“If we live in His will and if we are grateful to Him for whatever He has given us, then we feel extremely happy and light.” ~Maharaj Charan Singh

A woman dreamt she walked into a fruit shop in a bazaar and, to her astonishment, found God behind the counter.

“What do you sell here?” she asked.

“Everything your heart desires,” said God.

Believing what she was hearing, the woman decided to ask for the finest things a human being could yearn for. “I want peace of mind, love, happiness, wisdom and freedom,” she said.

Then as an afterthought, she added, “Not just for me; for everyone in the world.”

God smiled and said, “I think you’ve got me wrong, my dear. We don’t sell fruits here. Only seeds!”

He called young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, “It is time for me to step down and choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you.”

The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. “I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it and come back here after one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor!”

One boy named Ling was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown.

After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks went by. Still nothing.

By now, others were talking about their plants but Ling didn’t have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing.

Ling didn’t say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow. A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot.

But honest about what happened, Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful in all shapes and sizes.

Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, “Hey nice try.”

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back.

“What great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,” said the emperor. “Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!”

All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front.

Ling was terrified. “The emperor knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!”

When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. “My name is Ling,” he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him.

The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, “Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!” Ling couldn’t believe it. Ling couldn’t even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?

Then the emperor said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds, which would not grow.

All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!”

If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.

If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.

If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.

If you plant perseverance, you will reap victory.

If you plant consideration, you will reap harmony. If you plant hard work, you will reap success.

If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation. If you plant openness, you will reap intimacy.

If you plant patience, you will reap improvements. If you plant faith, you will reap miracles.

But

If you plant dishonesty, you will reap distrust.

If you plant selfishness, you will reap loneliness.

If you plant pride, you will reap destruction.

If you plant envy, you will reap trouble.

If you plant laziness, you will reap stagnation.

If you plant bitterness, you will reap isolation.

If you plant greed, you will reap loss.

If you plant gossip, you will reap enemies.

If you plant worries, you will reap wrinkles.

If you plant sin, you will reap guilt.

So be careful what you plant now, it will determine what you will reap tomorrow.

A man prayed to God: “I Want Happiness” God said: First remove ” I ” that’s ego, then remove “Want” that’s desire, and see you are left with only “Happiness”?

Isn’t that the simple truth of the matter. Drop ego/I. Drop desire. And we have happiness! That’s how to be happy.

Thoughts?

The word “inspiration” usually means something that mentally stimulates you.

But “inspiration” also means to breathe in.

The meanings poetically combine when you think of yourself breathing in thoughts, filling your body with ideas.

But don’t forget to breathe out.

Some people watch hundreds of TED talks, looking for inspiration.

Tech entrepreneurs visit Hacker News every few hours, looking for new inspiration.

Musicians, writers, artists, and everyone else, all scouring the world for inspiration.

Breathing in, and in, and in, and in.

Yet most of them aren’t feeling inspired enough. They’re looking for more, thinking something else out there will truly inspire them.

Want to know why?

Because nothing is truly inspiring unless you apply it to your work.(“work” meaning your life’s output, whether creative, business, or personal.)

In other words, your work, itself, is the inspiration.

You may hear something or see something that gives you a new idea.But it’s only when you stop and think of your work through this new perspective, that you actually jump up and go turn the idea into reality.

That’s the real inspiration that everyone is looking for!

The inspiration is not the receiving of information. The inspiration is applyingwhat you’ve received.

People think that if they keep reading articles, browsing books, listening to talks, or meeting people, that they’re going to suddenly get inspired.

But constantly seeking inspiration is anti-inspiring.

You have to pause the input, and focus on your output.

For every bit of inspiration, use it and amplify it by applying it to your work.

Then you’ll finally feel the inspiration you’ve been looking for.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

~ Hazrat Inayat Khan (via wahiduddin)

~ Hazrat Inayat Khan (via wahiduddin)

“Forgiveness is a stream of love which washes away all impurities wherever it flows. By keeping this spring of love, which is in the heart of man, running, man is able to forgive, however great the fault of his fellow man may seem. One who cannot forgive closes his heart. The sign of spirituality is that there is nothing you cannot forgive, there is no fault you cannot forget.”

~ Hazrat Inayat Khan (via wahiduddin)

On a decided day, the children brought their potatoes well addressed. Some had two, some had three and some had even five potatoes.

The teacher said they have to carry these potatoes with them everywhere they go for a week.

As the days passed the children started to complain about the spoiled smell that started coming from these potatoes. Also some students who had many potatoes complained that it was very heavy to carry them all around. The children got rid of this assignment after a week, when it got over.

The teacher asked, “How did you feel in this one week?”

The children discussed their problems about the smell and weight. Then the teacher said, “This situation is very similar to what you carry in your heart when you don’t like some people. This hatred makes your heart unhealthy and you carry that hatred in your heart everywhere you go. If you can’t bear the smell of spoiled potatoes for a week, imagine the impact on your heart of this hatred that you carry throughout your life.”

“Many seek protection from all hurting influences by building some wall around themselves. But the canopy over the earth is so high that a wall cannot be built high enough, and the only thing one can do is to live in the midst of all inharmonious influences, to strengthen his will power and to bear all things, yet keeping the fineness of character and a nobleness of manner together with an ever-living heart. To become cold with the coldness of the world is weakness, and to become broken by the hardness of the world is feebleness, but to live in the world and yet to keep above the world is like walking on the water. There are two essential duties for the man of wisdom and love; that is to keep the love in our nature ever increasing and expanding and to strengthen the will so that the heart may not be easily broken. Balance is ideal in life; man must be fine and yet strong, man must be loving and yet powerful.”

from  http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/XIII/XIII_14.htm