Me, my Guru – The Blacksmith in heaven

 

Contd....

Me, my Guru – The Blacksmith in heaven

“He was overjoyed that he had been assigned heaven by God himself. And yet, he said “I seek God to give me a few more days to live for my neighbor is very serious and there is no one to take care of him. Let him get well and then I’ll come”.” – Everyone would be pleased to hear that God approves of his way of living. So did the blacksmith.

He didn’t ask for an extension of life as presumed by many.

He didn’t want to live long.

He was given HEAVEN. Understand this clearly and correctly. Heaven is the place everyone wants to go. There is no pain or suffering there. Who doesn’t want to go there? And that heaven is not “grabbed” by the blacksmith even when it is given to him by the God himself. See the greatness and purity of his character in this one act of his. His choice reflects his noble quality.

He wanted to help his neighbor and hence chose to stay back away from heaven. If you get this straight you’ll understand his ‘great’ quality.

“But each time the Angel came, the blacksmith had a reason to stay back to help someone in that village. Once it was that someone was sick, the other time it was marriage in someone’s house and so on.” – He wanted to stay back to help those in need of his services. He chose to serve others over heaven. That is selflessness. That is the purity of intent. That is a noble quality that pleases God!

He does this not once or twice but many times.

Just imagine – he is tempted with an offer of heaven so many times and yet, he chooses serving others over his stay in heaven. How would you rate him as a person? How would you see his character? Do you know anyone of that character?

Contd....

# Me my guru series, blacksmith in heaven, heaven and hell, sacrifice, seva, on helping others, purity of intent, selflessness, honesty, humility, 

also read suggested https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2015/04/paths-to-reach-truth.html 

Me, my Guru – The Blacksmith in heaven

 

Contd....

Me, my Guru – The Blacksmith in heaven

In whatever we try to be of service to others we can make the Purpose of life out of that. The Blacksmith had a job that was a very basic one. But he always thought of it as a means to ease others’ lives. He lived his life servicing others through his profession. He led a selfless life that way. That was heaven! That is the “devotion” God expects from one and all – this is told in every scripture!”

When our Guru completed this story there was pin-drop silence for some time to come. Our various questions were answered.

Is there heaven and hell?

How to qualify for heaven?

We are afraid of going to heal. How to avoid going there?

How to lead a life that would please God?

What are the qualities of a true devotee?

What is the Purpose of life in our life? How to find it? Where to look for it?

When we look out for people in our family, does it count as a selfless act? Certainly not! Many times, people want to put up an act of selflessness - when in fact all they did was fulfill their duties. Know the difference and act accordingly!

The answer was simple and straight. But something in that answer disturbed us. Was it the simplicity of the answer?

We couldn’t exactly know what disturbed us. Yet with the answer received we left for good!

Pointers to understand this post:

“He lead a straight and simple life. God was very pleased with the way he followed God’s teachings. So, at the right time, God sent one of his best angels to fetch his devout devotee. He was just in his early 50’s.” – So you see, God loves those who are simple and pure. He doesn’t want all the “expensive rituals” that we follow to please him and find His Grace. Right attitude is all that God expects from us.

We don’t have to market ourselves as “good people” or “spiritual ones” to others of this World. It is totally useless. How you market may make a impact on your “image” but to God it is the purity of intent that matters.

If the attitude and intent are good, God would choose you to shower His Grace on you – even without you asking for it!

Contd....

# Me my guru series, blacksmith in heaven, heaven and hell, sacrifice, seva, on helping others, purity of intent, selflessness, honesty, humility, 

also read suggested https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/search?q=heaven+and+hell 

read the link given to understand how we all create our own heaven and hell

Me, my Guru – The Blacksmith in heaven

 

Contd....

Me, my Guru – The Blacksmith in heaven

The Angel smiled and left him undisturbed for a few more months.

But each time the Angel came, the blacksmith had a reason to stay back to help someone in that village. Once it was that someone was sick, the other time it was a marriage in someone’s house and so on.

When finally, the blacksmith became old, frail and unable to do any more work, he prayed to God “Dear God, if you still have a place for me in heaven, I am ready to come”.

Immediately the Angel appeared in front of him. The Blacksmith was very pleased. He said, “Dear sir, if God still permits I am ready to come and stay in heaven. I want to come home”.

The Angel laughed and replied “Where do you think you were all these years? This is heaven where you were living all these years. You are HOME!”

So you see heaven and hell are the places that we live every day of our life. When we live for others, it is heaven. When we are selfish, we are choosing hell for ourselves.

The Purpose of life and contentment in life are interwoven. When we share what we have with others for they need it, that itself becomes the ‘Purpose of life’. The Purpose of life is not found by many because they search for it out of ego. We want the name, fame, money or some benefit out of Purpose of life goo!

