Miami,
March 10, 2001
My Divine
Sailors of the Ark of Love,
Let
our hearts be together
Let us pray together
Let our minds be together
Let us pray for the same outcome
Let us harmonize our hearts
Let us value equally all things
Let everything be blissful.
- Vedic hymn
Greetings
and Joy to you all.
I am
happy to write to you, knowing that you have all come together to
nurture our little baby child "Arca do Amor" with your care,
love and joy. May we always work together with humbleness and inner
detachment. That way, we will always feel that God and gurus are doing
all this divine work through us, not any particular individual. This
is our practical Kriya: in every kri (work, activity, action), to
feel that it is ya (God, the power of soul) that is the real and sole
doer.
Please always maintain a very spiritual attitude in all meetings and
work together, respecting each person's opinion as a true manifestation
of the Divine. Our scope of service is immense, and can only be achieved
if all remain very small inside (i.e. free from ego).
As it
turns out, I am only in semi-seclusion here in Miami, meaning that
Baba still wants me to work on the books, Ark or Love, and various
other projects... from my room. So we will still be in close contact,
and I will be able to continue guiding the development of the "Arca
do Amor", if God allows. From time to time I will write you a
letter with some suggestions, prayers, games, poems, chants, and stories.
I will try to record a CD of Sanskrit mantras and prayers, and I will
send it to you with the words and translations, so that you may practice
it together and then teach some of them to the children.
Here
is your first story today. Sit calmly in the fontanel, and enjoy it.
It is on teaching children how to control anger:
Mother
Mirra, also known as the Sweet Mother of the Aurobindo Ashram, grew
up in France, where she had many mystical experiences. She later met
Sri Aurobindo, and together they guided countless souls to the Ultimate
Truth.
In her younger days, she lived in a small town in the north of France.
One of her neighbors was a young boy who was extremely boisterous
and afflicted with a very bad temper, always engaging in fights at
school. Sweet Mother sat down with him one day and asked him, "Which
do you think is more difficult for a brave boy like you, to let your
fist fly in the face of a friend who insults you, or at that moment
to keep your fist in your pocket?"
The young boy replied, "To keep it in my pocket, for sure!"
Mother continued, "And which do you think is more worthy of a
courageous boy like you, to do the easier or the more difficult thing?"
The young boy kept quiet for a moment. Finally, he said, almost reluctantly,
"The more difficult thing, I guess."
And the Sweet Mother naturally concluded, "Well then, maybe you
could try to do it the next time you get an opportunity."
Some time later, the young boy came, all excited, to tell her that
be had been able to do "the more difficult thing". He explained
that one of his classmates had struck him in a moment of anger. Since
that classmate knew that the boy always welcomed an opportunity to
fight, he quickly stepped back and prepared to defend himself. "But
then I remembered what you had told me," said the boy, "and
I concentrated on keeping my hand in my pocket and unclenching my
fist. I must tell you, that was a lot harder than I thought! But as
soon as I managed to do that, I felt the anger leaving me. I only
felt sorry for my friend. So I took my hand out of my pocket and extended
it to him. You should have seen the look on his face! He just stood
there for the longest time, open-mouthed, speechless... Finally he
shook my hand vigorously and said with great passion, "Now you
and I are friends forever. You can ask anything of me."
The boy had learned how to control his anger. How did Sweet Mother
help him? Not by preaching to him, or moralizing him, or shaming him,
or punishing him. Simply by appealing to the noblest nature of the
boy-his courage and sense of righteousness.
Remember
this: only respect and love will enable people to change, automatically.
Always believe in their highest potential, instead of only looking
at their faults.
Thank
you.
God bless you all. We are forever One in Him.
Om shantih shantih shantih
Humble,
Swami Sarveshwarananda
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