Radio Roohaniyat Messages 2011

Roohaniyat-as you know, means spirituality!

RADIO RUHANIYAT: 12-24-11; MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!


Greetings to everyone; this is Preet Sahi, sharing with you, a Beautiful

story....which makes  you understand that things ALWAYS happen, for a reason.

A brand new pastor and his wife were newly assigned to their first ministry, to

reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn. They arrived in early October, excited

about their opportunities. When they saw their church, it was run down and

needed a lot of work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have

their first service on Christmas Eve.
They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc, and on

December 18th, were ahead of schedule and just about finished...  On December

19th, a terrible tempest - a driving rainstorm hit the area, and lasted for two

days. On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he

saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8

feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit,

beginning about head high.
The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but

postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home. On the way he noticed that a

local business was having a flea market type sale for charity, so
he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored,

crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross, embroidered

right in the center. It was just the right size to cover the hole in the front

wall. He bought it and headed back to the church. By this time it had started to

snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the

bus. She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the

next bus 45 minutes later.

She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder,

hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth, as a wall tapestry. The pastor could

hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem

area.
Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a

sheet. "Pastor," she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?" The pastor

explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the

initials, EBG were crocheted into it. They WERE! These were the initials of the

woman, and she had made this tablecloth, 35 years ago, in Austria.
The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told her how; he had just gotten

"The Tablecloth". The woman explained that before the war she and her husband

were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave.

 Her husband was going to follow her the next week.  But he was captured, sent

to prison and she never saw her husband or her home again.
The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it

for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home. That was the least he

could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn

for the day for a housecleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full.

The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and

his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return.
One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood, continued to

sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn't leaving.

The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was

identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria

before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike. He told the

pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety and he

was supposed to follow her, but he got arrested and was put in prison. He never

saw his wife or his home again. It had been 35 years.

The pastor asked if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove

to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had brought the woman

three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the

woman's apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion

he could ever imagine.

-This is said to be a True Story – submitted by Pastor Rob Reid who says God

does work in mysterious ways.
Just know it, that He always HAS a reason behind all His moves. So, when the

road you're traveling has difficulty at its best, just remember to pray and God

will do the rest. Never question God’s ways. When you are arguing against Him,

you are arguing against the very power, which gives you capability to argue at

all.
When there is nothing left but God; that is when you will realize, that God is

all you need!!!



On behalf of Radio Ruhaniyat, we wish all the listeners (and readers) a Merry

Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



RADIO RUHANIYAT: 12-17-11: HAPPINESS


We’d like to start with a short story about a man from Scotland.
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying

to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby

bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.

There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and

struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have

been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings.

An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father

of the boy whom Farmer Fleming had saved.

"I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life."

"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied, waving

off the offer.



At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel.

"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied proudly.

"I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my son

will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to be a

man we both will be proud of. The farmer agreed to the offer.

Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and in time, he graduated

from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on  to become known

throughout the world as the noted  Sir Alexander Fleming: the discoverer of

Penicillin.

Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was stricken

with pneumonia.

What saved his life this time? It was Penicillin.

The name of the nobleman? …..was Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name? ….was

Sir Winston Churchill.



Everyone dreams of a life which is full of peace and joy. But how can we attain

that?



The problem is that we have complicated our attitude towards life and are living

to the point that our own lives have gone out of control. And after having

complicated our lives, the mistake that we make is that we expect a complicated

solution to straighten out the problem. And just the reverse is true. Problems

occur when we deviate from simplicity and complicate communication. Being happy

is so simple, that many people find it difficult to practice. Here are a few

rules to live a Happy Life:

1. Always Tell the truth: To tell the truth is the mark of a person with

character. In today’s professional warfare, twisting the truth has become a

norm. Trust is lacking in personal and professional relationships. People are

not honest about their feelings, their agendas and their intentions, for the

fear of being rejected or judged. Being rejected and judged on the truth is far

better than living a lie. Aspire to be honest no matter what the consequences.

You will be happier and abundant in all that counts.



2. Appreciate goodness: Some of us rank first in the queue of criticism and in

the same breath; we are the last to appreciate. Remember that whatever you

appreciate will grow in your experience. When you compliment and appreciate

someone, they will always return your gesture. Appreciate like any other outflow

of emotion and it has a boomerang effect; it comes back to you multiplied. Give

genuine appreciation and you will be richly rewarded with more.



3. Don’t do to others what you would not have others do to you: Often we have

seen people put others down on one pretext or another. The person who puts

others down is far unhappier than the person belittled. Measure every action by

the rule, “Would I have this done to me?” If your answer is no, don’t do it.

Always treat people with the grace and dignity they deserve even if your opinion

about them is otherwise. When you treat people a certain way, indirectly you are

sending out the message of how you should be treated. Treat people with respect,

no matter what your opinion.



4. Take care of yourself: Some people look after their cars better than they

look after their own bodies. I sincerely believe that someone who is not

interested in looking after himself is a disaster waiting to happen. The

ultimate disrespect one can bear upon oneself is not to consider oneself worthy

enough of being treated well. You can’t complain when others don’t treat you

well, if you can’t do that for yourself. Treat yourself with love, and you will

find yourself in a zone of pure happiness.



5. Be competent: The greatest joy one gets is out of his own competence and

accomplishments. Competent people have a higher self esteem and self worth. They

consider themselves capable of adding value and that increases their happiness

quotient. Be competent in your field of endeavor. "Excellence" is a drive from

inside, not outside. Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your

own satisfaction and efficiency.



6. Attitude of Gratitude: Gratefulness is the key to greatness. It puts you in a

state of acceptance and tolerance. You can’t be grateful and not be happy.

Gratitude is the most gracious path to happiness. Be grateful for all that you

have, and when you are grateful, you will never be in a position of lack.



7. Set a good example: The highest form of living is by setting a good example.

No matter who you are, how small or big, there is always someone watching you

and emulating you. And if you have children, then the responsibility of setting

a good example is far greater. When you direct your life consciously towards

setting a good example, you can never go wrong. Life is beautiful and the keys

to happiness are simple. In fact, unhappiness is a clue that we have deviated

from fairness and honesty and compromised on our integrity. The slightest pinch

of negativity should direct us towards the simple rules of being happy.



Life is worth living if you allow yourself to be happy. It’s easy! Be happy! Be

Positive… It works………


Ruhaniyat: 12-10-11 - Compassion

A young man, a student in one of our universities, was taking a walk with a

professor, who was commonly called the students' friend. As they went along,

they saw lying in the path; a pair of old shoes, which were supposed to belong

to a poor man. The man was employed in a field close by, and had nearly finished

his day's work.

The student turned to the professor, saying: "Let’s play the man a trick: we

will hide his shoes, and conceal 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 the poor man. Put a coin into each shoe, and then we will

hide ourselves and watch how the discovery affects him."
The student did so, and they both hid 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 round, 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, folded his hands and uttered aloud a fervent

thanksgiving, in which he spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his children

without bread, whom the 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 genuinity in being kind.
If you want more love in your world, create more love in your heart. If you want

to be treated with kindness, treat others with kindness."
As understood before: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
We should do things neither for reward nor for results. Good deeds are good to

do that is why we do. We all know goodness result in goodness.  If we expect

results there may be danger to become the doer.
They say: "DIL JEETO DALIL BHALE HI HAAR JAO": It means, winning hearts has more

significance, even if we lose the argument. It might not be worth winning a

situation, if in the event we were to lose our friends and loved ones.

Sometimes, momentary winning ends up being a long term loss.

 There are so many times we can prove ourselves right but arguments will only

create rifts.
And remember: One of the greatest victories you can have over someone is to beat

them at politeness.
At all times, at every moment: God is saying these words to you. Some of you

hear them, most of you don’t. God is constantly telling you: You are a good and

worthy person. You are courageous and brave. You are caring and kind. You always

try to do the right thing and feel compassion for those who struggle. You extend

your hand in friendship every day and people love to be around you because your

energy is so positive. You have a terrific smile and share it with everyone you

meet. You are willing to take risks and falter. You motivate and inspire others

when you rebound from tragedy. You care and believe in the goodness of others

and cheer for the underdog. You are a champion, a winner in all you do. I

believe in you!


RUHAINYAT: SPIRITUALITY



The nature of a spiritual person can be compared to that of a cow, while a non-

spiritual person is like a snake. We feed the cow with grass, sometimes not even

green. Even then it gives us milk. On the other hand, we offer milk to the snake

and we know that it gives only poison in return. In fact the snake stings even

after drinking milk, because it can give to others only what it has. Saints are

known to be helpful to others. They share the burden of others. In their company

millions attain salvation. Take for instance a nail, which is quite sharp. If we

drive it into a piece of wood, it creates a hole, it causes damage. If it is

thrown into the water, it sinks and is lost forever. But if there is a big log

of wood floating on the water and we put the nail on it, it will also swim

across.

Similarly, even the ignorant people get salvation when they find the support of

enlightened souls. They can swim across only when they seek help from saints. In

the darkness of materialism, it is difficult to know as to who is a devotee and

who is evil; who has accomplished spiritual knowledge and who has not; who is

devoted to his divine master and who is not. To look at, they appear to have no

difference. By deeds, of course, they may be distinguished from each other.

A group of divine souls were eating food with pickles under a tree. As you know,

Indian pickles are acidic or sour and if consumed too much, could give you a

sour throat. As they threw a piece of pickle that was leftover, they saw a crow

hovering over it. Suddenly, it came to their mind that the crow will get a sour

throat. Somebody said, rather in a light vein, that if the crow did get a bad

throat, they wouldn’t be able to tell difference, because it already has a

hoarse voice. But, if we give pickles to a cuckoo, it may harm its throat

because it has a sweet and charming voice. Similarly, there are negative persons

in this world, whose actions are bad, who harm one another. In case they do a

bad deed, we do not bother. We simply remark that this is their personality. But

if a good person, whom we call a saint, adopts an evil, everybody takes notice.

Saintly persons are always expected to be good and gentle in their behavior. In

case any shortcoming is noticed in their conduct, it gets highlighted.

Therefore, spiritual people are required to be more careful about their conduct.

In fact they always remain alert.

