret of transforming the earth into gold?”
 
The mendicant said, “To know these things you have to follow a certain discipline.”
“I will follow,’ said the king enthusiastically.
 
“For one year, everyday, you must come here once before the sunrise and once again before the sunset and spend some time with me,” said the mendicant.
 
“I will do so,” said the joyous king, bowing to the mendicant.
 
And he came there twice every day without fail. The mendicant seldom uttered any word, but his charming smile always spoke of his affection for the king. He made the king sit down and meditate for some time. For the king, the discipline was a bit awkward experience for the first few weeks. But soon he realised that it was a most welcome change from the dry or anxious hours in the court where he was always surrounded by diplomats and flatterers and discontented people. After a few months he grew so fond of his visits to the mendicant that he eagerly looked forward to the twilights.
 
The silence of the mountain, the sunrise and sunset which coloured the landscape, the breeze which embraced him with the message of freedom, the songs of the birds in the wood and above all the quiet yet overwhelming presence of the mendicant slowly made the king a different man. The little time he spent there everyday had its sure effect on the rest of his time and routine.
 
The king did not remember when a year passed. He even did not know when several years passed. At the end of the third year, one day the mendicant suddenly asked the king, “Well, it seems we have forgotten about the two things you wanted to know – about the man poorer than myself and about the secret of transforming the earth into gold! Would you not like to know about them?”
The king smiled and replied, “But haven’t I known them already? I was the poorer man because I was anxious to possess more gold as I was begging to know the secret of changing the earth into gold. And secondly, I believe, by now I know the secret of changing the earth into gold.When I sit here and marvel at the splendour of nature all around, at the sunsets and the sunrise when the colours of heaven are sprinkled on earth, at the diamond-fringed clouds, at all God’s creation—all appear to me a thousand times more wonderful than gold.”
 
The mendicant smiled and said, “You have got it – and that is because you have turned gold within”.

 

Eating with your hands

 

Eating food with the hands in today's Western society can sometimes be perceived as being unhygienic, bad mannered and primitive. However within Indian culture there is an old saying that,
Eating food with your hands feeds not only the body but also the mind and the spirit .
In the Big Brother series some years back, an English participant complained about an Indian participants use of her hands during food preparations and her eating habits, They eat with their hands in India, don't they? Or is that China? You don't know where those hands have been. Within many Indian households nowadays, the practice of eating food with the hands has been replaced with the use of cutlery.

Have you ever thought of why previous generations in India ate with the hands? There is a reason for their this. The practice of eating with the hands originated within Ayurvedic teachings. The Vedic people knew the power held in the hand.
The ancient native tradition of eating food with the hands is derived from the mudra practice, which is prevalent in many aspects within Hinduism. Mudras are used during mediation and are very prominent within the many classical forms of dance, such as Bharatnatyam

The hands are considered the most precious organ of action. This is linked to the Vedic prayer of
Karagre vasate Laksmih karamule Sarasvati Karamadhye tu Govindah prabhate karadarsanam
(On the tip of your fingers is Goddess Lakshmi, on the base of your fingers is Goddess Saraswati; in the middle of your fingers is Lord Govinda), which we recite whilst looking at our palms. Thus, this shloka suggests that all the divinity lies in human effort.

Our hands and feet are said to be the conduits of the five elements. The Ayurvedic texts teach that each finger is an extension of one of the five elements. The thumb is agni (fire) (you might have seen children sucking their thumb, this is nature's way of aiding the digestion in children at an age when they are unable to do an physical activity to aid the digestion), the forefinger is vayu (air), the middle finger is akash (ether - the tiny intercellular spaces in the human body), the ring finger is prithvi (earth) and the little finger is jal (water).

Each finger aids in the transformation of food, before it passes on to internal digestion. Gathering the fingertips as they touch the food stimulates the five elements and invites Agni to bring forth the digestive juices. As well as improving digestion the person becomes more conscious of the tastes, textures and smells of the foods they are eating, which all adds to the pleasure of eating.

This is a prime example of how many things within Hindu culture may seem weird and unusual at first glance, but once a closer look is taken it is surprising, but a vast amount of knowledge is revealed. 

 

World is a transit lounge

*Q: In the fifteenth chapter of the Gita, there is a description of a tree
which is upside down. The branches are in the ground and the roots are in
the sky. What could be the significance of this?*
A: This is a symbol to signify that your origin is the Divinity; the
consciousness. That is your root. The mind and all its paraphernalia are
like the branches. And all the different types of rhythms in life, all the
different emotions, are like the leaves. They don’t stay permanently, they
wither away. If you are focusing on the leaves, and you forget to water
the roots, then the tree will not remain.