In whatever we try to be of service to others we can make the Purpose of life out of that. The Blacksmith had a job that was a very basic one. But he always thought of it as a means to ease others’ lives. He lived his life servicing others through his profession. He led a selfless life that way. That was heaven! That is the “devotion” God expects from one and all – this is told in every scripture!”

Contd....

# Me my guru series, blacksmith in heaven, heaven and hell, sacrifice, seva, on helping others, purity of intent, selflessness, honesty, humility, 

also read suggested https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2020/08/me-my-guru-on-purpose-of-life_7.html

Me, my Guru – The Blacksmith in heaven

 

Me, my Guru – The Blacksmith in heaven

“In a certain village lived a devout blacksmith. He was a man of simple ways and taste. He led a straight and simple life. God was very pleased with the way he followed God’s teachings. So, at the right time, God sent one of his best angels to fetch his devout devotee. He was just in his early 50’s.

The angel met the blacksmith and said “God is very pleased with your attitude and the way you lead your life. He therefore sent me to fetch you for you have been assigned a special place in heaven by God himself”.

The blacksmith was very pleased to hear that God approved of his life and devotion. He was overjoyed that he had been assigned heaven by God himself. And yet, he said, “I seek God to give me a few more days to live for my neighbor is very serious and there is no one to take care of him. Let him get well and then I’ll come”.

Angel agreed and left him. When Angel came a few days later, the blacksmith said “It is harvest season. There is no blacksmith in the village except me. Every farmer will need my services. If it is possible ask God to spare me a couple of months. Once the harvest season is over, I’ll come to stay in heaven”.

The Angel smiled and left him undisturbed for a few more months.

Contd....

# Me my guru series, blacksmith in heaven, heaven and hell, sacrifice, seva, on helping others, purity of intent, selflessness, honesty, humility, 

also read suggested https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2021/11/selfless-attitude-worth-practicing.html 

Me, My guru – working of Karma noted in a real life situation!

 

Contd....

Me, My guru – working of Karma noted in a real life situation!

Points to understand the post:

"We thought she would quote Rama, Krishna and we would counter that.

We had our argument against forgiveness and yet she didn’t go there. We were prepared to attack those and such explanations but here she was talking something completely different from what we expected." See here – the students are already having reasons to forgive the wrongdoer. They also had been explained how karma works based on Itihaasa (History of Vedic culture). And they had come prepared to counter all that if told. It means students don’t ask questions to which they don’t have answers – many times. They know the answers. They want validation for their venting and emotions. They come to sell their line of thinking to the Guru. No doubt, they go back angry when Guru doesn’t buy their ‘reasons’.

Ask yourself “Why do I ask questions? What is it that I am seeking?” be honest in your effort in seeking answers. Don’t fool yourself.

Your honesty will open the doors of heaven for you!

Your honesty will make you courageous.

Your honesty will make you fearless.

Your honesty will release you from your bondage and karma!

 

Let’s understand this with some exercise.

I’ll give one real-life example at a time.

I want you people to see how this example applies to your life situations.

In what way does this example help you to understand how the lives of those around you in impacted by this “law of karma”. Not every time we’ll be able to see it happen in our life. It is too personal for us to note that. But, in the joy of finding pain and seeking revenge for others, we notice these things happening in others' lives.

Share your stories – real life ones to validate the ‘law of karma’. How you have seen this law operate in and around your life.

When the number of stories is good enough to run home this point, I’ll share one more example – a real-life one – and then the exercise will continue. This way let’s learn it as we read about these cases.

If I don't receive feedback - enough of it from your end, then this topic will not be discussed further......

Contd....

# Me My guru series, karma, everything happens for a reason, as you sow so you reap, on receiving and giving, good and bad deeds, the effect of our actions and deeds,

also read suggested https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2020/08/few-faqs-with-guru.html 

any questions or doubts?

Me, My guru – working of Karma noted in a real life situation!

 

Contd....

Me, My guru – working of Karma noted in a real life situation!

Our Guru continued “It is very simple. I’ll give you a few real-life examples. Listen and understand for yourself how karma acts and comes back.

Though these examples are real, this is not the only way karma works every time. These examples are not to be taken as a whole. This is one of the ways karma works. That’s how you are to understand it.

1st case: Recently, one girl came to me regretting a lot. She said “30 years back you told me not to marry this guy against my parents’ wish. I didn’t listen to you. I left the house without my parent’s permission and knowledge and got married. Now, my daughter ran away to an ashram and stated that she’ll not come back home. We pleaded and agreed to all her conditions to bring her back from that ashram. The conditions were:

You’ll let me do whatever I want to do. You’ll not stop me from pursuing my career.

