A HEAVY TOMB

I once saw the son of a rich man, sitting
on the magnificent tomb of his father. He
was quarrelling with another boy, the son
of a dervish, and saying:

'Look at the splendour of my father's tomb.
See the marble pavements, the turquoise
bricks! And inside, the stone coffin is covered
with an elegant epitaph. Compare your father's
grave- a couple of bricks sprinkled with dust!'

The dervish boy listen and said:

'By the time your father has been able to get out
from under there, mine will long have been in
paradise.'

                                                     SAA'DI

THE KING AND THE PEASANT

A king and his courtiers were enjoying a winter
hunt but, as dusk fell, they realised they were far
from any suitable place to spend the night. As it
grew darker, all they could find was a peasant's
cottage.
"Let us see if we can stay there," suggested the
king, "for it is certainly very cold."

His vizier protested. "You can't spend the night in
the hut of a miserable peasant, my lord! It would
lower your royal diginty. Let us pitch our tents, light
many fires, and make the best of it."

Inside his cottage the peasant had heard all this. He
quickly came out and kissed the ground before the
king.

"I am sure that your royal dignity would not be lowered
if you stayed in my hut," he said, "I suspect that your
vizier is more worried that my peasant dignity might
be raised a little."

The king laughed at this. He dismounted, accepted the
peasant's invitation, and ate and slept in his home. In
morning the king gave him a robe of honour and other
presents.

When the king had mounted his horse and resumed his
journey, the peasant caught hold of the stirrup and ran
 a few paces with him.

"You see," he called out, "you have lost nothing of your
glory and power.But as for me,O, I feel as if my hat touched
the sun itself because of your visit!"

                                                                     SAA'DI
REF:THE DISCONTENTED DERVISHES

THANK YOU GOD

                  Giving thanks for abundance
               is sweeter than the abundance itself:
Should one who is absorbed with the Generous One
                  be distracted by the gift?
          Thankfulness is the soul of beneficence;
                      abundance is but the husk,
for thankfulness brings you to the place where the Beloved lives.
                   Abundance yields heedlessness;
                          thankfulness, alertness:
  hunt for bounty with the snare of gratitude to the King.

                                                              RUMI

REF:JEWELS OF REMEMBRANCE

'OH, WOULD THAT MY PEOPLE KNEW'

The divine Mercy repaired the tattered cloak of my piety
   and bestowed upon me a repentance as sweet as life.
                   Whatever ill deeds I had done,
                It took them as not having been done;
                    and my undone acts of obedience
                     It took as having been performed.
  It made me glad of heart as good fortune and felicity.
     It inscribed my name in the book of the righteous:
                       I was on e doomed to Hell;
                            it gave me Paradise.
        When I cried "Alas," my "Alas" became a rope,
           I clutched that rope and climbed out:
I became glad and strong, sturdy, yet fragrant as a rose.
             I had been lying at the bottom of a well:
             now the whole world cannot contain me.
                   Praises be to You, O God!
            You suddenly placed me far from sorrow.
Though the tip of every hair of mine should gain a tongue,
     still, the thanks due to You could not be expressed.
Amid these gardens and fountains I am crying out to the people,
                "Oh, would that my people knew!"

                                                                                RUMI
REF:JEWELS OF REMEMBRANCE

10 SECRETS FOR SUCCESS AND INNER PEACE

1. Have a Mind That Is Open to
    Everything and Attached to Nothing.....

2. Don't Die with Your Music Still in You....

3. You Can't Give Away What You Don't Have....

4. Embrace Silence....

5. Give Up Your Personal History....

6. You Can't Solve a Problem with the Same Mind
     That Created It.....

7. There Are No Justified Resentments.....

8. Treat Yourself As If You Already Are
     What You'd Like to Be.....

9. Treasure Your Divinity.....

10. Wisdom Is Avoiding All Thoughts
       That Weakens You.....

                DR. WAYNE DYER

IMMATURITY

              This world is like a tree,
   and we are the half-ripe fruit upon  it.
   Unripe fruit clings tight to the branch
because, immature, it's not ready for the palace.
   When fruit become ripe, sweet and juicy,
 then biting their lips, they loosen their hold.
When the mouth has been sweetened by felicity,
    the kingdom of the world loses its appeal.
To be tightly attached to the world signifies immaturity;
            as long as you are an embryo,
        blood-drinking is your business.