So, it says, ‘Asvattham enam su-virudha-mulam asanga-sastrena drdhena
chittva’ (BG 15:3). Notice that you are not these different emotions, these
different aspects of life. Feel the distance from all these branches and
retrieve back. That is what it is saying.

Otherwise we get so immersed in the outer, that we forget the main root.
You need to prune the tree otherwise it goes here and there. So prune all
that, and know that your origin is somewhere up. Adi Shankaracharya has
said this beautifully, - ‘My original place is in heaven, I have come here
just for few days; just to have fun. Today I have just come for the purpose
of relaxing, but this is not my original place, it is somewhere else.’

The thought itself - My home is somewhere else, I have just come to visit -
creates a distance inside you. This world is a transit lounge.

You know, in airports and railway stations there are lounges, and in a
lounge what do you do? You keep your luggage and start eating. You use the
bathroom and everything, but you don’t open your suitcase and hang your
clothes all over the place. You don’t do that in a transit lounge. You keep
your things packed.

So this world is just a transit lounge. Don’t mistake it to be your home.

*Q: The Ashtavakra Gita says, ‘You can go on reading scriptures, but you
will get liberation only when you forget the scriptures.’ So then what is
the purpose of reading the scriptures?*
A: See, you get into a bus, but then you also need to get out of the bus.
Now if you argue with me that, ‘If I have to get out of the bus then why
should I get into the bus?’ What can I say? You get into the bus from
somewhere else and you get out from somewhere else. If you have to get out
of the bus, why should you get into the bus in the first place - this
argument doesn’t hold.

So, the scriptures are to make you understand your nature, the nature of
the universe, the nature of this mind which is stuck in small things, and
to give it a bigger vision.

Knowledge is like detergent. See, you put soap on your body but at some
point you wash it off as well, isn’t it? Similarly, you have this desire,
’I want to be liberated’, and that desire takes you away from all other
small desires. But if you keep holding on to that thought, then it will
also become a problem at some point. You have to wash that off as well and
become free. A point comes when you say, ‘If I have to get liberation let
it be, otherwise let thy will be done.’ In that moment you are already free.

Why Diwali is celebrated?

1) Goddess Lakshmi's Birthday : On this very Diwali day, the Goddess of
wealth, Lakshmi is said to have been incarnated from the depth of the
bottomless ocean. The Hindu scriptures tell us that both Devas(gods) and
Asuras (demons) were mortal (Mrita) at one point of time. Seeking a
deathless condition (Amarattva), they churned the ocean to seek Amrita, the
nectar of immortality (an event mentioned in the Hindu scriptures as
"Samudra-manthan" ), during which a host of divine celestial objects came
up. Prime among these was Goddess Lakshmi, the daughter of the king of the
milky ocean, who arose on the new moon day (amaavasyaa) of the Kartik
month. She was subsequently married to Lord Vishnu on the same darkest
night of the year and brilliant lamps were illuminated and placed in rows
to mark this holy occassion.

Hence the association of Diwali with Goddess Lakshmi and the tradition of
lighting of lamps and candles during the festival. To this day, Hindus
celebrate the birth of the goddess Lakshmi and her marriage to Lord Vishnu
on Diwali and seek her blessings for the coming year.

2) The Legend of King Mahabali : The Bhagavata Purana (also known as Srimad
Bhagavatam), the most sacred Hindu text, reveals how on a Diwali day Lord
Vishnu, in his fifth incarnation as Vaman-avtaara, rescued Lakshmi from the
prison of King Bali during the Treta Yug. Bali, or rather King Mahabali,
was a powerful demon king who ruled the earth. Powered by a boon granted to
him by Lord Brahma, Bali was invincible and even gods failed to defeat him
in battles. Although a wise and perfect king otherwise, Mahabali was
violent in his ways with the Devas (gods). On their insistence, Lord Vishnu
disguised himself as a short Brahmin and approached Bali for some charity.
The righteous and benevolent King couldn't refuse the Brahmin's offer and
was tricked into giving up his kingship and wealth (of which Lakshmi is
said to be the Goddess). Diwali marks this overcoming of Mahabali by Lord
Vishnu and this is another reason why Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped on
Diwali.

In Kerala, the festival of 'Onam' is celebrated around the month of August
to mark this legend.