The gain from spiritual enlightenment is more in the case of saints who make use

of it. For example, when the sun rises, it rises for all, but only those will

gain from its light who leave the indoors and come out in the open. There are

several other effects of the sun also. For instance, it provides strength to the

human body. It makes the corn nutritious. But all this can be possible by

becoming face to face with the sun.



Whenever Gurus or Prophets appeared in this world, it was said: MITI DHUND JAG

CHANAN HOYA- It means the mist of darkness is gone and there is light. It is

just like the sun, we discussed.

Fear of God is the beginning of Divine Knowledge. Fear: which comes from immense

respect for God, but not being scared of God? When we see a camera recording us,

we try to be at our best behavior, knowing that we are being watched. Similarly

this Supreme Camera is watching us. He is recording every moment of our lives

and His memory cannot be erased.

There can be no better sign of spiritual development than control over PASSION

and ANGER. If one can control these, one can control life.

The path to spirituality is very simple, but we have made it complicated.

Because we give so much importance to the material world, we find it hard to

become spiritual. If we have a focused mind, then with God’s blessings, the path

to spirituality becomes second nature and a blissful life is created

automatically


Ruhaniyat: 11-19-11: CHETAN-MAN

“PARAS” is a stone that turns any metal into gold when it touches it. We should

be able to live our lives with such purity that no matter where we go, what we

do, our vibes should be able to reflect an absolute positivity in our

environment. Live like a “Paras” so that no matter whose life you interact with,

you can bring in a blissful spiritual factor into their lives.

When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved.

But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read a little,

bought it for a few coppers. The book wasn't very interesting, but between its

pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum

on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"! The touchstone is what we

call: “Paras”. The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and

thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this:

The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold. So the man sold

his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and

began testing pebbles.

He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because

they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he

felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing

this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick

up a pebble. Cold - throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the

sea. The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however,

about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the

sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of

throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along, he

still threw it away.

So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant, it's easy to fail to

recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it's just as easy to throw it

away. Opportunities don’t just come along in our materialistic life, they knock

on door just as mush in our spiritual life as well; and we often fail to

recognize them. We get so engrossed in the daily rut of life; that we often

forget to use our PRESENCE OF MIND:  “CHETAN MAN”

God comes next to our bed every morning and wakes us up. Believe me, if it

wasn’t for Him, we could never wake up. Every moment, He blows air into our

nostrils so that we could breathe. If He was to stop doing that, we would stop

breathing. It is no wonder that we breathe every moment and don’t even realize

it because the effort comes from God. He is at work every moment, keeping us ALL

alive. He is managing every moment in every being’s life.

If we were to surrender to Him, He would make it a point to help us see every

opportunity. People often say that SURRENDER is easier said than done. We should

live our lives like God’s puppets. Hand Him our strings and let Him direct every

move. Live in the confidence that whichever string He pulls for whichever move,

He knows what He is doing and will do what will be best for us.


RADIO RUHANIYAT: 11-05-11- GOD: OUR STRENGTH

No matter how much we keep narrating that we should always remember God and

should always surrender to Him, but do we reeeeally practice that in our day to

day life?

A 3 year old boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox. He

had with him; his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a shiny, red

plastic shovel. In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand,

he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox.

The boy dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt. With a

little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the rock across the sandbox by

using his feet. (He was a very small boy, and the rock was very large.) When the

boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox however, he found that he couldn't

roll it up and over the little wall.

Determined, the little boy shoved, pushed, and tried, but every time he thought

he had made some progress, the rock tipped and then fell back into the sandbox.

The little boy grunted, struggled, pushed, & shoved; but his only reward was to

have the rock roll back, smashing his chubby little fingers.

Finally he burst into tears of frustration. All this time the boy's father

watched from his living room window as the drama unfolded. At the moment the

tears fell, a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox. It was the boy's

father. Gently but firmly he said: "Son, why didn't you use all the strength

that you had available?" Defeated, the boy sobbed back, "But I did, Daddy, I

did! I used all the strength that I had!"

"No, son," corrected the father kindly. "You didn't use all the strength you

had. You didn't ask me." With that the father reached down, picked up the rock

and removed it from the sandbox.

Do you have "rocks" in your life that need to be removed? Are you discovering

that you don't have what it takes to lift them? There is One who is always

available to us and willing to give us the strength we need. Isn't it funny how

we try so hard to do things ourselves. God is our strength and can move all of

life’s obstacles and rocks, all we have to do is remember him always, u either

totally surrender to him, or u keep trying to fight yourself. The only way to

remove the rocks from our lives is to remember Him always.

But then again, do we really remember to surrender to Him? But Alas, if man

remembered that there is a God, who is watching us at all times, then he

wouldn’t be indulging in imorality. Ideally, we should Love people and use

things. We are doing the opposite. We are using people and loving things. While

living in the world man's thinking has become such that it has deprived him of

bliss and peace in life; a restless man spreads only restlessness in the world.

Saints and devotees are giving a message to spread an atmosphere of peace and

harmony; All the scriptures are universal in their opinion about the aspects

which are significant for life; to live with love, to not hurt others, to not

commit atrocity upon the other, to live life while rising above greed and

materialism, to live life selflessly, to speak sweet instead of bitter words, to

speak true words, to strengthen  relationships with sweetness, to not

discriminate, to bring down the walls of high and low, to rise above religious

fanaticism. Even today saints are giving a similar message, reminding man of the

lesson and teachings which saints taught and are also telling him that mere

reading and hearing their teachings will not help.  Since our childhood we have

heard this example that thirst does not get removed by mere mention of water;

similarly water's mention can also not remove dirt from the body; repetition of

'water' and 'soap' can not clean dirty clothes; mention of 'food' will not give

strength to the body! – that mere repetition of 'sugar' will neither sweeten the

tongue nor the cup of tea that one is drinking; one has to put it in one's

mouth.  Similarly the lofty teachings and words which prophets spoke were not

meant only to be recited and repeated; their significance lies in adopting them.

The difference between these words and the innumerable other words which are

spoken in the world today, is that man can attain true benefit from saints'

words when he gives them significance and imbibes them in his life.  When man

repeats the words ' do not hurt others feelings and yet goes on hurting others

feelings, he is only repeating the words!  Similarly man also recites words as

'service' and 'selfless living' and yet his life shows that he snatches what

rightfully belongs to others! Majority of the people in the world consider

themselves, religious, that they have faith in saints, sages, Gurus and

prophets, that they read their words, that they bow in reverence to them. 

Despite the majority of those in the world who are believers as compared to

non-believers, the atmosphere of the world is still such where man kills the

other even in the name of religion; where small children are burnt alive!  So

where does man give significance to love in life?



We need peace; living peace, not the peace of graves…..



And always remember:

Live in such a way that those who know you but don't know God,

will come to know about God because they know you.


RADIO RUHANIYAT: 10-29-11-TRUST GOD'S WILL

A 10-year-old boy decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his

left arm in a devastating car accident. The boy began lessons with an old

Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why,

after three months of training the master had taught him only one move.
"Sensei," the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?" "This is

the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know,"

sensei replied.

Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training.

Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament.
Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match

proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient

and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match.
Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals. This time, his

opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy

appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee

called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the sensei intervened.
"No," the sensei insisted, "Let him continue."

Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped

his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the

match and the tournament. He WAS the champion. On the way home, the boy and

sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the

courage to ask what was really on his mind.
"Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?" "You won for two

reasons," the sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most

difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that

move is for your opponent to grab your left arm."

The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength. "Sometimes we feel

that we have certain weaknesses and we blame God, the circumstances and our self

for it, but we never know when our weakness can become our strength one day." So

never hesitate to stay happy with whatever God has given to us. Its Him, who is

responsible for everything, He loves us and does what is best for us.
This also reminds me of an example which Paula White: the renowned spiritual

speaker and once given about herself. She said that she used to be so talkative

when she was little, that she used to constantly get punished by her teachers.

She was usually found in the corridor outside her classroom, because the

teachers would send her out as a punishment for always talking in class. Little

did she know, that this so called drawback, would prove to be her biggest asset.

Today, Paula White is one of the biggest speakers, and talking, is her

livelihood. Blessed were all those moments, when she got punished, because those

were the moments, when her biggest asset was in the works. God was preparing her

because she was meant to show the spiritual path to millions.

If we need to eat food, we are required to chew it. If we keep complaining about

the chewing part, we won’t get anywhere. If we need to graduate, we are required

to take the test. When we know what life is comprised of, then why complain??
We are all aware of how prints are developed in photography. Prints are

developed from negatives in a dark room. Similarly, when there is darkness in

our life, just take it, that God is developing some beautiful picture in that

darkness and when He is done, the negatives in our lives, are developed into

positives. But there has to be an initial negative for the real picture to show

forth.

Diamonds are found in ugly rocks and so is gold and platinum. Tons of rubble is

thrown just to find one gram of diamond stone. Every day God gives us diamonds

hidden deep inside tons of rubble and leaves it upto us to search for those

diamonds and sell them to enrich others with them. That rubble is the problems

we face every day, while the
diamonds are the precious lessons we get from them. We enrich others by sharing

what we have learnt with others. So be courageous and share your victories and

battles with others.
Be Content with what you have, Rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking, then the whole world will belong to

you.

God answers your prayers in three ways: He listens to you and gives you what you

want, or He doesn’t give you want you want, but gives you BETTER, or He asks you

to WAIT, and gives you the BEST


RADIO RUHANIYAT: 10-22-11; DIWALI-EXCERCISE YOUR MIND

October 26th is Diwali. We would love for you to incorporate some exercises for

the mind, in your Diwali celebrations this year. Diwali is a new beginning, a

new year…. for a new you! Let’s all pray and hope that this new beginning is

free of any negatives that we harbor in our nature. Make a list of all the

negative qualities that you think you might have. It could be anger, laziness,

jealousy, wanting to be better than others or merely the urge to seek

attention…..List down all your shortcomings….be honest to yourself! Shortcomings

become more profound in our minds when written down on paper.

