Uproot Bad Habits Once a father had three sons whom he feared were going astray. They were beginning to partake of alcohol, drugs and other activities of which their father did not approve. Every time he approached them, they said, “No problem, Dad. We have total control. We can stop whenever ...

The Power of Love   I heard a beautiful story of a college professor in New York who gave his business-economy students the assignment of going into the slums and finding 10 students each to interview. Then, the university students had to prepare reports on each of the 10 children they had inte...

Raise Yourself - Don't Erase Others Once, Swami Rama gave a demonstration in front of a large class. He drew a horizontal line on the chalkboard and asked the class the following question: “Is there anyone in the room who can make this line appear shorter without erasing it?” The students though...

Overcoming the Obstacles on the path of Life I heard a beautiful story of an ancient village where one day the villagers found a large boulder in the middle of their main pathway. The busy, rich businessmen and merchants had their servants carry them around it. Others simply turned back and re...

Life's Challenges   There was once a man who, on a tree outside his home, noticed a beautifully woven cocoon. He carefully watched the cocoon every day in order to catch the first glimpse of the beautiful butterfly he knew would emerge. Finally, one day he saw a tiny hole in the cocoon which gr...

Why do we do Pranam?   Pranamis greet each other with the word 'Pranam'. The two palms are placed together in front of the chest and the head bows whilst saying the word 'pranam'. This greeting is for all - people younger than us, of our own age, those older than us, friends and even strangers....

Why do we do Pradakshina? When we visit a temple, after offering prayers, we circumambulate the murti or the ALTAR. This is called Pradakshina. We cannot draw a circle withour a centre point. The Lord is the centre, source and essence of our lives. Recognising Him as the focal point in our liv...

The pain is all in our perspective   A man once went to see a doctor complaining of aches and pains all over his body.“Doctor my whole body hurts me,” he moaned. The doctor asked him to show exactly where the pain was.The man explained, “When I touch my shoulder, it hurts. When I touch my back ...

Guru Purnima   What is a “guru”? While in the West, the term has taken on myriad, frequently derogatory connotations, the true meaning is pure and simple. In Sanskrit, “gu” means darkness, and “ru” means one who removes. So, a “guru” is one who removes your darkness. It is one whose mere presen...

Janmashtami - Its Meaning   They say that whenever there is darkness in the world, whenever strife and ignorance prevail, the Lord incarnates to shine His divine light on the darkness. He grabs hold of the faltering world, preventing it from drifting too far astray. However, the Lord does not s...