The Last Delivery

 There was a rich couple who was throwing a big new year party at their house.  So they went shopping at the market where everything was of high cost and fixed price.  They wanted to maintain their level of standard so didn’t mind paying for it.  After purchasing all they needed, they called a porter to carry everything and drop it at their home.  The porter who came was of an old age, not very healthy looking, his clothes were torn, looked as if he wasn’t even able to meet his daily needs.

They asked the porter about the charges for delivering their goods at their home.  The old porter quoted just a $20, a well below the market rate for delivering goods at couple’s home in his cart.  Yet, the couple argued and bargained with the porter and finally settled for $15.  The porter was struggling to make even one time’s meal so he needed anything he can earn.

The couple was very happy thinking how well they bargained with the poor porter and paid him $15 in advance and left after giving the porter their address for delivery.  They reached their home and hour passed, two hours passed, but the porter still hadn’t delivered their stuff.

The wife started to get angry at her husband, “I always tell you to not to trust such person still, you never listen to me.  Such person who is not even able to earn to feed himself for 1 time in a day, you handed him everything we purchased for our big party.  I am sure instead of delivering at our home, he must have disappeared with everything.  We must immediately go back to the market to inquire and then to the police  station to file the complaint against him”.

They both left towards the market.  On their way near the market, they saw another porter.  They stopped him to inquire about the old porter and noticed that he was carrying their stuff in his cart!  The angry wife asked him, “Where is that old thief?  This is our stuff and he supposed to deliver it.  It seems you poor thieves are stealing our stuff and going to sell it”.

The porter replied, “Madam, Please calm down.  That poor old man was sick since last month.  He wasn’t able to earn enough to even have a single meal of the day.  He was on the way to deliver your stuff, but he who was hungry, sick, couldn’t gather the strength to go any further in this heat of the noon”.  He fell down and while handing me $15, his last words were, “I had taken an advance for this delivery, you take this and please deliver to this address”.

“Madam, He was hungry, he was poor, but he was an honest man. I was just on the way to complete old man’s last delivery at your home”, the porter said. Upon hearing this, the husband had tears in his eyes, but the wife felt so ashamed, she had no courage to see up in her husband’s eyes.

Honesty has no class. Respect everyone regardless of their financial and social status. It’s always a good deed to give the one who deserves.

Change Our Vision

 There was a very wealthy man who was bothered by severe eye pain. He consulted many physicians and was being treated by several. He did not stop consulting a galaxy of medical experts; he consumed heavy loads of drugs and underwent hundreds of injections. But the ache persisted with more vigor than before.

 At last, a monk who was supposed to be an expert in treating such patients was called for by the suffering man. The monk understood his problem and said that for sometime he should concentrate only on green colors and not to let his eyes fall on any other colors. It was a strange prescription, but he was desperate and decided to try it.

 The millionaire got together a group of painters and purchased barrels of green paint and directed that every object his eye was likely to fall to be painted green just as the monk had directed. When the monk came to visit him after few days, the millionaire's servants ran with buckets of green paint and poured it on him since he was in red dress, lest their master see any other color and his eye ache would come back.

 Hearing this, the monk laughed and said "If only you had purchased a pair of green spectacles, worth just a few dollars, you could have saved these walls and trees and pots and all other articles and also could have saved a large share of his fortune. You cannot paint the world green."

Let us change our vision and the world will appear accordingly. It is foolish to shape the world, let us shape ourselves first.  

Trust in God

A man just got married and was returning home with his wife. They were crossing a lake in a boat, when suddenly a great storm arose. The man was a warrior, but the woman became very much afraid because it seemed almost hopeless:

The boat was small and the storm was really huge, and any moment they were going to be drowned. But the man sat silently, calm and quiet, as if nothing was happening.

The woman was trembling and she said, “Are you not afraid ?”. This may be our last moment of life! It doesn’t seem that we will be able to reach the other shore. Only some miracle can save us; otherwise death is certain. Are you not afraid? Are you mad or something? Are you a stone or something?

The man laughed and took the sword out of its sheath. The woman was even more puzzled: What he was doing? Then he brought the naked sword close to the woman’s neck, so close that just a small gap was there, it was almost touching her neck.

He said,” Are you afraid ?”

She started to laugh and said,” Why should I be afraid ?,If the sword is in your hands, why I should be afraid? I know you love me.

” He put the sword back and said, This is my answer”. I know God Loves me, and the storm is in His hands

SO WHATSOEVER IS GOING TO HAPPEN IS GOING TO BE GOOD. If we survive, good; if we don’t survive, good ,because everything is in His hands and He cannot do anything wrong.

Moral: Develop Trust. This is the trust which one needs to imbibe. and which is capable of transforming your whole life. Any less won’t do!

The Pig Keeper

 Once upon a time there lived a prince who loved a princess and wished to marry her. One day, he sent her two beautiful gifts, a rose and a nightingale, asking her to marry him. 

 Everybody loved the gifts but the princess was very naughty and said, “What useless gifts! This is not a silver rose or a mechanical nightingale! I will not accept these gifts.” The prince tried to woo her and did all he could to persuade her to marry him but the haughty princess refused to change her mind. 

 To teach her a lesson, the prince disguised himself as a pig keeper and took up a job in the royal sty. Whenever he was free, he made lovely little things for the princess.