Diwali is all about lighting divas/candles and fireworks. When it is time for

fireworks, write down each listed shortcoming on a firework cracker of your

choice. Take each firework representing a particular bad habit, do Simran or say

your little prayers to the Almighty, seeking blessings to get rid of that

particular shortcoming and light up that firework or cracker. If your social

consciousness restricts you from writing anything on the firework in front of

others, just decide in your mind, which negative quality you are burning away,

when you light up the cracker. Watch your negative habit burn away right before

your eyes and then see the beauty that follows in the form of colorful sparks.

Remind yourself that once you surrender that particular quality, this is how you

plan to beautify your life with the Lord’s blessings.

Giving up our negatives is all in the mind and a new beginning always provides a

new platform for motivation and inspiration. It is not to say that the negative

quality will suddenly vanish away, but it will definitely be a fresh start for

the process to start working in our lives. It is a matter of starting the

process to get rid of our negatives. Our shortcomings have a lot to do with our

minds. Once we surrender our minds, we can accomplish anything that we desire.

Our Mind and the Brain always seem to be at war with each other. When the brain

knows that something is wrong, the mind wants to do it. We think that our mind

controls us and leads us. WE FOLLOW OUR MINDS WHEN WE ARE SPIRITUALLY WEAK. WE

CONTROL OUR MINDS WHEN WE HAVE SPIRITUAL STRENTH. There is no mind to control if

you realize the self.  The mind having vanished, the Self shines forth. Control

your mind; don’t let your mind control you. You were made to direct your mind,

and not let your mind direct you. Hence the saying, our body and mind belong to

God. Just surrender and do the right thing. Don’t let the materialistic body and

the worldly mind keep you from reaching your destiny. God wants us to obey so He

can guide us to fulfill a divine plan and purpose for our lives. But submission

to His will doesn't come naturally. We have to educate ourselves spiritually and

learn to surrender our mind.

As you light the candles, the divas and the fireworks, we hope you remember to

glance into Lord Rama’s life. The one thing that Lord Rama taught us was to

always have concrete FAITH. No matter what obstacles came into his life, he

handled them in a calm and peaceful manner, because deep down, he knew that

everything was happening as per God’s will. His faith in God was complete. At

every turn in his life he taught us to be strong and determined because he

always knew that God was with him to support and bless him. It showed us that it

was his faith in God that helped him through the troubles of the exile and the

war with Ravana.

We wish all of you a VERY Happy Diwali….and let me emphasize: when we say: Happy

Diwali, what exactly do we mean? What exactly do we intend to wish each other? 

Diwali is called the Festival of Lights and light is the knowledge, the truth.

Although we all are celebrating the return of Lord Rama from Exile, we are

actually celebrating the triumph of truth over Evil. When you wish others Happy

Diwali, in your mind, wish that they be granted knowledge of the Truth. A Diva

or a lamp is indicative of light, so when you light the Diwali divas, ask to be

blessed with the truth and the knowledge that comes along with it.

They say that ignorance is a dangerous thing. When we are ignorant about

something, we prohibit our success.  The success could be either materialistic,

or spiritual.



This Diwali, remind yourself: WHAT WE ARE; IS GOD’S GIFT TO US. WHAT WE BECOME;

IS OUR GIFT TO GOD


Ruhaniyat: 10-15-11: DEVOTION

The question we ask today is: What is Devotion?

Devotion is not an external show. It indeed means an absolute surrender.

Devotion is the absolute submission to the True Master's teachings. It leaves no

scope for ifs and buts. Whereas Prayers are said to GOD, Devotion is expressed

towards the Guru.



I recall an instance from the Holy Ramayana stating how Hanuman Ji soiled his

body with vermilion (sindoor) on hearing from Mata Sita that Lord Rama loved to

see it in the partition of her (Sita Ji’s) hair. This example gave me a chance

to introspect deep within. Devotion is also unconditional love for the guru. The

question is: "How can we surrender and become the true devotees?" The answer is

simple.



1. Start practicing to think that God is THE Live electrical Wire of everything

in the world. We are just a medium chosen by God to finish certain tasks.

Electric current makes different tools work in their own manner, God's energy

flows through us making us dance to His tunes. We have no entity of our own.



2. We must remind ourselves that the Body, the Mind and the Wealth are the

assets of God given to us just to use, but not to own.

These two ways, when put into practice, can lead one to great spiritual heights.

That's the only way to be a true devotee. When we are not devoted enough, then

spirituality feels more like a burden, and less like the bliss that it is meant

to be.



Isn't it strange how a 20 dollar note seems like such a large amount when you

donate it to temple,

but such a small amount when you go shopping?
Isn't it strange how 2 hours seem so long when you're at the Temple,
and how short they seem when you're watching a good movie?
Isn't it strange that you can't find a word to say when you're praying,
but you have no trouble thinking what to talk or gossip about with a friend?
Isn't it strange how difficult and boring it is to read one chapter of the

Bhagwad Gita,

but how easy it is to read 100 pages of a popular novel ?
Isn't it strange how everyone wants front-row-tickets to concerts or games,

but they do whatever is possible to sit at the last row at the TEMPLE or Bhajans

and Prayers?
Isn't it strange how we need to know about a temple event

2-3 weeks before so we can include it in our agenda,

but we can adjust it for other events at the last minute?
Isn't it strange how we believe everything that magazines and newspapers say,

but we question the words in the Ramayana and Bhagwad Gita?
Isn't it strange how everyone wants a place in heaven,

but no one wants to believe, do, or say anything to get there?

If any of these habits apply to us, then we’ve got to work on our faith &

devotion.



Intense faith and unshakable devotion go hand in hand. Unshakeable devotion

comes from complete surrender. Complete surrender comes from a state of mind

that has been motivated enough through satsangs and from experiences and

instances that one has gone through. Sometimes negatives happen in life to

prepare one for a positive state of mind that leads to complete surrender. Once

we surrender every experience in life whether positive or negative, are geared

towards making us a more wholesome and complete human being.



We work hard in our lives to earn a livelihood and give ourselves a decent

living environment. If only we could realize that if we worked half as hard on

our faith and devotion, the material pleasures of life would automatically fall

in our lap rather than us chasing them.

Always remember: FAITH is not HOPING; that God MIGHT, it is KNOWING; that He

WILL

Roohaniyat: 5-14-11 - HUMANITY

Mahatma Gandhi said: “We are all one, no matter by what name, we are designated as children of the same God".  God had made man in His own image. He had always intended for us to walk on the path of Humanity, but man habitually, takes a detour towards living a selfish and self-centered life.

We can practice Humanity without Spirituality, but we cannot practice Spirituality without Humanity. This entire world is one huge family and God is the ultimate father. In this vast spread-out family, brothers and sisters sometimes fight, but ultimately, are supposed to be bound to each other with the relationship of Humanity.

It is not the worldly wealth, education and achievement, but the Realization of Truth, which makes man truly wise.

A nurse took a tired, anxious serviceman to a patient’s bedside.  "Your son is here," she said to the old man.

 She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened. Heavily sedated due to the pain from his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.

The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lit ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength.  Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.  He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.

Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.

Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.

Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.

"Who was that man?" he asked. The nurse was startled, "He was your father," she answered. 

"No, he wasn't," the marine replied. "I never saw him before in my life."

"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?" she asked.

"I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn't here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed." I came here tonight to find a Mr. William Grey. His Son was killed in Iraq today, and I was sent to inform him. The Nurse with Tears in Her Eyes Answered: The gentleman you stayed all night with, WAS: Mr. William Grey............. The next time someone needs you ... just be there. Stay!

Our ultimate goal and purpose in life is to attain salvation or Nirvana. But while we walk on that journey, we have to fulfill our dues towards each and every human being that we come across. We are obligated to live every moment through transactions of smiles, love, compassion, unconditional service, and above all, practicing humanity. Every smile passed to a stranger is a transaction that was waiting to happen as per the law of humanity. Every gesture of compassion towards the weak and the needy, is a transaction meant to be completed. On the contrary, when we do not do our part of living every moment with an attitude of humanity, we are creating a hindrance in God’s planned format of Harmony. God had planned to operate this world on the basis of Harmony. But man has constantly been obstructing God’s plans. Never forget that every moment, we are not only givers of acts of humanity, but we are also receivers of acts of humanity.

Just wishing well for someone, is an act of humanity. If we are physically unable to do anything more for someone, then just praying for him or her, is an act of humanity.

“Aao hum tum milkar banayen, ek aisa makaan, Jisme base insaaniyat, aur beech rahen insaan….”

We are all children of the same one God. It doesn’t matter what religion we follow, we all pray to the same ONE God. When YOUR God and MY God is one and the same, then which God are we fighting for? When Hindus celebrate Diwali, they are celebrating ALI because the word: DIW-ALI has ALI in it. And when the Muslims celebrate Ramzan, they are celebrating RAM because the word RAM-ZAN has RAM in it.

If I am eating Gehun, you are eating Kanak, he is eating wheat and she is eating gandham, then what difference does it make what we call it, when we all are eating the same exact thing? Mere fighting over what we call it is nothing but sheer ignorance. In today’s day and age, man knows what is going on in the moon, but he doesn’t know what is going on with his neighbor…

Always remember: THERE IS ONLY ONE RELIGION IN THE WORLD, AND THAT IS HUMANITY!

=============================================================================

Roohaniyat: 5-07-11 -HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

After 21 years of marriage, Joe’s wife wanted him to take someone out for dinner

and a movie. She said she loves him, but she knows that this other person also

loves him and would love to spend some time with him.

The other woman that his wife wanted him to visit was his MOTHER, who had been a

widow for 19 years, but the demands of his work and his three children had made it

impossible to visit her as often as he should have.



That night he called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie.

"What's wrong, are you well," she asked? His mother was the type of woman who

suspected that a late night call or a surprise invitation is a sign of bad news.

"I thought it would be pleasant to be able to spend some time with you," He

responded.  "Just the two of us..."

She thought about it for a moment, and then said, "I would like that very much."



That Friday after work, as he drove over to pick her up he was a bit nervous. When

he arrived at her house, he noticed that she, too, seemed to be nervous. She waited

in the door with her coat on. She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress

that she had worn to celebrate her last wedding anniversary. She smiled from a face

that was as radiant as an angel's.



His mother said, "I told my friends that I was going out with my son, and they were

impressed" as she got into the car. "They can't wait to hear about our meeting".

