"Our real strength is in the willingness to care for and support others. We are caretakers of divine property. Wisdom is to understand the simple universal principle that in giving we receive . By getting things we make a living and by giving we make a life. the spiritual evolution of a society can be understood when people love people and use thungs. But all too often in today's world it is is the opposite. People use people. I discovered something that really transformed my life. A simple ageless truth. All of our desires, with their longings, gratifications and frustrations stem from a single origin , forgetfulness of a love that is inherent within our own hearts and in that love there is truth. In 1971 I learned this lesson from a very unlikely and unforgettable teacher. I was just coming out of my teenage years, I decided to walk higher into the Himalayan mountains. Suddenly I came upon seeing something horrifying. There were people that were homeless, starving, some naked,some in rags, their limbs were mingled and deformed. I had stumbled into a leprosy colony. When they saw me, a foreigner they thought I had some money.20 of them made a circle around me so tight, I couldn't move.
They were screaming bakshish bakshish-" Give me Charity". Part of me was thinking why are they doing this to a stranger?"- And another part of me was thinking they are so destitute and so completely forgotten by society they have a right to do whatever they want.It was about 20 minutes they harassed me, finally when they realized I had nothing to give, they let me go. When I walked a few steps only I saw to my side a short distance away an old leper women, she was laying in rags, her nose was melted into a hole of decaying flesh. Our eyes met. she looked at me with a sad smile. She understood my anguish . At that moment she conveyed to me wordlessly the tender love of a mother. Her look conveyed to me that she wanted nothing from me, but she understood how devastated I was with the shocking encounter with her people. She held out her fingerless hand to bless me, moved by her motherly affection , I approached her and fell on my knees with her hand on my head and she said " May God bless you my child". I looked at her, her face was lit up with joy, she was beautiful. I felt that God had sent me to her so that she could do what any mother however rich, poor, healthy or sick has a right to do- to bless a child. I wept.
Later that day I was sitting on the bank of the Ganges.I was thinking that poor leper woman who had such an appalling disease like the river beneath the surface there was so much more. It seemed to em that all she really wanted is to love and be loved. She wasn't cursing God for her misfortune, rather she was giving God's blessings to one another with great joy. This made me contemplate , how easy it is for us to focus on our differences. What this leper woman taught me, if we look deeply within our own selves, within others we will find that beyond the differences , nationality, gender, appearance, race, health and disease there is something essential we all have in common., The souls inherent capacity to love.
In every heart there is Good dog and bad dog- represents the tendency to be mean , to be selfish. Good dog- is our divine nature. Sometimes bad dog howls so loud that its reverberating in our minds. We hardly hear the sound of the good dog, calling out for our attention. Which of these dogs will prevail, the one we chose to feed moment by moment by the choices we make.
My beloved teacher, Srila Prabhupada was once asked by a reporter- you are a swami, can you show me magic. He quoted a verse that Lord Krsna has said in the BG- the real magic of life is the wisdom of our own divinity. When we understand beyond the ever changing body and mind, the living force has the inherent capacity to love. When we access that love in ourselves then we can see our harmony with God with nature and with each other. The real magic of our lives is transformation- arrogance into humility, greed into generosity, hate into love, sorrow into joy. It is said ,that you can understand how rich you are by counting how many things you have that money cannot buy.
Inner fulfillment, to love, to be loved, that unconditional love which is inherent within all of us , is the greatest power in the universe- it is power that has such force to motivate us to accomplish things that we can accomplish things wonderful for ourselves, our families, our communities. Whether we are politicians, scientists, businessmen, agriculturist or a little swami that capcity is within all of us and when we harmonize that principle within our lives we can be empowered by grace to make extraordinary changes in everything we do.
