Indian Stories

Indian Stories Inside each of us there is a beautiful flower garden. This is the garden of the soul. Here we can enjoy the fragrance of each and every flower and discover the true beauty and boundless freedom of our inner selves. With every lesson we learn from life, our soul-garden grows and glows. Ultimately, the peace, light and happiness-fragrance of our individual gardens will spread throughout the length and breadth of the world. The lessons presented are simple, yet they speak eternal truths: love God and serve Him inside humanity; seek inner peace; cultivate simplicity, sincerity, purity and humility; still the restless mind; expand the heart. Many are stories from India's ancient past, others relate episodes in t he lives of some of humanity's great figures. I feel that these wise lessons from the East are timeless and truly universal. It is with great love that I share them with readers from the West.

- Sri Chinmoy

An Ocean Of Kindness

Some people may be rich, but they may not give money to others. Some rich people, on the other hand, do give money to the poor and needy.

Kaji Mohammad Maharshin was a distinguished and highly learned man. At the same time he had a heart that cried all the time for the poor, the destitute and the needy. He was great, very great. Yet greatness itself was not enough for him. He became the living embodiment of goodness as well. Every night he used to go out and help the poverty stricken.

Blessing or curse?

Briksha was a very powerful and cruel king. He used to torture people and kill people for no reason. He killed hundreds of innocent people just for fun. Briksha wanted to be the most powerful king on earth.

Now, in India we believe in one main God, and under Him many little gods, or lesser gods. It takes a long time to please some gods, but other gods are very easy to satisfy. One of the gods is called Shiva, and Shiva is very easily pleased.

Depend Only On God’s Will

There was once a great spiritual Master who used to all the time tell his disciples, “Always depend on God’s Will, always have complete faith in God’s Will. Let God’s Will be done.” This was his motto.

One night he was about to go to sleep when he saw a snake near his bed. He said, “If I call my disciples they will come and immediately kill you. Again, if I do nothing, then you may kill me. Since I do not want you to be killed, the best thing is for me to leave the matter in God’s Hands. If my time has come, then naturally you will kill me. If my time has not come, you will leave of your own accord.”

Everyone Has His Own Role

A great spiritual Master once asked his close disciples to come and meditate with him. When they came and sat in front of him, he said, "Today I have a special request to make, and I hope each of you will fulfil my request. God has made a serious mistake, and I want all of you to help me in rectifying the mistake."

Some of the disciples bowed down, puzzled, while others burst into laughter. Then the Master said, "I am serious. Please take me seriously, all those who are laughing. And others, I am telling you not to be so puzzled. You will see that this is something truly illumining.

God Will Take Care Of Us

There was a very spiritual man who was also extremely interested in reading. He used to read voraciously. He had a wife and two sons. Since he did not work at a regular job, it was difficult for him to meet with the expenses of his family. He had only a small plot of land, which his sons used to plow and grow rice on. This was their main source of income.

The spiritual seeker used to buy books like anything. His wife was dead against it. She would say to him, "You buy books, and we can't even eat properly."

Gratitude Is My True Wealth

There once lived a very rich man, who was very proud of his wealth. He used to wear most expensive clothes, and it was impossible for him to walk even two blocks. Instead of walking, he used to take the palanquin carried by four people. He felt that it was beneath his dignity to mix with ordinary people. Most villagers didn't like him because of his haughtiness, but this did not bother him in the least. He thought that as long as he had money-power in his possession, he didn't have to worry about anything; he didn't have to care for anybody else's opinion.

Happiness Reigns Supreme

In the Mahabharata it is said that there was a king named Shwetaki. He was a very good king and a very great king. He performed religious rites devotedly.

One day Agni, the great sage, went to his palace and ate there. Because of the curse that the sage Bhrigu had placed upon him, Agni was forced to eat all things in God's creation, whether divine or undivine. This day at King Shwetaki's palace, Agni voraciously ate clarified butter and then he suffered from stomach upset. He tried so many ways to cure himself, but he was not able to free himself from the pain. It was unbearable.

Krishna 's Supreme Love

Kangsa was the hostile force incarnate. He was wicked to the backbone. He tortured each and every person in his kingdom. His worst enemy was Lord Krishna. He wanted to destroy Lord Krishna right from the very beginning, even before Krishna was mature enough to fight against him. He wanted to destroy Krishna even when Krishna was only an infant.

