Red Sand Valley
07.26.05 (12:36 pm) [edit]I remember the first day we arrived in the country of Panama; it was on the 8th of December 1958, and I had just turned 10 on the 3rd of that month. I remember getting off of the plane at Howard Air Force base, and could immediately feel the difference in the air, very warm and humid, more than what I was used to; I also liked the place at once. One reason was that it was so totally different from what I was used to living in the city and all. Howard AFB was on the Pacific side of the Isthmus, we were headed for the Atlantic side, a fifty mile drive along the main highway. The scenery was all new and I was very interested in how many of the homes were built; on stilts and the underside of the house used for laundry and parking and for setting and the occasional party. When we arrived in Gulick Heights, a small neighborhood that was all uphill, with about 30 homes, consisting of houses that could house from 4 to 8 families; the houses were white, with green trim around all the window frames. I was also interested in the fact that our neighborhood was surrounded by jungle, and made a note to myself to explore it at the earliest convenience. We went up to house number 522 and went up to the top floor were we had two apartments ready for us. I remember that mom and dad wanted us to rest so we went to our room and took a nap. The sheets had a musty odor to them and felt moist from the humidity. I fell right to sleep. The next day we all got to know some of the local kids and went exploring with a few of them. They took us to an area that was called “Red Sand Valley” by the kids, and it was very interesting at first look. It was a rather large area (at least to a ten year old) of land that was not over run by the Jungle; looking back I guess it was more clay than anything else, so nothing could grow except for a few weeds here and there. For us it was a great playground and we had lot of rough fun there. One of the older kids, his name was Walter, wanted us to help him build a fort and we would then own it. So we got involved in this project and began to build. We decided the best way to build a club was to simply dig a large hole and then to cover it over with boards and then cover it with dirt. We worked on it for over a week in our spare time, and we all grew excited as the project grew closer to its end. We finished it and we could all fit into the club house and thought it was ours. Well Walter thought otherwise and the next day would not let any of us use it saying it was his and we were not allowed to enter it. To say we were angry was an understatement, but he was a lot bigger than we were. About a week later I was in the Jungle with my brother and about a half a mile from the club house we found a barrel of oil, have full, so not to heavy for four small boys to role. It did take a while since we had to go through some underbrush before we got to Red Sand Valley. Once we got it there we rolled in over to the club house, and once we ascertained that Walter was not there we emptied all the oil thru one of the air vents, after which we cleaned everything up and hid the barrel. The next day as I was sitting under the house I saw Walter coming back from Red Sand Valley covered in oil; boy did I feel good, but also a little worried about him seeking revenge, for surely he knew who were the ones who did it. However nothing happened and he left us alone after that. We did a lot of playing there. When it would rain we would use the hill there as a slide and would wear out quite a few pairs of pants with this kind of play. Also the red clay drove my mom crazy since it would not come out of our clothes. So she just died everything purple and that took care of that. I think the age from 10-12 was probably the happiest time of my life. First reason is that being away from the States made me feel safer for various reasons that I won’t go into here, and secondly my hormones had not started acting up yet so I was at peace in that regard. It was like living in a Huck Finn novel. Peace mitch |
posted by: dattaswami (reply)
post date: 08.05.05 (4:51 am)
Matthew – 6 : 19 to 22 (Luke - 12 : 33 to 34)
“Do not Lay up for yourselves, treasures on earth. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also”.
Matthew -7: 21
“Not everyone who say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but He who does the will of My Father in Heaven”.
Hindus, particularly, are sacrificing words through prayers and feelings through expression of love for the sake of God. When the question of wealth or money comes they sacrifice it for the sake of their families only. This is the reason why India suffers with poverty. Swami Vivekananda wept loudly facing the sky asking; “Why India with such high spiritual knowledge is suffering with poverty?” The foreigners are not so well in prayers and expression of love or meditation compared to Indians but they sacrifice their money for the sake of God with full vigor. Therefore God blesses the foreign countries with wealth and prosperity.