I hate marriage thanks to you people. I’ll never marry. You’ll not force me to.

I hate my mom. I don’t want her to interact with me – ever!

Now, I’ve understood the pain I’ve given to my parents with my actions then. I am receiving what I gave. This is my karma coming back. I know this is nothing when compared to all the pain of my past actions. Now, I want to restart and learn Reiki. I want to start healing once again – this time not for any material benefit but sincerely to heal all the pain I’ve given to all – including you”

I am sure this is clear enough for you to understand how karma works. It may take time but it strikes at ‘the right time’ and through ‘the right means’.

Contd....

# Me My guru series, karma, everything happens for a reason, as you sow so you reap, on receiving and giving, good and bad deeds, the effect of our actions and deeds,

also read suggested https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2020/03/bhaktha-and-his-bhakti-guru-shishya-my.html 

read the complete post though link given takes you to the start of the article only....at the end of the post is "Older posts ...Newer Posts" - click newer post and the next day post continues....

many questions regarding karma is answered in these posts.....

Points to understand the post in the next post contd....

Me, My guru – working of Karma noted in a real life situation!

 

Me, My guru – working of Karma noted in a real life situation!

Today, the topic was hot – how bad people got away with their deeds. Most of us were exchanging the wrongs done to us with each other. And we all found one thing in common – that the wrongdoers roamed scot-free. That pained us a lot. If we share this information with our Guru she would say something like “Forgive them or move on. She’ll ask us to concentrate on building our lives”. But today, we didn’t want that lecture. We just wanted justice. We wanted them to suffer for their wrongdoings. Wouldn’t that be a lesson for all not to commit such crimes? Well, at least that was our line of argument.

Prepared to meet her logic and suggestions we dared to ask the question “Guruji, why do you believe that karma works? Because, all around we see people enjoying their lives inspite of them hurting, cheating, manipulating, lying and poisoning others’ lives. Where is justice? How can you say that karma is justice-based?” asked Sanjay.

“Simply because I’ve seen it in umpteen cases” replied our Guru.

We thought she would quote Rama, Krishna and we would counter that.

We had our argument against forgiveness and yet she didn’t go there. We were prepared to attack those and such explanations but here she was talking something completely different from what we expected.

Our Guru continued “It is very simple. I’ll give you a few real-life every time examples. Listen and understand for yourself how karma acts and comes back.

Though these examples are real, this is not the only way karma works every time. These examples are not to be taken as a whole. This is one of the ways karma works. That’s how you are to understand it.

Contd....

# Me My guru series, karma, everything happens for a reason, as you sow so you reap, on receiving and giving, good and bad deeds, the effect of our actions and deeds,

also read suggested https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2021/04/me-my-guru-soul-identification-its-need.html 

Penny a day - 2024!

 

Penny a day - 2024!

Further to Penny a day  https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2023/12/penny-day-target-for-year-2024-starting.html– are you still with it?

Those who haven’t need not feel bad. Start from today onwards! Some saving is better than no saving!

Remember, aankh khule thabhi savera hai….

आँख खुले तभी सवेरा है।  

It’s morning when you open your eyes!

Meaning – whenever the person realizes, it is a new beginning (represented by morning) for him.

****

Trust and betrayal!

 

Trust and betrayal!

Dhoke ki phitrat hi hoti hai ki

Who apnon se milthi hai….

धोके की फ़ितरत ही होती है की 

वह अपनों से मिलती है। 

It is the nature of deceit that

It is given by ‘our own’.

మోసం యొక్క నైజం ఏమనగా 

అది మనవాళ్ళ నుంచే దొరుకుతుంది 

Meaning – deceit and cheating are always done by those whom we trust. Trust is broken by people whom we trust. The one we don’t trust can’t break our trust. So, it is in the power of our dear ones to cheat and deceive us!

So, do not be surprised by deceit when it is received from someone you trust and love a lot!

The flaw and wrong is not in trusting the other. The one who is cheated need not feel bad or ashamed of. If you have been cheated, do not feel guilty about it too! You are not at fault.

The one who has broken the trust is the one who is at fault. Let him feel guilty (which he wouldn’t though). He is the one who is wronged. So, don’t feel bad for trusting and loving the ‘shameless one’. 

If the purity of your mind and heart had chosen to love the 'cheater' it reflects how pure your heart is. Let it remain so! Do not let the cheater take away the innocence away from you. 

 

 
Meaning:

Phitrat – nature

Dhoka – deceit, cheating, back stabbing, betrayal

Apnon se – from our dear ones