Kangsa had a friend who was a great admirer. He was also wicked to the backbone. One day, this friend came to Kangsa and said, "Your worst enemy is Krishna. I want to destroy him and make you happy."

Mahatma Ghandi

Gandhi never told a lie. Once the inspector visited his school class and gave a few words of dictation. The third word was "kettle." Gandhi's friends were able to spell the word properly, but Gandhi didn't know how.

The inspector began going around to check each student's paper. While the inspector moved from student to student, the teacher saw that Gandhi's spelling was wrong, so he touched Gandhi's leg with his foot to get his attention. With his eyes he urged Gandhi to look at someone else's paper. But Gandhi didn't want to copy from anyone.

Pray for protection

One day a young boy of twelve or thirteen was attacked by fifteen mischievous, naughty boys and girls while he was walking home from school. The poor boy was all alone and quite helpless. How could he defend himself against so many naughty boys and girls? He thought of what his mother had often told him: "Whenever you are in difficulty or danger, pray to God." He prayed to God for a second or two, but there was no help from God, and he was cruelly beaten,

He went home crying and crying. His mother consoled him and he said to her, "You told me that if I prayed to God, God would protect me. But God didn't protect me. Look, I am black and blue, and my body is bleeding in so many places!"

Spirituality Is For Those Who Are Careful

Once there was a beautiful woman who was very spiritual. Her husband was also quite spiritual. Often they used to invite seekers to their home for spiritual discussions, prayer and meditation. The two were very generous, and after these meetings the wife would usually serve dinner to everyone.

Once the husband had to go out of town on business for a few months. The seekers who previously had been coming to her home asked if they could continue meeting there. But she said, “Oh, no! My husband wouldn’t like the idea. Only when he is here can I invite you over.” That was not the real reason, however. Several times in the past, when her husband had been out of town, the wife had continued meeting with seekers. But now, during her husband’s absence, she had become very friendly with one of her servants and eventually fell in love with him. Because she was deeply interested in the servant, she found no need for spirituality in her life.

Sri Ramakrishna And Bankim Chandra

Sri Ramakrishna and Bankim Chandra met with each other a few times and they liked each other very much. Bankim’s name has two meanings. It means “the brightest side of the moon” and, at the same time, it means “a little bent.” Sri Ramakrishna used to enjoy jokes with him and Bankim Chandra also used to cut jokes. One day, Sri Ramakrishna said to Bankim, “Bankim! What is it that has bent you?”

“Ah, Thakur, don’t you know what has bent me? It is the kick of the Englishman’s shoe!” Bankim replied.

The Buddha

There was a great King named Vindusar who ruled his kingdom wisely. When he died, his eldest son, Ashoka, became King. Ashoka's brothers were all handsome and strong, but Ashoka was not at all beautiful. His brothers always used to cut jokes with him because he was not good-looking.

When Ashoka became King with the help of the minister, he wanted to take revenge. So when he got the throne, he killed his brothers one by one. Then he killed all his relatives who spoke ill of him. Whoever spoke ill of him, he killed. He also wanted to be the lord of a vast kingdom, so he went and conquered a place called Kalinga, destroying many Buddhist temples and killing many Buddhists.

The Cyclone

A middle-class couple from Calcutta were traveling to Europe in a large ship. After a few days, all of a sudden a cyclone of the worst type came, and it began raining heavily. Many tiny boats were capsized. The passengers in the large vessel raised a hue and cry because there was no way they could save their lives from imminent catastrophe.

The wife said to her husband, "Everybody is crying because we know that our lives can be counted in minutes. How is it that you are so calm and quiet? Do you have no worries or anxieties? Do you not think that in a few minutes we shall all die? Why are you so silent?"

The Three Hosts

One day a king and his minister went out for a walk incognito. The king said to the minister, "I want to give a reward to anyone who is hospitable to us during our walk."

The king and the minister went up to one man and said, "We are travelers. This is a fine town and we would like to spend the night here. Could we stay at your house as guests?"

Who is the highest

Once there was a very pious Brahmin who was utterly devoted to his family deity. He worshipped this deity every day, sitting cross-legged in front of the shrine in his home.

One day during his meditation, he observed that the prasad or food offered to the deity, which is customarily eaten by the devotee after worship, was snatched away by a mouse and eaten in front of his very eyes. The Brahmin was astonished to see this and concluded that the mouse was more powerful than the deity. Otherwise, how could it dare to eat the offering? So he grabbed hold of the mouse, and tying it with a string to the place of worship, decided to worship this creature instead of the deity.