Indians sacrifice words and mind only to God. Therefore Indians are blessed with very good pronunciation of language and excellent knowledge, which are connected to the words and mind. Gita says ‘Ye Yatha Mam Prapadyante’ which means that God gives you result in the same way in which you worship Him. If you worship Him with words (prayers) only He will also appreciate you with sweet words. If you love Him with your mind and concentrate with meditation, He will also love you in turn with high concentration of mind. If you sacrifice practically, He will also do everything to you practically. Indians must learn this practical sacrifice from foreigners as they have learnt the science and technology from the West. Even in the olden days, Indians were always doing exercises in theoretical knowledge of God and in composing lot of poems on God. Therefore the same attitude entered even their education of science. They have become theorists even in science.
Today, in the world everybody agrees that the real power is the money only. Money is the fruit of work and Bhagavatgita calls sacrifice of money “Karma Phala Tyaga”. In Bhagavatgita it is said “Dhyanat Karma Phala Tyagah” which means that devotion is greater than Knowledge and sacrifice of the fruit of the work (money) is greater than the devotion. Knowledge consists of intelligence and words. Devotion consists of mind and words. Sacrifice consists of heart and love. The proof of the love is the practical service, which is the practical sacrifice of work or money. For the propagation of the divine knowledge and devotion the money is needed to publish the gospel in the form of books. When you sacrifice your money for the divine work your treasure in the heaven is built up. This means that God will help you after your death and you will enter the kingdom of God.
You are giving your earnings to your family only and so your real love is on your family only. There is no need of any further argument on this point because it is very clear proof. This is the real fire test for your love. You are sacrificing valueless words and valueless mind in leisure, which is valueless time. This cannot prove the real value of God. You must give real value to God. You are finishing your prayers and meditation on God as soon as the time to go to job is nearing. Similarly when some work for the family is approaching, you are immediately leaving the presence of God. Therefore you are not giving any value to God for all practical purpose. But you are telling lies in your prayers that God is everything for you. The money is the final test and it can be the only test also since all the family is associated with you for money only and the family serves you in your old age for your money only. If the money is sacrificed to God your real color of love can be seen.
Holy Jesus says that when you donate the money to God by one hand the other hand should not know about that donation. Since it is stolen money it should be returned secretly. A father purchased some sweets and gave to his child. The father is asking for one sweet from the child just to test the attitude and the love of the child on him. Even if you are not returning back the God’s money to God, you are leaving that money here only and you are quitting this world with vacant hands. That extra money is left in this world only, which is the bank of the God. The devotee who donates the extra money to God for His divine work is also quitting this world alone with vacant hands. The former is going to Hell as a thief but the latter is going to the Kingdom of God because he returned the stolen money of God. When you are returning this extra money, you must be very careful to see that this money reaches God only and not others. God dwells in two places 1) In the body of human incarnation (Son of God) 2) In the heart of a real devotee. When the money is donated to such God man or the real devotee, that money is properly used to uplift the humanity. In such social service the God-man or the real devotee will use lot of discrimination due to their divine knowledge and the money donated by you will be properly spent.
Without the practical sacrifice of money or at least the work, mere prayers, love and meditation are only the side pickles in the plate without the central bread or rice. When God eats the pickles only which you serve, His stomach is burnt with high acidity and God becomes furious. Due to His anger the extra money stored by you goes waste through diseases etc., Your children may loose that money also and they are also not blessed in any way in their lives. This gospel of Holy Jesus should open the eye of knowledge of all the Hindus to learn the practical sacrifice from foreigners. Holy Jesus referred to such people who do not give up their extra money for God’s work saying that they can never reach God even if a camel passes through the eye of a needle. His Gospel refers to such selfish rich people only who are caught up in the net of their limited families.
at the lotus feet of shri datta swami
surya@universal-spirituality.org
http://www.universal-spirituality.org