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Good Friends – Bad Friends March 20, 2008

Posted by Kedar in friends, friendship.
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A man in a village went to the teacher in ashram.

“I have five friends. I want to test and see who are real friends and who are not. Please help me.” He told the teacher.

“OK. You can try this. Go and tell your friends that you had a fight with your neighbor and he said some bad things about your family. Tell them that to protect your family’s honor, you are thinking of challenging him in a group sword fight. See what they say.”

Next day the man came to the teacher. He said “Three friends told me to go ahead and challenge. Two tried to pursue me otherwise. Clearly the three who care about my family’s honor are my best friends. Isn’t it?”

“Don’t reach to conclusion too soon. Now go back and send a message to all five that the sword fight is arranged at 8:00 tomorrow and the neighbor is going to show up with his friends. Request them to come and join your side.”

Next day the man came back to teacher, deep buried in thought. When teacher asked what happened, he shook his head and started telling the story.

“You are not going to believe this. Yesterday morning I sent messages to all five. And in the evening I got five messages back. Three of them said that they told me to go ahead with the challenge because they cared about my family’s honor, but they could not come and join me in sword fight because they were not good with swords.”

“And the remaining two?”

“They replied back saying that they told me not to go ahead with the challenge because they were not good with swords. But since I went ahead anyway, they are going to show up because they care about my family’s honor.”

A Tale Of Radha, Krishna and Uddhava – III March 18, 2008

Posted by Kedar in atheism, atheist, buddhism, east, eastern, hindu, hinduism, india, krishna, mahayana, oriental, philosophy, radha, religion, spiritual, spirituality, yang, yin, zen.
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“Do you mind if I ask you one thing?” Uddhava asked Hesitatingly.

“What?” Said Radha.

“I trust Krishna. But everybody in Bharat wonders one thing. If Krishna had so much knowledge and so much power, why didn’t he stop the Mahabharata war?”

“And how would that be better?”

“Well, obviously there would be no destruction, no death. All the people who died would be still with us. Things would be much more happy than gloomy.”

“Uddhava, had Mahabharata war been avoided, by today may be there were less deaths. But there would be a lot more desire to kill. May be today less destruction, but there would be still violent minds.”

“Krishna did exactly what he should have done. “Radha continued. “He separated people who wanted war from people who wanted peace. So warriors could express themselves, and so could Rishis and peasants. Had it not been this way, everybody would be miserable today. “

“No matter how great leader, king or sage you are, you can’t change what people want. You can’t change who they are. Your best bet is let each one take his/her own course of destiny. Best leaders , may they be leading a government, an ashram or an army, keep interference to minimum. They let people be themselves. They reduce the conflicts between their followers. They will not preach, but those who observe them would be left with nothing but clear understanding.”

“Their touch is subtle, yet lasts for ages. Their vision reaches far. They guide their followers not only away from the danger, but even away from the smell of danger. So the people will never know what they were saved from.”

“This way, the real achievements of the great leader will never be noticed.”

“Indeed it makes sense. ” Said Uddhava. “But it is so ironic. If the real achievements are never noticed, then what’s the point in being a great leader?”

“If getting noticed is your goal, then you are not ready to be great in anything.”

“I need to think and digest this.” Said Uddhava.

—

Uddhava’s bed in verandah offered him a great view of night sky. He was still thinking about the conversation in the day.

“I guess that’s why Krishna never tries to make a maha-rishi out of Uddhava. He just sets Uddhava on the path to become Maha-rishi and keeps him free. Evantually all Uddhavas find their own way to the title. ” He thought.

As his body relaxed, his thoughts slowed down. He aimlessly stared at the sky.
Thousands of stars gleaned in the darkness. Clouds drifted along, hiding one star, showing another.

As the night progressed, Saptarshi constellation arose, their tail pointed to Pole star.

Pole star!!

Silently guiding lost sailors to the land, desert travelers to water. Demanding no cost.

Always there. Always present. Always reliable. Always giving.

Kind of like Radha, he thought.

Then the silence carried him gently to sleep.