They went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and cozy. His

mother took his arm as if she were the First Lady. After they sat down, he had to

read the menu. Half way through the entries, he lifted his eyes and saw his Mom

sitting there staring at him. A nostalgic smile was on her lips. "It was me who

used to have to read the menu when you were little," she said.



"Well, then it's time that you relax and let me return the favor," he responded.

During the dinner, they had an agreeable conversation - nothing extraordinary, but

catching up on recent events of each other's life. They talked so much that they

missed the movie.



As they arrived at her house later, she said, "I'll go out with you again, but only

if you let me invite you." he agreed. When he got back home, his wife asked him how

his dinner date went.  "Very nice! Much more so than I could have imagined," he

answered.



A few days later, his mother died of a massive heart attack. It happened so

suddenly that he did to not get to do anything for her.



Some time later, he received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant receipt from

the same place he and his mother had dined. An attached note said: "I paid this

bill in advance. I wasn't sure that I could be there; but nevertheless, I paid for

two plates - one for you and the other for your wife. You will never know what that

night meant for me. I love you, son."



At that moment, he understood the importance of giving a little happiness to our

mothers and saying in time: "I LOVE YOU!" and to give our loved ones the time that

they deserve. Nothing in life is more important than God and your family. Give them

the time they deserve, because these things cannot be put off till "some other

time."



Our mothers have spent an entire lifetime nurturing and caring for us. The least we

can do now is give some love and spend some time with her. Tomorrow, on Mothers

Day, remember to tell your mother how much you love her and how much she means to

you. Mothers are an epitome of love and sacrifice. This day, is a reminder to pay

our dues to her, before it is too late. Thank her for everything that she went

through for our sake.

To all the mothers out there: HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!



And Remember:

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,

But by the moments that take our breath away!"

=================================================================

Roohaniyat: 4-30-11

 We’ve all grown up with the popular saying: Honesty is the Best Policy. Even though

doing the right thing sometimes becomes difficult, but if we are always inclined

towards making the right choice then consequences do not matter. If we truly

believe that God is watching us and reading our thoughts at all times, then being

dishonest is not an option. Because, ultimately, we are all answerable to God.

A young teenager from our local satsang group went to The Lowe’s Home Improvement

store with her family. Her name is Babita and they needed to buy some material to

renovate one of their bathrooms.. They bought products worth more than $ 500.00 but

when they were checking out at the register, Babita noticed that the cashier had

forgotten to ring a can of paint. She became uncomfortable and wanted to say

something but hesitated. When they stepped out of the store, Babita voiced her

concern that they had not paid for a can of paint and insisted that she wanted to

do the right thing.

She came back in with her mother and told the cashier. The cashier realized that

the can of paint was not charged for and told them to go to the customer service

desk and pay for it. When they went to the customer service desk, the cashier

called the manager and explained what happened. The manager was quite impressed by

Babita’s honesty and at the same time, also asked them if they had used any coupons

because they had made a rather large purchase. Babita told them that they did not

have any coupons and the manager then presented them with a coupon for 20% off and

applied it to their purchase. Even though the can of paint must have cost them

around $ 20.00, but after the coupon was applied, they ended up saving a lot more

money.

This is how God rewards us for our honesty.  Any act of righteousness will never

ever go in vain. When God sees honesty and a genuine effort for sincerity, He will

always create circumstances to reward us and encourage us.



Navodita Mishra from Bangalore in India, had once shared a small incident with us.

Navodita’s  childhood was probably pretty typical of a young girl growing up in the

cozy home atmosphere. Her Mom stayed at home with her while her father went to

work. Her Dad worked every day except Sundays. Those SUNDAYS are very close to her

heart because her Dad taught her so many things, not only through words but through

actions as well.

She remembers one incident very well. It's fresh in her memory as ever. It was the

time when she was learning to drive a two-wheeler scooter. Back in India, these are

very common as the modes of transportation. She wanted to learn it fast so that she

could ask her dad to sit behind her. Somehow she wanted him to be proud of her. One

day it so happened that he asked her to drop him at someone's office for an

important piece of work and Navodita jumped with joy. And then her mom also asked

her to get some stuff from the grocery store on the way back home. When she dropped

her dad off, he asked her to come at 5pm. “We will go home together” he said, “in

meantime, you finish your shopping."

Navodita got busy with shopping and then met a friend who asked her to join her for

a movie and she gladly said yes without realizing that her Dad will be waiting for

her. The Movie got over at 5.30 and then she realized that her Dad would have been

waiting. She hurried and reached to the office by 6pm. He was anxiously waiting for

her and asked  why she was late? She told him a lie that the two-wheeler was

creating some problem so she had to take it to a garage and got the problem fixed.

She didn’t realize that they have only one garage where they give their car and two

wheelers and he had already called the garage. He looked at her and caught her in

the lie. He said: 'There's something wrong in the way I brought you up that didn't

give you the confidence to tell me the truth. In order to figure out where I went

wrong with you, I'm going to walk home and think about it and correct myself'.

Navodita felt extremely ashamed of herself. She realized that it was so silly to

utter that lie. She decided then and there that she was never going to lie again.

She often thinks about that episode and wonders, if her dad had punished her the

way parents usually punish their children or would have told her mother about it,

whether she would have learned a lesson at all. She says, she doesn’t  think so.

She probably would have faced the punishment and gone on doing the same thing. But

this single action was so powerful that it transformed her completely.

Her father taught her to face situations with full courage and never lie. He still

tells her, if you have done something (good or bad), take a responsibility for it.

Indeed a very important lesson in her life.



There is a reason why we are told never to lie. There is a reason why we are asked

to live our lives right. One lie leads to multiple lies. Those who live their lives

with honesty, live their lives with confidence and never have to fear anyone or

feel guilty about anything.



Always remember: It takes effort to be honest at all times, but if we can make

ourselves go through that initial effort, it soon becomes our subconscious nature

========================================================

Roohaniyat: 4-23-11 - MIRACLES

 A little girl went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its secret place in the closet. She poured the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times! The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes.
Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall's Drug Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door. She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention, but he was too busy at this moment. Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. Nothing. She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could muster. No good. Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter. That did it!
'And what do you want?' the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. I'm talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven't seen in ages,' he said without waiting for a reply to his question. 'Well, I want to talk to you about my brother,' Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. 'He's really, really sick....and I want to buy a miracle.'
'I beg your pardon?' said the pharmacist. 'His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?' 'We don't sell miracles here, little girl. I'm sorry but I can't help you,' the pharmacist said, softening a little.
'Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn't enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how much it costs. 'The pharmacist's brother was a well-dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, 'What kind of a miracle does your brother need?' ' I don't know,' Tess replied with her eyes welling up. I just know he's really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can't pay for it, so I want to use my money.'
'How much do you have?' asked the man from Chicago. 'One dollar and eleven cents,' Tess answered barely audible. 'And it's all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to.'
'Well, what a coincidence,' smiled the man. 'A dollar and eleven cents---the exact price of a miracle for little brothers.' He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said 'Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let's see if I have the miracle you need.'
That well-dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon, specializing in neuro-surgery. The operation was completed free of charge and it wasn't long until Andrew was home again and doing well.
Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place. 'That surgery,' her Mom whispered. 'was a real miracle.. I wonder how much it would have cost?' Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost...one dollar and eleven cents...plus the faith of a little child.
In our lives, we never know how many miracles we will need.
A MIRACLE IS NOT THE SUSPENSION OF NATURAL LAW, BUT THE OPERATION OF A HIGHER LAW.

The Best things in life are always free; Sunshine from the sun, fragrance from flowers…..Things that you pay for, reduces the value as it gets old: Cars, jewelry….. Things that you cannot pay for, are the things that are priceless: Love from your family, memories from childhood….

On Easter, this Sunday, remember what The Bible says: "But he who keeps (treasures) His Word [who bears in mind His precepts, who observes His message in its entirety], truly in him has the love of and for God ..." (I John 2:5).
 How much do you treasure the Word in your life? When you treasure something, it is valuable to you. You handle it carefully and protect it. When you treasure a person or relationship, you give attention to them and think about them constantly! When you treasure the Word of God, you are expressing your love for Him. You treasure the Word by meditating on it or thinking about it throughout the day. Remember, your life will go in the direction of your most dominant thoughts. When your dominant thoughts are the Word of God, you will be empowered to follow and obey His Word. Make God's Word a priority in your life today and allow it to shape your thinking. Choose to treasure the Word today and everyday and you will be empowered to move forward into the abundant life He has for you!
God is your best Friend. He knows you better than anyone else in the world and cares for you more than anyone ever can! All you have to do, is put your trust in Him.
When you are sad.....He will dry your tears. When you are scared......He will comfort your fears.
When you are worried.....He will give you hope. When you are confused......He will help you cope.
And when you are lost.....and can't see the light, He shall be your beacon...shining ever so bright.
Happy Easter Everyone!!

=================================================================

Roohaniyat: 4-16-11 - GOD

The CEO of Facebook announced that his service's 500 million users will get a new way to communicate even more quickly: a Facebook email account. Traditional email suffers from a time delay, but incorporating email into Face book’s messaging system is yet another way to remove delays from communication.

The digital age-specifically the Internet and various messaging methods--has already helped shrink the world and eliminate time delays. But when it comes to communicating with God, the digital age hasn't changed anything except perhaps made us more impatient with God. We are used to getting answers and replies to questions NOW and we forget that God works on His timetable, not ours. But when an answer or response from God takes time, we are forced to stop, think, consider, evaluate, meditate, contemplate, revise, repent--and most of all, let God be God. God is not impulsive, nor should we be. Not getting immediate answers, if that's how God responds, forces us to be more considerate.

If you are waiting on God, know that there is a reason for His (seeming) delay. What seems like a delay on earth is a sign of a purpose or reason in heaven. God loves all His children and each and every single one, believe it or not, is His favorite child.

A woman had three sons and six daughters. Her day was full of chores to fulfill the numerous demands of her growing troop. She was always busy with cooking, washing, cleaning, dusting ironing and also counseling! One day her youngest son fell sick. She called up the doctor and requested him to drop by and examine him.

As he checked the boy's throat, he asked the lady, "Madam, how many children do you have?" She hesitated for a moment, then said, "As many as I can take care of!" The man watched her as she sat beside her five-year-old son; who was burning with high fever. She dipped small hand towels into a basin of water, turn by turn and used them to wipe the boy's burning brow.