 One day, he made a pot with little bells on it, which tinkled when boiled water. The princess was enchanted by the pot and wanted it. The pig keeper agreed to give it to her on the condition that she would kiss him in exchange. 

 The princess agreed. But just as the she was about the kiss the pig keeper, the king saw them and was very angry. The pig keeper then revealed that he was actually a prince. The princess was excited and wanted to marry him now but the prince refused and said to the king, “Sir, your daughter does not appreciate the real beauty of nature. She refused to marry me when I was a prince and gave her a rose and a nightingale. Instead, she liked a pot that tinkles and was willing to kiss a pig keeper for it! She should be happy with the tinkling pot and stay unmarried!”

Symptoms of Kaliyuga

 Once the four Pandavas (except Yudhishthira who was not present) asked Krishna:  "What is Kaliyuga and what will happen during Kaliyuga?"

 Krishna smiled and said "Let me demonstrate to you, the situation of Kaliyuga." He took a bow and four arrows and shot them in four directions and ordered the four Pandavas to go and bring them back.

 Each of the four Pandavas went in the four different directions to search for the arrows. 

  When Arjuna picked an arrow, he heard a very sweet voice. He turned around and saw a cuckoo singing in a spellbinding voice but was also eating flesh of a live rabbit which was in great pain. Arjuna was very surprised to see such a gory act by such a divine bird he left the place immediately.

 Bhima picked arrow from a place, where five wells were situated. The four wells were surrounding a single well. The four wells were overflowing with very sweet water as if they were not able to hold water and surprisingly the well in the middle of these four overflowing wells was completely empty. Bhima was also puzzled at this sight.

 Nakula was returning to the place after picking up the arrow. He stopped at a place where a cow was about to give birth. After giving birth the cow started licking the calf but continued to lick it even after the calf was clean. With great difficulty people were able to separate them and by that time the calf was injured badly. Nakula was puzzled by the behavior of such a calm animal.

 Sahadeva picked arrow which fell near a mountain and saw a big boulder falling. The boulder was crushing the rocks and big trees on its way down, but the same boulder was stopped by a small plant. Sahadeva was also amazed at this sight.

 All the Pandavas asked the meaning of these incidents. Krishna smiled and started explaining...

"In Kaliyuga, the priests will have very sweet voice and will also have great knowledge but they will exploit devotees the same way cuckoo was doing with rabbit.

In Kaliyuga poor will live among rich, those rich will have enormous amount of wealth which will actually overflow but they will not offer a single penny to the poor same as the four wells didn't have a single drop of water for the empty well.

 In Kaliyuga parents will love their children so much that their love will actually spoil them and will destroy their lives similar to the love shown by cow to her newborn calf.

 In Kaliyuga people will fall in terms of character like the boulder from the mountain and they will not be stopped by anyone at the end only the name of God will be able to hold them from doom like the little plant held the boulder from further fall."

Nostalgic Old Photos

Christ Church and cemetry, PALAYAM Trivandrum

Insidepadmanabha swam temple

Kawdiar Palace

Padmanabha Temple , 1890

pattambi sanscrit college

Pazhavangadi Ganapathi Temple

POOJAPURA CENTRAL JAIL

THE FIRST AIRCRAFT IN TVM

Nostalgic Old Photos

Nostalgic Old Photos

The Pregnant Deer

 In a forest, a pregnant deer is about to give birth. She finds a remote grass field near a strong-flowing river. This seems a safe place. Suddenly labour pains begin.

At the same moment, dark clouds gather around above & lightning starts a forest fire. She looks to her left & sees a hunter with his bow extended pointing at her.

To her right, she spots a hungry lion approaching her.

What can the pregnant deer do? She is in labour!

What will happen?
Will the deer survive?
Will she give birth to a fawn?
Will the fawn survive?
Or will everything be burnt by the forest fire?
Will she perish to the hunters’ arrow?
Will she die a horrible death at the hands of the hungry lion approaching her?

She is constrained by the fire on the one side & the flowing river on the other & boxed in by her natural predators.  What does she do? She focuses on giving birth to a new life.

The sequence of events that follows are:

- Lightning strikes & blinds the hunter.
- He releases the arrow which zips past the deer & strikes the hungry lion.
- It starts to rain heavily, & the forest fire is slowly doused by the rain.
- The deer gives birth to a healthy fawn.

In our life too, there are moments of choice when we are confronted on αll sides with negative thoughts and possibilities.  Some thoughts are so powerful that they overcome us & overwhelm us. Maybe we can learn from the deer.

The priority of the deer, in that given moment, was simply to give birth to a baby. The rest was not in her hands & any action or reaction that changed her focus would have likely resulted in death or disaster.

Ask yourself, Where is your focus?
Where is your faith and hope?

In the midst of any storm, do keep faith on the Creator always. He will never ever disappoint you. NEVER.

Remember, He neither slumbers nor sleeps…

Old Photos- Various Vintage Photos- Part 151

Durga Mandir in Ramnagar in Varanasi - Samuel Bourne 1863

Portrait of Four Delhi Bankers - Charles Shepherd 1862

Portrait-of-Man-and-Woman-of-Moplah-Caste-from-West-Coast-Of-South-India-in-Costume

Relief work during the great famine in South India (1876-78)

View-of-Burning-Ghat-The-Manikarnika---Chief-Cremation-Center-Of-Baneras-(Varanasi)-by-Lala-Deen-Dayal