3) The Killing of Narakasura: The Bhagavata Purana tells us about
Narakasura, an evil demon king who had managed to acquire awesome powers.
Unrivalled in prowess, he conquered both the heavens and earth and was
tyrannical in his reign. Addicted to power, he even stole the earrings of
Aditi, the heavenly mother goddess, and usurped some of her territory. When
Lord Vishnu was incarnated as Krishna in the Dwapara Yuga, he killed
Narakasura on the day preceding Diwali and rescued 16,000 women whom the
demon had imprisoned in his palace. The deliverance from the terrible
Narakasura was celebrated with much grandeur, a tradition that continues to
this day.

However, another version of the story credits Lord Krishna's wife
Sathyabhama as the one who eliminated Narakasura. It is said that
Narakasura could only be killed by his mother Bhudevi and as Satyabhama was
an incarnation of the same Bhudevi, she only could kill him. Before death,
however, Narakasura realized his mistake and requested a boon from
Satyabhama that everyone should celebrate his death with colorful light. To
commemorate his death, the event is celebrated in some parts of India as
Naraka Chaturdasi, two days before Diwali day.

4) The Return of the Pandavas: The great Hindu epic `Mahabharata' reveals
that it was `Kartik Amavashya' (the new moon day of the Kartik month) when
the Pandavas appeared from their 12 years of banishment as a result of
their defeat in the hands of the Kauravas at the game of dice (gambling).
The five Pandava brothers, their mother and their wife Draupadi were
honest, kind, gentle and caring in their ways and were loved by all their
subjects. To celebrate the joyous occassion of their return to Hastinapura
and to welcome back the Pandavas, the common people illuminated their state
by lighting bright earthen lamps everywhere. And the tradition is
maintained to this day.

5) The Victory of Rama: The great Hindu epic `Ramayana' describes how Lord
Ram (the incarnation of Lord Vishnu in the Treta Yug) conquered Lanka after
vanquishing the evil King Ravana and after passing a period of of fourteen
years in exile returned to his capital Ayodhya on a new moon day of Kartik
with wife Sita and brother Lakshman. To celebrate the homecoming of their
beloved king, the people of Ayodhya burst crackers, lit up their houses
with earthen lamps (diyas), and decorated the entire city in the grandest
manner. Year after year this homecoming of Lord Rama is commemorated on
Diwali with lights, fireworks, bursting of crackers and merriment. The
festival gets its name Deepawali, or Diwali, from the rows (avali) of lamps
(deepa) that the people of Ayodhya lit to welcome their King.

6) Coronation of Vikramaditya: It is also said that Vikramaditya, the
legendary Indian king famed for his wisdom, valour and magnanimity was
coroneted on the Diwali day following his victory over the Sakas in 56 BC.
This was marked by a grand celebration which is still maintained annually.
One of the greatest Hindu monarchs, Vikramaditya ruled the greatest empire
in the world from modern-dayThailand in the east to the borders of
modern-day Saudi Arabia in the west. Diwali, thus, apart from being a
religious festival also has a historical association.

7) The Enlightenment of Swami Dayananda Saraswati: Diwali also marks the
auspicious occasion when on a new moon day of Kartik (Diwali day) Swami
Dayananda Saraswati, one of the greatest reformers of Hinduism attained his
nirvana (enlightenment) and became Maharshi Dayananda, meaning the great
sage Dayananda. In 1875, Maharshi Dayananda founded the Arya Samaj,
"Society of Nobles", a Hindu reform movement to purify Hinduism of the many
evils it became associated with at that era. Every Diwali, this great
reformer is remembered by Hindus all over India.

8) The Enlightenment of Vardhamana Mahavira: For Jains, Diwali commemorates
the enlightenment of Vardhamana Mahavira(the twenty-fourth and last
Tirthankaras of the Jains and the founder of modern Jainism) which is said
to have occurred on Oct. 15, 527 B.C. This is one more reason to engage in
Diwali celebrations for pious Jains and other than the purpose of
commemoration, the festival stands for the celebration of the emanicipation of
human spirit from earthly desires.

9) Special Day for the Sikhs: For Sikhs, Diwali holds a special
significance for it was on a Diwali day that the third Sikh Guru Amar Das
institutionalized the festival of lights as an occasion when all Sikhs
would gather to receive the Gurus blessings. It was also on a Diwali day in
1619 that their sixth religious leader, Guru Hargobind Ji, who was held by
the Mughal Emperor Jahengir in the Gwalior fort, was freed from
imprisonment along with 52 Hindu Kings (political prisoners) whom he had
arranged to be released as well. And it was also on the same auspicious
occasion of Diwali when the foundation stone of the Golden Temple at
Amritsar was laid in 1577.