                                                      RUMI

REF:JEWELS OF REMEMBRANCE

SEARCH

Whether one moves slowly or with speed,
the one who is a seeker will be a finder.
      Always seek with your whole self,
for the search is an excellent guide on the way.
      Though you are lame and limping,
    though your figure is bent and clumsy,
always creep toward the One. Make that One your quest.
       By speech and by silence and by fragrance,
        catch the scent of the King everywhere.
                                                 
                                                      RUMI
REF: JEWEL OF REMEMBRANCE

FROM CRUTCHES TO A WORLD-CLASS RUNNER

A number of years ago in Elkhart, Kansas, two brothers
had a job at the local school. Early each morning their job
 was to start a fire in the potbellied stove in the classroom.
       One cold morning, the brothers cleaned out the stove
and loaded it with firewood. Grabbing a can of kerosene,
one of them doused the wood and lit the fire. The explosion
rock the old building. the fire killed the older brother and
badly burned the legs of the other brother. It was later
discovered that the kerosene can had accidentally been
filled with gasoline.
        The doctor attending the injured boy recommended
amputating the young boy's legs. The parents were devastated.
They had already lost one son, and now their other son was
to lose his legs.But they did not lose their faith. They asked
the doctor for a postponement of the amputation. The doctor
consented. Each day they asked the doctor for a delay, praying
that their son's legs would somehow heal and that he would
become well again. For two months, the parents and the doctor
debated on whether to amputate. They used this time to instill
in the boy the belief that he would walk again someday.
   They never amputated the boy's legs, but when the bandages
were finally removed, it was discovered that the right leg
was almost three inches shorter than the other. The toes of
his left foot were almost completely burned off. Ye the boy
was fiercely determined. Though in excruciating pain, he
forced himself to exercise daily and finally took a few painful
steps. Slowly recovering, this young man finally threw away
his crutches and began to walk almost normally. Soon he was
running.
          This determined young man kept running and running
and running- and those legs that came so close to being amputated
carried him to a  world record in the mile run. His name?
Glenn Cunningham, who was known as the "World's Fastest
Human Being." and was named athlete of the century at Madison
Square Garden.....

REF:THE SPEAKER'S SOURCEBOOK BY GLENN VAN EKEREN
   

QUOTES FROM 10 SECRETS FOR SUCCESS AND INNER PEACE (CONT)

-Florence Farr once said to me, "If we could
  say to ourselves, with sincerity, 'The passing
  moment is as good as any I shall ever know,'
  we could die upon the instant and be united
  with God."

                   WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

-Here lies my past Goodbye I have kissed it;
 Thank you kids, I wouldn't have missed it.

                  OGDEN NASH

-Any path is only a path, and there is no
  affront to one self or to others, in dropping
  it if that is what your heart tells you.

               CARLOS CASTANEDA

-Any man can make mistakes, but only an
  idiot persists in his error.

                CICERO

-The happiness of your life depends upon
  the quality of your thoughts......
  take care that you entertain no notion
  unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.

                 MARCUS AURELIUS

-God does not command that we do great things,
  only little things with great love.

                MOTHER TERESA

-It is necessary to the happiness of man that
  he be mentally faithful to himself.

               THOMAS PAINE

-First say to yourself what would be,
 and then do what you have to do.

                EPICTETUS

-There is only two ways to live your life.
  One is as though nothing is a miracle.
  The other is as though everything is a
  miracle.

               ALBERT EINSTEIN

-In the faces of men and women, I see God.

               WALT WHITMAN

-Believe that life is worth living, and
 your belief will create that fact.

             WILLIAM JAMES

-Nothing is, unless our thinking makes it so.

            WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

-

-

QUOTES FROM 10 SECRETS FOR SUCCESS AND INNER PEACE

-Take sips of this pure wine being poured.
  Don't mind that you've been given in dirty
  cup.
                 RUMI

-Arrange whatever pieces come you way.

                  VIRGINIA WOOLF

-I wish to say what I think and feel today,
  with the proviso that tomorrow perhaps
  I shall contradict it all.

             RALPH WALDO EMERSON

-I always intertain great hopes.

      ROBERT FROST

-There is just one life for each of us: our own.

        EURIPDES

-A musician must make music, an artist must
  paint, a poet must write, if he be at peace with
  himself. What a man can be, he must be.

                 ABRAHAM MASLOW

-No man who is occupied in doing a very difficult
  thing and doing it very well, ever loses his self
  respect.

                  GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

-As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how
  to live.

        JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

-Solitude, in the sense of being often alone, is essential
 to any depth of meditation or of character; and solitude
 in the presence of natural beauty and grandeur is the
 cradle of thought and aspiration which are not only good
 for the individual, but which society could ill do without.

                JOHN S. MILL

-Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and
prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us.

              BILL W.