From the doorway, her teenaged daughter, called out, "Mom, where are my hairpins?" "They're in the brown box on the console, honey." Just then her other son popped in, "I have to stay back after school for football today, I need an extra Tiffin, Mom." She smiled and said, "Yes, darling I remember you have a football match today. I've packed an extra sandwich in the white box along with your Tiffin. It's lying on the table, next to your breakfast. Now, run along and let me talk to the doctor."

The doctor admired the ease with which she was in command of everything around her. He asked her, "Which one of them is your favorite?" She said simply, "The one who needs me most." "Which one?" he asked in surprise. She said, "The one who is sick; the one who is sad; the one who is lonely.... the one who needs me most ... That is my favorite child!"

Similarly in life only a loving entity can feel your silent pain and will hold your hand till you become strong again. Don’t leave your lovable one; who feels your pain ….that is GOD. He cares for you when you are sick, when you are sad or lonely or when you need him the most.

He does so much for us but we always forget to count our blessings. Every moment is a blessing granted by God and we usually fail to acknowledge it. All He wants in return is that we live our lives as per His guidelines.

Do ordinary 4 God. He will do extraordinary 4 U. Do natural 4 God. He will do Supernatural 4 U.

Do possible 4 God. He’ll do the impossible for you......Look back and thank God.  Look forward and trust God.

Look  around and serve God. Look within and  find God!

We love ourselves even after making so many mistakes, then how we can hate others for their small mistakes? Human beings are not happy with what God has bestowed upon them, they show their unhappiness on what God has bestowed upon others.

Whenever a farmer sows seeds in his farm, along with wanted crops, weeds and un-wanted grass also grows and the farmer continuously keeps removing these unwanted weeds by either physical means or by spraying weedicides. If the farmer does not remove these weeds then his yield or output of crop required by him reduces.

In the same manner weeds in form of vices such as lust, anger, greed, infatuation, intolerance, and ego also grow in a human mind from time to time. It is thus necessary for all human beings to remove these weeds on regular basis. The easiest way of removing these weeds to is to keep yourself motivated through congregations.

Physically attending the congregations is not important, what is important is to listen carefully to what is being said and then equally important is to understand the correct meaning or interpret the teachings correctly. Lastly, act on these teachings by adopting the same in our deeds. When this is done on a regular basis, then the growth of weeds in our minds is gradually reduced and controlled. The end result is obviously excellent and blissful.

Life becomes a lot easier and simpler if we can surrender ourselves to God and let Him take over. We all go through tough times sometimes. We tend to remember God in times of trouble and usually forget Him for the most part.

Just as Kabir ji says: “Dukh mein simran sab Karen, sukh mein  kare na koye. Sukh mein simran jo karey, phir dukh kahe hoye”

Without God, our week is:

MOURN-DAY, TEARS-DAY, WASTE-DAY, THIRST-DAY, FIGHT-DAY, SHATTER-DAY and SIN-DAY.  So, allow Him to be with you every day!'

================================================================

Roohaniyat: 4-09-11 - SATSANG

This past week was Cheti Chand: the Sindhi New Year. When a New Year starts, most of us take it as an opportunity to start afresh and we list down our resolutions. Our frame of mind usually is, to make our life more disciplined and better managed this year, than the last one. The fact is that when a new year starts, our minds are more motivated to start fresh, than any other time during the year. Nature has given us a strong motivational tool in the form of a new year. We all need motivation at some point or the other because deep down, we all are very materialistic. As the seasons change, trees shed their leaves and get motivated to start fresh with a new look. Even a snake sheds its skin periodically and starts fresh.

Nature has given us many reasons to get motivated to live life with discipline so that we can live right. Every morning is a reminder to start fresh and live the day better than the previous one. Live each day, to the fullest. Then why limit our motivations to the New Year? We have every reason to get motivated every moment and live right, if we have the awareness that God is with us every moment and is watching us! If we should be remembering God with every breath, then obviously, we should be living right every moment because God is monitoring us every moment. We need to develop a passion towards spirituality: a passion towards righteousness!

Since we are merely humans and tend to make mistakes all the time, we need to constantly stay motivated to live right. And this motivation comes from attending regular satsangs and congregations.

A few years ago, someone invited me for a Sunday afternoon outing. I humbly apologized that I would not be able to make it because I am already committed to attending our weekly satsang. The person looked at me in an unbelievable manner and then commented: “You and satsang? You just don’t look like the type to be so involved in satsangs…I mean you look too young for that kind of stuff….” I couldn’t stop laughing and realized how satsangs have the reputation to be something boring and backdated or something for the older generation.

The fact of the matter is that motivation to live right is needed more when we are young and still wondering how to manage our lives. When we are young, our bodies are energetic enough to go wherever we take it, but our minds are not into satsangs or spiritualism. On the contrary, when we are old, our minds long for satsangs, but our bodies become too frail to support our minds.

“Sat-Sang”: Sach ka Sang, which means the company of the truth. Our minds need to get motivated from what we hear and learn from satsangs. It is the food for the soul. Just as vehicles need gas to keep them running, our bodies need food to keep them going, and our soul needs to be in satsangs because the spiritual knowledge is its nourishment. Ultimately, when we leave our bodies and depart from this world, what goes with us, is not our material possessions, but only our spiritual knowledge: the Gyan. Hence, the satsangs or congregations are vital to ones existence. As we take a bath daily to stay clean and keep it neat and tidy, congregation is essential to keep our mind and heart clean. Our real asset is spiritual knowledge. Our material wealth is temporary and will ultimately be left behind.  It is sad to see that most of the world in so entangled in material webs that they overlook their true identity and run behind falsehood their entire lives.

A satsang is the only medium through which the mind gets motivated towards the truth. In the materialistic world, people are slaves to their own minds. They do what their mind tells them to do. But in the spiritual world, it is the mind, which becomes our slave. Instead of living a life in which we follow our mind, we start living a life in which, our mind follows our instructions. It is only through a satsang that the mind gets trained and motivated such that we learn to overcome and control our thoughts. Just like a school or college is vital to material growth and is needed for our materialistic existence, a satsang or a congregation is vital to our spiritual growth and is needed for our spiritual existence.

Always remember that we are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience. "True wisdom cannot be attained unless man seeks the company of saints”

When a father told his son to get ready for Sunday church, the son made a million excuses. He asked his father if he remembered what was said at Church last year on the second Sunday of April. His father said no because that was too far behind. Then the son said ok fine, how about the first Sunday, January this year? The answer was still no. Then the son asked how about Sunday last week? Do you remember what was said in church then? The father had to think. The son then said: Dad, why waste time going to church when you don’t even remember what is being taught?

The father thought for a moment and then asked the son: Do you remember what you had for breakfast on the second Sunday of April last year? The son laughed and said of course not, how can I remember that? The father then asked, ok, how about lunch on the first Sunday of January? The son still said no. Then the father asked, ok how about dinner last Sunday? And the son had to think. The father then said: Son, why waste time eating food when you don’t even know what you have been eating?

The father then explained to his son that the reason that you are in good health today is indicative of the fact that you have been fed well and have taken care of your nutrition. Similarly, the kind of human beings we are today and where our morals and character stands today, is indicative of how spiritual we are and what we have learnt from satsangs throughout our lives.

Always remember:

SPIRITUALITY IS LIKE AN INVESTMENT FOR THE SOUL AND EVERY SATSANG ATTENDED IS LIKE AN INSTALLMENT PAID TOWARDS THAT INVESTMENT.

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Roohaniyat: 3-26-11 - EXPECTATIONS

The greatest misery that one experiences in this materialistic world comes from EXPECTATIONS.

We expect life to be a bed of roses, but when we get pricked by the thorns, we make ourselves miserable because our expectations were not met. If we truly believed in the saying: “tan, man dhan prabhu ka kai” which means that our body, mind and wealth which is practically everything that we possess, belongs to GOD, then we open the doorway to completely eliminate the concept of EXPECTATIONS. “Tera tujh ko saump ke kya lage hai mera” Dear God, everything that belongs to you, if surrendered back to you, what difference should it make to me?

Imagine if you are a teller in a bank. You are dealing with transactions involving deposits and withdrawals of money, there are transactions involving CDs, money market, loans and a lot more. Now would it make you extremely sad if someone came in and withdrew a hundred thousand dollars from their own account? Would it bother you that the bank is less that amount of money? Or rather would it make you extremely happy if someone came in and deposited a huge amount of money into the bank? Not really, because you know that it is not your money. You are well aware that you are merely doing your job and that these transactions will make no personal difference to you what so ever.

Similarly, LIFE is the bank; and GOD, its owner. As per our job description, we are to deal with transactions every moment, every hour, and every day. There are transactions of happiness and sorrow: dukh & sukh, transactions of ups and downs. There are decision-making moments in which we are to determine how to handle different situations. If we truly believe that EVERYTHING belongs to GOD, then merely doing our job becomes very easy. It is when we start taking our job personally, that we start creating expectations. If nothing was ours in the first place, then how did the transactions in life, give us happiness or sorrow?

If we were to make ourselves strong enough in life to not let these so called transactions “budge” us even for a moment, we will be able to manage our job right. 

Someone once asked His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh ji, that when I go to school, I sit for my tests and exams, to help me determine how I am doing in my classes. My grades give me an idea, how well I am doing in my education. Similarly, how can I grade myself in spirituality? How can I determine where I stand and how well I am doing, when it comes to God & devotion? And Babaji answered, when sorrow doesn’t make you sad anymore and happiness is just another transaction in life, then you know that you’re heading in the right direction. When you start approaching: to what’s called: “ sehej avastha” your state of mind in which you are completely content: what may come or what may go. The closer you are to a well balanced state of mind, where happy moments or sad moments make no difference to your psyche, the higher you have scored in your spirituality exam.

Life is nothing but transactions. If we get sad, we are like a teller who starts mourning when someone withdraws money from his or her own account.

And if we truly do believe that whatever GOD does is for the best, then the concept of getting sad does not arise. As per our job description, we are required to handle all situations in the best possible manner, but not get swayed by them. When GOD is always with us, then how can any petty matter even bother us.