10. Goddess Kali: Kali, also called Shyama Kali, is the first of the 10
avatars (incarnations) of Goddess Durga, Lord Shiva's consort. According to
legend, long ago after the gods lost in a battle with the demons, Goddess
Kali was born as Kal Bhoi Nashini from the forehead of Goddess Durga. Said
to be a personification of Nari Shakti (female power), Kali was born to
save heaven and earth from the growing cruelty of the demons. After killing
all the devils, Kali lost her control and started killing anyone who came
her way which stopped only when Lord Shiva intervened. The well-known
picture of Ma Kali, with her tongue hanging out, actually depicts the
moment when she steps on the Lord and repents.

That momentous day has been commemorated ever since and the main purpose of
celebrating Kali Puja is to seek the help of the goddess in destroying evil
both external and internal to us as also to get her blessings for general
happiness, health, wealth, and peace.

To conclude, there are several reasons behind Diwali celebrations and
almost every region of India has its own reason to observe the occasion.
All of these however, matters little to the festival itself. Whatever the
cause behind its celebration, Diwali is undoubtedly a national festival of
India, and the aesthetic aspect of the festival is enjoyed by most Indians
regardless of faith. *

*Happy Deepavali to everyone!*

Diwali

Deewali is a festival of joy, splendor, brightness and happiness. It is
the festival of lights and is celebrated with great enthusiasm by all
Indians all over the world. The uniqueness of this festival is its harmony
of five varied philosophies, with each day to a special thought or ideal.
People celebrate each of its five days of festivities with true
understanding, it will uplift and enrich the lives.*
*
The First day of Diwali ::  Dhanteras
The first day of Diwali is called Dhanvantari Triodashi or Dhanwantari
Triodashi also called Dhan Theras. It is in fact the thirteenth lunar day
of Krishna Paksh, the dark fortnight of the month of Kartik. On this day,
Lord Dhanwantari came out of the ocean with Ayurvedic for mankind. This day
marks the beginning of deepawali celebrations.

On this day at sunset, Hindus should bathe and offer a lighted deeya with
Prasad (sweets offered at worship time) to Yama Raj, the Lord of Death and
pray for protection from untimely death. This offering should be made near
a Tulsi tree, the Holy Basil or any other sacred tree that one might have
in their yard.*
*
The second day of Diwali ::: Choti
The second day of Diwali is called Narak Chaturdasi. On this day Lord
Krishna destroyed the demon Narakasur and made the world free from fear. On
this day, one should massage the body with oil to relieve it of tiredness,
bathe and rest so that Diwali can be celebrated with vigor and devotion.

On this night, Yama Deeya should not be lit. The Shastras (Laws of Dharma)
declares that Yama Deeya should be offered on Triodashi night with Prasad.
Some people mistook it to mean that because Yama Deeya was lit on that
night, that it should always be lit on the night before deepavali. This is
absolutely not true. It is advisable that one consults with a learned
Pandit or Hindu Astrologer for proper guidance on this matter.*
*
The third day of Diwali ::: Lakshmi Pooja on Diwali
This is the day when worship unto Mother Lakshmi is performed. Hindus
cleanse themselves and join with their families and their Pandit (priest)
and they worship the divine Goddess Lakshmi to achieve the blessings of
wealth and prosperity, the triumph of good over evil and light over
darkness.*
*
The fourth day of Diwali ::: Padwa & Govardhan Pooja
*
*On this day, Govardhan Pooja is performed. Many thousands of years ago,
Lord Krishna caused the people of Vraja to perform Govardhan Pooja. From
then on, every year Hindus worship Govardhan to honor that first Pooja done
by the people of Vraja.*
*
The fifth day of Diwali ::: Bhai Duj
The fifth day of the Diwali is called . This is the day after Goverdhan
Pooja is performed and normally two days after Diwali day. It is a day
dedicated to sisters. Many moons ago, in the Vedic era, Yama (Yamraj, the
Lord of death) visited his sister Yamuna on this day. He gave his sister a
Vardaan (a boon) that whosoever visits her on this day shall be liberated
from all sins. They will achieve Moksha or final emancipation. From then
on, brothers visit their sisters on this day to enquire of their welfare.

This day marks the end of the five days of deepavali celebrations. This is
also known as Bhai fota among Bengalis. Bhai fota is an event especially
among Bengalis when the sister prays for her brother's safety, success and
well being.*