We are attached to our materialistic ties, but we are to practice this attachment, in a detached way. Stay attached to the degree that we are to spread love and fulfill our duties, but do it in a detached way, that when God decides to take them away from us, it would make no difference to us at all.

The path of spirituality is very easy, when we can surrender and let go and just keep up with the transactions with the concept of "Detached Attachment". Yet this same path of spirituality becomes extremely difficult to follow if we find it hard to surrender and feel constantly attached to this materialistic world.

I hope and pray that the GOD almighty bless us all with the art, the talent and the creativity to be able to strike that perfect balance between materialism and spiritualism

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Roohaniyat: 3-12-11: God is number 1, prayers for Japan

A poor family used to live in a small tattered hut and always used to pray to God, to bless them so that they could get financial stability. One day, a holy man passed by and they invited him into their little hut and offered him a meal. They served him and seeked his blessings. When he was leaving the hut, he took a piece of coal from his bag and wrote the number 1 on the inner side of the front door.

After he left, the family started finding 1 rupee from everywhere around their little hut. They would pick up a glass and there would be a rupee under. Wherever, they would put their hands, they would find a rupee.

A few months passed by and another holy man came in. The family was very happy and served him with great devotion. When he was leaving, he also took a piece of coal from his bag and this time, he added a zero to the 1 that was written on the inner side of the front door.

No sooner had he left, the family now started finding 10 rupees from all around the house.

A few months went by and a third holy man came in. The same scenario repeated itself and this time, he added another zero to the 10 that was written inside the front door. Now the family started finding 100 rupee bills from under items and all around the house. It didn’t take long when the family started enjoying financial bliss, Their tattered hut changed into a lavish bungalow at the same spot, but they kept the original front door intact.

A few months passed by and the same holy man who had first come to their house, came back. He saw that the family was now very rich and noticed how their lifestyle had changed. The family invited him in and told him that there were bigger and more powerful holy men than him, who had blessed them with ten times and hundred times more wealth than him and that his blessing of 1 rupee was really not worth while any more.

They explained to him that they have been blessed with 100 rupee bills and that they don’t want his blessing of 1 rupee anymore, because they were afraid that the 100 rupees will change into 1 rupee and their benefits would be reduced to nothing. The original holy man then asked them, that if they did not need his 1 anymore, then should he take it back? They said sure!

So, on his way out of the bungalow, he took a piece of cloth and wiped out the 1 that was written on the inside of the door. All that was left on the door now, was 00.

It didn’t take long for the family to realize that the money had stopped showing up and they finally understood that the blessing indicated on the door was now zero-zero. They realized that the zeros had no value without the 1.

Similarly, God plays the role of that “1” in our lives. The Gurbani very beautifully refers to Him as the one and only: Ek Onkar. When we make God number 1 in our lives, then with our karam and deeds, we add zeros to our lives and give it value. But when we forget to place God as number 1, then the zeros have no value, and our lives become worthless. The materialistic life around us is equivlent to the zeros. It has value only when put after the 1 God. If we were to put materialism first, and then God second, then also, a 1 after the zeros has merely any value.

We all need to remember to put God first. If we have Him, we have everything. If we keeping seeking material pleasures, but forget God, then we are not getting anywhere.

"Forgetfulness of God is ‘death’. God is the ocean of virtues. If you are burning with vice, take a dip in that ocean.

We all heard and saw what happened in Japan. Let us all pray to the divine to bless all those affected, with His mercy. Life is fragile and we never know what lies ahead. When we are walking, we don’t even know if we would be able to take the next step or not. “Just like the sun is always there even though rain clouds may try to hide it, God is never gone from us even though the storms of our lives may sometimes make it seem so.”

" When we are at our lowest, we should exercise patience like the ladder; and step-by-step we will make it to the top."

The Bible says: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds."

And if you would close your eyes and fold your hands, lets pray for all the victims.

Dear Lord, with a humble and a pleading heart, we hope and pray that you bless all our brothers and sisters who are in misery this moment. Kindly help them get out of this calamity with utmost ease. Dear Lord, since nothing is difficult for you, please bless every soul with your mercy such, that their lives would unfold into blissfull contentment. May they all be blessed with resources to help them restart their lives in a blessed manner. Dear Lord, please shower your blessings on every individual who has been affected and may your love and care shine through and give them spiritual upliftment. Dear Lord, hear our prayers coz at this moment we feel for our brothers and sisters across the globe. Amen

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Roohaniyat: 3-9-11 – Anger

Even if we have all the amenities and comforts of life, yet we indulge in anger, backbiting and creating demoralization, we still have no life. We must learn to LOVE so that we can learn to LIVE.

 An angry person creates a suffocating atmosphere whereas a peaceful and tranquil person gives happiness to the atmosphere. Even psychologists say that an angry man is more dangerous than even a mad man! So, devotees make man aware of all such virtues, which he should adopt while living his life in the world.
Most of us experience anger in some form or other almost every day. Anger is a negative emotion; it can cause violence, it can ruin relationships, it can lead to serious illnesses and it is known to kill. Yet, few make the effort to try and overcome this emotion. So anger continues to affect millions worldwide.

As children, we are taught to contain anger. An angry child is asked to be quiet. This is the conventional approach. As a result, the anger is suppressed. When we are angry and we try to appear as though we’re not, we are in effect masking the emotion. Children throw tantrums — an expression of anger — and get rid of the discomfort. Grown-ups on the other hand end up bottling it within. So the negativity gets buried deeper and deeper into the unconscious. Expression and suppression of anger, in the final analysis, are both injurious to health — to the individual, as well as to the community. Many of us are edgy and nervous, and could explode at the slightest pro-vocation. This could eventually lead to a nervous breakdown.

Anger impacts our body in several ways. Angry people are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure, hypertension and cardiac diseases. Very hostile persons are especially susceptible to life-threatening stress-related disorders. Negative emotions like anger tend to release harmful toxins in the body.

Angry outbursts lead to chain reactions. Angry reactions help perpetuate violence.
It is important to first admit the fact to ourselves that: yes, we do lose our temper now and then, especially when under stress. That is the first step to help us overcome the emotion. After an angry outburst, we either regret it or try and justify it. Strangely, though, most of us somehow manage to rein in the urge to express anger when we know it could lead to a disastrous situation like losing a job, relative or friend. Whether we are angry with someone or someone is angry with us, each outburst takes its toll on both parties.
Once Buddha was sitting on the bank of a river and a man came and spat at him. Enraged, Buddha’s disciples sought his permission to punish the insolent intruder. Gently wiping his face, Buddha thanked the man for giving him the opportunity to test if anger could overpower him. Buddha requested him to come again whenever he had an urge to spit.

Buddha’s response shook the offender. He had acted deliberately to outrage the Buddha and had failed. The Enlightened One’s calm face and compassionate eyes haunted him. Unable to forgive himself, early next morning the man fell at the Buddha’s feet and cried for forgiveness. Pointing to the flowing water Buddha asked him to forget it, as it was past.

To be a Buddha means to be in a state of awareness. True to his name, he did not react. The visitor realized that Buddha had meditated for several years to transcend the ego and had attained a realized state. Tears rolled down his eyes and he was transformed. We can derive inspiration from this story to try and overcome anger.
 
Always Remember:  WHEN U R RIGHT, THERE IS NO NEED TO BE ANGRY.
WHEN U R WRONG, U HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE ANGRY

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Roohaniyat: 2-05-11 – God Speak To US

A young man had been to Wednesday night Bible Study. The Pastor had talked about listening to God and obeying the Lord's voice. The young man couldn't help but wonder, "Does God still speak to people?"
After the church service, he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message.
Several different ones talked about how God had led them in different ways. It was about ten o'clock when the young man started driving home.
Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, "God! If you still speak to people, then speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to obey”. As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought: stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said out loud: “I wonder if that is God telling me to buy the milk” He didn't understand his instincts and laughed at himself and started on towards home. But again, the thought knocked on his little mind: buy a gallon of milk.
The young man thought about Samuel and how he didn't recognize the voice of God, and how little Samuel ran to Eli. "Okay, God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk." It didn't seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off towards his house. As he passed Seventh Street, he felt an urge again: "Turn down that street." This is crazy he thought and drove on past the intersection. “Why on earth should I turn when that’s not my destination!”
Again, he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street. At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh. Half jokingly, he said out loud, "Okay, God, I will".
He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop. He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in semi-commercial area of town. It wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst of neighborhoods either. The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark as if the people were already in bed. Again, he sensed something, "Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street."

The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it seemed as if the people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the car door and then sat back in the car seat. He pondered a few minutes in his head, wondering what exactly he was doing here. Not able to understand his thoughts, he decided that it was worth a try, just to experience, if this was really how God was communicating with him.
He walked across the street and rang the bell. A man's voice yelled out, "Who is it? What do you want?" Then the door opened before the young man could get away. He looked like he just got out of bed.  He had a strange look on his face and he didn't seem too happy to have some stranger standing at his doorstep. "What is it?" The young man thrust out the gallon of milk, "Here, I brought this to you." The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway speaking loudly in Spanish. Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen. The man was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face.
The man began speaking and half crying, "We were just praying. We paid some bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn't have any money for milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking God to show me how to get some milk." His wife in the kitchen, yelled out, "I asked him to send an Angel with some. Are you an Angel?" The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put in the man's hand. He turned and walked back toward his car with tears rolling down his face.

He knew that God still answers prayers! And that he still speaks to us!!!!
God is always with us, but it is we: who are usually not with Him. He is omnipresent; He knows what we are thinking and processing in our materialistic heads. If we surrender ourselves, and our daily operations to Him, He does take over and steers our lives towards perfection.

I had taken some guests from India to South Beach one day and I parked the huge Ford Expedition in a parallel parking spot. Obviously that size of a vehicle took up the entire spot. When we came back, there was a parked car inches ahead and a car inches behind us. After going inches forward and backward for literally 10 minutes, I gave up in disgust and uttered out loud saying: Lord help me, I cannot do this. Just as I uttered the words, a man came and sat down in the car in front of us and drove away, leaving all that space in front of me. When the man was unlocking his car, I told my guests: take a good look at that man, coz he is no ordinary man. He is an angel specially sent by God to answer my prayer. For all I know, that could be God Himself!
A lot of times, we confuse God’s blessings with the term: “Coincidence”. Next time you face a situation in which you might end up saying: “What a coincidence”, think again. Is it really a coincidence, or is it God, playing His moves to bless you?
God will find ways to communicate with you: either through circumstances, or through thoughts. That’s why he gave us a conscience that we sometimes call: a gut feeling. All we need to do is pray and ask, and He puts us on the right track.

GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS THREE WAYS, HE WILL EITHER SAY YES AND GIVE IT TO US, OR HE’LL SAY NO AND WILL GIVE US BETTER, OR HE’LL SAY WAIT, AND WILL GIVE US THE BEST!!!

But Remember: Prayer is not a "spare wheel" that you pull out when in trouble, it is a "steering wheel" that directs the right path throughout

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Radio Ruhaniyat: 1-29-11 - HARMONY

Mahatma Gandhi used to say: "We are all one, no matter by what name we are designated, as children of the same God".


Harmony is what is desired and required in the world today. And that is exactly what was presented at the WORLD RELIGION DAY last weekend, organized by the city of Pembroke Pines. Imagine one roof under which people from different faiths and backgrounds, come together and pray to the One Almighty God. If we all pray to the same one God then why not do it together? This world is one big family, we are all brothers and sisters and God is our ultimate father.


January 23rd was designated as the World Religion Day by the city of Pembroke Pines. This annual event was made blissful by songs, prayers and dances by the Bahai Faith, South Florida Hindu Temple, Sikh Society Of South Florida, Catholic group; Moral United Nations called MUN, Islam community of Cooper City and the Buddhist group.


James Davis, the Religion Editor of Sun Sentinel, emceed the program and started out by saying that: Those who sing to God: pray twice.


The World Religion Day was a blissful platform and a perfect picture of exactly what God wants to see in mankind: HARMONY.


In some Indian languages: “Haar” means defeat or losing. “Mann-ee” means to agree. If we all shed our ego, we will be have less of a desire to always compete with others and hence the desire to always prove that we are better than others. Accepting defeat is the first sign of Humility and those who are humble are the creators of Harmony.





Most of us are inclined to show that we are superior to others and hence we end up creating our own misery. This desire is the very cause of hatred and jealousy: which leads not only to an emotional turmoil but ends up in fights and dilemmas.


MANKIND MUST PUT AN END TO HATRED, OR HATRED WILL PUT AN END TO MANKIND.


No matter what anyone does to you, no one can take away from you, your capacity to do good. You lose it only by


willingly, giving it up yourself.





A businessman sent his four sons to different parts of India to be raised in areas where he could later on spread his business of trade in crops and spices. He thought that when the sons are brought up in a certain area, they will learn the local tricks and trades and will help spread the business in those regions.


A time came when the father got old and was on his deathbed. He called for his four sons and bid them his final good-byes. He also told them about this new stretch of land that he had owned and told them to grow what they think would be best for that kind of soil and climate. When the father died, the four sons were found fighting with each other, each of them claiming that their desired crop was the best one for that soil. One said that he wanted to grow: “Gehun”. The second wanted to grow “Wheat”. The third wanted “Kanak” and the fourth said “Gandham”. A wise man heard their argument and told them to go and get a grain of the crop that they wanted to grow. When the four young men brought their grains and opened up their fists, they were all astonished to see that they all had the same exact grain in their hands. They felt ashamed that, because of their lack of awareness, they were fighting over the same exact thing.





Friends, this is exactly what is happening in the world today. We are all fighting over the same ONE God. We refer to Him by different names. Our ideologies are different and we all come from different regions and backgrounds but in the end, we all are children of the same one God. We are fighting with each other due to mere lack of awareness. That is why, we always say that THERE IS ONLY ONE RELIGION IN THE WORLD: AND THAT IS: HUMANITY. If you practice Humanity, you are sure to spread Harmony wherever you go.





What we need is one platform, one roof, where people of different faiths come together and pray to the same ONE God


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Radio Ruhaniyat: 1-22-11 - HATRED

   Martin Luther King once said: " I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE LOVE BECAUSE I CAN'T CARRY THE BURDEN OF HATRED ALONG WITH ME ".


Hatred is a self-punishment. When we hold a grudge against someone, We don't know its effect on them but it definitely disturbs our peace of mind.


"Hatred confuses life and love harmonizes it, Hatred darkens life and love illuminates it. . ."    


Among all the vices going on in the world today, there is one dangerous epidemic which has already gripped the world and no Governments is capable of doing any thing about it. A very small fraction of the society and individuals are trying to do eliminate it and this epidemic is known as the "HATE FLU"


Hatred is spreading only because human mind is filled with vices such as Lust, Anger, Greed, Infatuation, Deceptive Life Styles, and Ego, and this can only be cured by adopting love, tolerance, courtesy, compassion and mercy in our daily lives. A lot of people attend spiritual meetings and congregations and hear the message of love and still very few actually adopt these teachings in their daily lives. This is happening because the humans still do not know God. As we all know: God is Love.


To know God, one has to realize God and as we have always said, : God Realization is self realization.





A small drop of ocean does not realize itself unless it sees the ocean. It will realize itself only once it has experienced the ocean. In the same manner a human being will know its soul only once it has realized the Super Soul, which is God. Our souls are a part of the super soul and once we are one with God, our souls merge into God just as a drop of water falls into the ocean and then merges into it such, that it cannot be seperated thereafter. We all know that God is omnipresent, omniscient and which has no beginning and hence it has no end. But then where is this God in this Universe. The answer to this is "God Realization" and having known this knowledge the self-realization becomes possible.





When we want to know about our physical health, we go to the doctor. He will order some blood tests and the levels of different chemicals and hormones in our body determine how we are doing physically. Similarly, how do we evaluate the health of our MIND? We will give you an exercise to determine that.


About two and a half decades ago, in India, when terrorism was on the rise, we use to hear about “Hit Lists” Terrorists use make a hit list of who they would kill and why. Today, you give yourself an exercise and make yourself a: “Hate List”: a list of people you hate. In the first column, you write the names of the people you hate. How many names can you possibly have in your list? 30, 40, 50…? I doubt anyone would have any more than that. In the second column, write down the reason why you hate them. You will find all kinds of reasons. Some reasons will be: I don’t even like the sight of him or I don’t like his or her face. Some might say: he owes me money. Some might say he or she said such and such thing about me. Some might hate others because they are better then them.


When you have given your reason for hating someone, then over the next few days, you start reasoning why you hate them for the reason you determined. If you don’t like someone’s face, tell yourself that it is not their fault that they look the way they do: God made them. If someone is not returning your money, maybe, just maybe they don’t have the money to return to you. Or maybe, their need for the money is more vital than yours. After all it not your money, its God’s, and He can take it away from you whenever He wants, for whatever reason. If you are really humble, then someone’s backbiting should not bother you. It is only when we have ego, that our ego will get hurt. No ego: no hurt. People should be able to tell from your good nature that you are not what they heard. Elevate yourself to a caliber that even if you make a mistake, people should be able to say: “I don’t think that person can do something like this”


As you keep reasoning with your “HATE LIST”, you keep eliminating the names in your list that are not worth hating anymore. As your list starts becoming shorter, you start becoming healthier in your mind. The shorter the list, the healthier you mind.





And remember: We should spend more and more time in rectifying ourselves so that


we have lesser and lesser time for criticizing others.


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Ruhaniyat: 1-08-11 : LIFE

Greetings to all the listeners and welcome to another episode of Radio Ruhaniyat!!!



This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren. In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said that People ask him: What is the purpose of life? 


And he responded: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.  


“One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me”.  


We may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but we are going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. 





Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character. 


This past year has been the greatest year of Rick Warren’s life but also the toughest, with his wife, Kay, getting sick. He used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. He doesn't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, he believes that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. 


No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.





You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems: If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain. But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. Rick Warren discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers, God was not going to make it easy for his wife- It had been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people. You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. 


Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when his book sold 15 million copies, it made him instantly very wealthy. 


 It also brought a lot of notoriety that he had never had to deal with before. He doesn't think that God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So he began to ask God what He wanted him to do with this money, notoriety and influence.


First, in spite of all the money coming in, he never changed their lifestyle one bit. They made no major purchases. 


Second, about midway through last year, he stopped taking a salary. Third, they set up foundations to fund an initiative they call ‘The Peace Plan’ to assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, he added up all that his work had paid him in the 24 years since he started work, and he gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free. 


We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes?


When he gets up in the morning, he sits on the side of his bed and says, “God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better”. God didn't put us on earth just to fulfill a list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do!  That's why we're called human beings, not human doings. 





And always remember:


Happy moments, PRAISE GOD!!  Difficult moments, SEEK GOD!!


Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD!!  Painful moments, TRUST GOD!!  Every moment, THANK GOD!!! 


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Ruhaniyat: 1-14-11 - PRAYERS

Good morning everyone and a very pleasant spiritual listening!!!



We often say that God is always with us, but it is we who are not with Him. We always say that we should surrender ourselves to Him, but are we really submissive? How much do we really mean when we say let it be THY will and not MY will.


I will give you an example:


A few years ago, my husband and I bought a house in Coral Springs and we were very excited about it. I felt extremely blessed and prayed to God saying that May every nook and corner of this house be blessed with your bliss. Every time I bought something for the house: any furniture, furnishings: whatever it might be, I prayed to God saying that this is your house and not mine, so let it be put together as you would want it and not me.


I went to City Furniture one day, looking for a sofa set for our family room. I saw a beautiful floor model which was marked a lot cheaper, but it was a color, relatively darker than I would have wanted. But because it was pretty and a great price, I felt tempted to settle with the color. So, I said my little prayer saying that dear Lord, if this piece of furniture is right for us, then give me an indication and let the house be furnished as per your will and  not my will.


I am giving you a very petty and materialistic example, but lets face it, we live every moment, trying to balance ourselves between spiritualism and materialism.


We work with a particular salesperson: Seth Ginsberg, who we have known for years. So I told someone that I would like to see him because I wanted to make a purchase. The store paged Seth several times, but he was not to be found. As 10 -15 minutes passed by, it dawned on me that may be this is God’s indication that this particular piece of furniture is not meant for us. A little confused and a little disappointed, I left the store.





As it so happens, that the next few nights, I kept dreaming about that sofa, thinking that may be I jumped to conclusions and that the sales person that I wanted to work with, could not being found, could have been a coincidence. So I decided to go back again and saw the sofa still sitting there, as if it was waiting just for me. This time, I called my husband and told him to come and look at the sofa and approve it. I told myself that if he approves it, I will take it that it was meant for us, if not, then it wasn’t. My husband, who always trusts my choice in home furnishings, said that I was rushing into things, and that he thinks, we should take it easy and wait a little. But me and my materialistic self,  wouldn’t take no for an answer and convinced him to come to the store.


He came, he looked at the sofa, and then said that if my heart is into it, since I was so focused on it, then I should go ahead and take it. I told someone that I would like to see our sales person, who we always work with. As I waited for him to come, I said my little prayer again asking God for His guidance that if it was meant for us then let it be His will and not mine. I asked him to let the transaction go through only if it was meant to be. As the sales person came and said hello and talked a little, right before our eyes, someone else’s salesperson came and put a SOLD sign on that sofa set.


My husband immediately reminded me how many times God tried to answer my prayer with His will but it was me who wasn’t ready to accept His will. I realized then how most of the times, we don’t even mean our prayers. We pray for the sake of praying but don’t realize the depth in every word of our prayers. When we pray, that means we are talking to God directly and when we talk to God we better mean every ounce of what we say.


It just so happens that about a month later we went to the same furniture store to find something else, but what we found, was the same style sofa set, which was also a floor model at a very good price, with absolutely nothing wrong with it, only this time, it was exactly the color I was looking for.


That’s why they always say: God works in wonders, we just don’t understand Him.


So why did I have to bother God for a petty matter like this one?


Because every moment of the day, I need Him, to make decisions for me. Dear Lord every moment today and all my life, please hold my finger and lead me, guide me, because I sure, am not capable. Every moment whatever I think, say or do, let it be as per THY will and not MY will. Because what you decide for me, would by all means be far better than what I decide for myself

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Ruhaniyat: 7-02-11: HUMANITY


A man was walking around in a Target store, when he saw a Cashier hand this little boy some money back. The boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old. The Cashier said, 'I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll.' Then the little boy turned to the old woman next to him: ''Granny, are you sure I don't have enough money?'' The old lady replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy this doll, my dear.'' Then she asked him to stay there for just 5 minutes while she went to look around. She left quickly. The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand.

Finally, the man who was watching all this walked towards the little boy and asked him who he wished to give this doll to. 'It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much for Christmas. She was sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her.' The man told him that maybe Santa Claus would bring it to her after all, and not to worry. But he replied to him sadly. 'No, Santa Claus can't bring it to her where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.'



His eyes were so sad while saying this. 'My Sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.'' The man’s heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at him and said: 'I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall.' Then he showed the man a very nice photo of himself. He was laughing. He then told him 'I want mommy to take my picture with her so she won't forget me.' 'I love my mommy and I wish she didn't have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister. 'Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly.

The man quickly reached for his wallet and said to the boy. 'Suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll?''



'OK' he said, 'I hope I do have enough.' The man added some of his money to his without him seeing and they started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money. The little boy said: 'Thank you God for giving me enough money!' Then he looked at the man and added, 'I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give it to my sister. He heard me!''

'I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose.'' 'My mommy loves white roses.'

A few minutes later, the old lady returned and the man left with his basket. He finished his shopping in a totally different state of mind from when he started. He couldn't get the little boy out of his mind. Then he remembered a local newspaper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunken man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma. Was this the family of the little boy?



Two days after this encounter with the little boy, he read in the newspaper that the young woman had passed away. He couldn't stop himself as he bought a bunch of white roses and went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was for people to see and make last wishes before her burial. She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest.

He left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that his life had been changed forever. The bonding that the little boy had for his mother and his sister was precious and irreplaceable. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.



God made man in his own image but man drinks away the spiritual factor and turns into something that God never intended. Drinking is just as much against nature because once man starts drinking, he looses the capability to determine went to stop. If one has no control over drinking, then he really has no right to drink. Drinking hinders with God’s plans for both you, and the people around you. Our body, mind and wealth belong to God. We have no right to mess with this holy body given to us by God. The worst that one can do is losing control over the very mind that is supposed to keep us balanced. And last but not least, we should not use God’s wealth for purposes that He does not support.



And remember: Surrendering to God, not only makes living life easier, but also gives God the responsibility to ensure perfection in our lives

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Ruhaniyat: 7-16-11: HAPPINESS

They say God Realization is Self Realization. If we ask a simple question "Where is God?" then most people knowingly or unknowingly point the finger up to the sky. We find millions of people going to temples, mosques and churches to find God. People consider the birth places or places where Lords, Saints and Prophets of past (such as Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, Lord Buddha, Lord Mahavir, Prophet Mohammad, Lord Jesus) lived as shrines and holy places and we find millions of people visiting such holy places and shrines thinking that they will get a step closer God.

We find people who desert their families, who give up the society, who live in solitude with an intention to run away from physical materialistic world. They concentrate their minds on holy books and scriptures, they meditate and indulge in thousands of kinds of rites and rituals to find God. God is not restricted to a place or God cannot be brought physically to a place by any kind of rite or ritual. This is ignorance. Enlightenment, God Realization, God Knowledge is nothing but removal of this ignorance from our minds.

There once was a very wealthy and successful man.  He had more money than he could ever spend and he was admired and looked up to by his community.  Still, he knew that something was missing in his life. He wasn't happy.  All his life he had pursued happiness and strived for happiness but had never been able to find it.

Then one day he heard about a hidden temple in Nepal which had a special room that contained the secret to happiness. He sold all that he owned and set out to find this hidden temple.  After many years of searching and countless hardships he finally arrived there. By then he was weary and penny less, but he knew that none of that mattered now that he had found the temple. He asked a wise, smiling monk if he could enter the special room. The monk agreed and showed him the stairs leading to the room. He climbed them with legs shaking with anticipation and slowly opened the door. 

He stared into the room with sunlight streaming through the window and saw what he had come so far to find.  There hanging on the wall was the secret of happiness.  The man gazed at his reflection in the mirror and laughed.  It is time that we all realized that we are the secret to our own happiness. Happiness is a choice that we make within.

The Ignorance about the Eternal Truth is the cause of unhappiness. Happiness comes from contentment in life. And contentment can only be there if we have faith and trust in God. If we believe that whatever God does is for a reason and for the best, we will be able to accept every situation in life and hence be happy.

It is not the worldly wealth, education and achievement, but the Realization of Truth which makes man truly happy. Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold; the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul.

They say: “Gaj dhan, gau dhan, baaj dhan. Rattan dhan khan, Jab santosh dhan aayo, sab dhan dhuuli saman.

When contentment arises, all material possessions seem worthless.

God loves us and gives each one of us the ability to fill our lives with love, joy, peace, happiness, and oneness with Him. We choose to do so moment by moment and day by day.  It doesn't matter what our outer circumstances are either, because the Kingdom of Heaven is within us. Don't spend the rest of your life searching the world for happiness then. Just look in the mirror and laugh. Just let the happiness flow from your heart, mind, and soul until it fills your life and the lives of all those around you.   

And always remember: Always be a reason for someone’s happiness but you might not be a part of it.

Always be a part of someone’s sadness but never be a reason for it

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Ruhaniyat: 10-01-2011- TIME & PATIENCE

TIME IS WHAT WE NEED THE MOST, AND TIME IS WHAT WE USE THE WORST."

As you know money can be earned, saved and recovered, if lost – but time?  Time cannot be earned, saved – to be used later or even recovered.  Hence, time is much more valuable than money.

People are considered rich or poor based on how much money they have. But when it comes to Time: everyone has the same amount of time available to them.  However, only those who understand the value of time make the most of it while those who don’t, waste most of it and that is reflected in their mind-set.

With the advent of the internet and the speed at which tasks can currently be accomplished, Time can be saved to a much higher degree than what was possible many years ago. However, Time goes hand in hand with patience. Learn to be tactful in handling time with patience. Be patient with yourself and others. Patience is a virtue and it should be your choice.

Every situation will last as long as it lasts. If an individual is recovering from a medical procedure, how he/she will bounce back is personal. A doctor can only guess based on his experience with other patients. Nature teaches us great patience because everything comes slowly in its own season. This slow process makes the rebirth of spring so lively, such a lift to our spirits. We have to choose to be patient with ourselves when we are going through a rough patch or a time of major transition.  The poet Longfellow Wrote, "All things come around to him who will but wait".

Do not be hard on yourself, when you are making difficult lifestyle choices and changes. It is not easy to change our habits. Make a deliberate point not to be frustrated by the timing of the outcome. Remind yourself that you are trying hard, doing the best you can, to accept the situation you are in.

All of us have difficult situations at one time or another. Do what you can do that is appropriate to your circumstances and clearly and calmly work toward the result or the outcome. Even perfect roses have thorns. We have to accept the not so good in order to make the best of reality. We all have sadness even when we are living a good, happy life. We choose to endure and be persevering. When you find yourself in a muddle, when you do not know what you want, when what you want is not happening, or when you feel overwhelmed by circumstances that have caused you great misfortune, give yourself time.

Be patient when you are with people who walk slower than you. When someone does not hear you, patiently repeat yourself. What about those senior drivers on the streets? Be patient. Make a habit not to interrupt when people talk slowly or pause to think. When we are impatient, we feel superior, but we really lack compassion. Be patient with the child, that is taking a little more time in learning his/her school work. Be patient while you are picking up your loved one either from work/school.  There are so many instances when we ask our loved ones to hurry up...and we tell them…we have been waiting for a few minutes.

Pray. Trust. Wait. Hope. Believe. Love. Patience is a sign of genius -- certainly a badge of courage. We are all part of humanity. We are all in it together. We have to have the humility to give others and ourselves time. Every time we are patient, we learn something. We are growing through the process.

As Carl Jung has said: "Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness.  The word "Happy" would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity."

“Our lives get busier and busier every day to the point where it seems that we sometimes don’t even have time for God and ourselves. Find some time to spend with Him and you’ll find yourself less stressed and better able to deal with life’s pressures.”

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