1225 From: "Rasa Von Werder" <rasa@womanthouartgod.com>
Date: Thu Jul 7, 2005 4:54pm
Subject: PAPA RAM DAS'S STORY rasavonwerder
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PAPA RAM DAS'S STORY
WWW.WOMANTHOUARTGOD.COM
RASA VON WERDER
July 7, 2002
This story touches my soul deeply and heals my sins. It brings to
mind where I failed so many times and lived in utter misery because of
what people took from me, be it physical, mental, spiritual,
psychological. Because I resisted their thievery, instead of
admitting it was God, I suffered. Had I surrendered myself and "my"
temporal and non-temporal possessions peacefully, my mind would have
been at peace. But after I was "robbed" I felt bitterness and sorrow,
saying "Why, why why." Or "How evil people are." Or judged,
condemned people for doing me wrong. This story points out the
meaning of perfection, which in Christianity, is called, "Uniformity
with God's will.
There was a monk in a place, long ago. He was always happy. The
others could not figure out why. No matter what happened, everyone
else complaining miserably, he was still happy. Now the monastery was
robbed and ravaged by a mob of brigands. After that, they asked the
monk if he was still happy. He said,
"Yes, apparantly it was God's will this happen."
In another incident, a man prayed hard to God to find someone in a
state of perfection. Finally God told him where to go on the street,
there was a man standing there. He went to the street and there was a
homeless person. He said to the man,
"Good day, sir."
The man answered,
"Every day is a good day."
Then the bewildered seeker said to him,
"I hope God helps you and blesses you,"
and the beggar said,
"Always. I am blessed."
And the supplicant then asked him about happiness, and the man said he
was always happy.
Obviously, perfection is acceptance of all things, those which seem
good and those which seem bad. It is in perceiving experiences as
bad that we resist them and become depressed. Suddender to God in
your most heinous experiences, believing God has allowed them, and you
are relieved of your pain. You actually thank God for the occurence!
As I look back upon my life I truly see how I suffered, resisting
pain. Those who abused me, I did not understand. And although I
wanted to forgive and forget, it haunted me. Even as close as a year
ago, I was in pain over someone who tricked me into loaning her money
for the tenth time, and this time, did not pay it back. This has
happened to me in this neighborhood numerous times. Gifts and loans
given out to the poor who are not only poor in body but poor in
virtue. Some I just wanted to help and have a friend, but they did
not even want my company! Then I thought about it deeply and said,
"This is how we treat God. We want what God gives, but we do not want
the Presence of God. We want money, things, prominence, etc. But to
have the Presence we must be alone, alone, alone, and we don't want
that. So we pray for things, but we shut God out."
This last woman that tricked me - for years I bought all the food for
her holidays for her, and she never invited me to dinner; every Easter
and Christmas, for her and husband and two sons. I asked her why she
never invited me, and she said,
"Our holidays are family affairs. We want to be private."
I ate my Christmas dinner all alone for years.
When I think of my life, it is a series of abuses and pains and
totally unfair treatment. But thank God, now that I am building my
Church, my pain is gone. The past is over, it is finished. The pain
of the past brought me to the joy of today. Now I have a great grace
to see it was all God's will. Yes, from time to time I did have
revelations that said it was all meant to be, but somehow, the pains
lingered, because I had not much to look forward to. It seems that
having a future helps remove the pains of the past. If you have no
future to look forward to, the past is rehearsed in the mind, and the
pains of it, over and over again. How can you erase the memories? By
happy activity, in my case, for God.
Oh God, thank you for those who robbed me. The self esteem and
affirmation they took from me, you gave me faith, hope and confidence
galore. The material things they took from me - you replaced with
perfect security, beyond what I could have imagined. The love they
deprived me of, you replaced with supernatural love, and now, friends
like Gurunath and the wonderful people of M's group, and also, other
people.
I finally also have devotees and this gives me such joy! What is a
mother to do with her love if she has no children?
The story of Papa Ram Dass brought about these thoughts.
Friends, see the story on the yahoo group, SATSANG FOUNDATION. Post #87.
This group is based on the mission of their Leader, Sri Mumtaz Ali, an
impressive person. His guidelines are on the group and they are worth
noting. "M", as this great soul likes to be called, integrates all
religions into his understanding, and that suits me very well. I am
having the most wonderful time writing to India daily, and they to me!
They are so different from some of the groups here. Sad to say, many
of our groups have cruel, coldhearted people insulting, degrading one
another. There is a lot of anger and meanness on the internet, I have
discovered. The SatsangFoundation is an oasis of peace and love,
people who have good manners, consideration, gentleness and tact.
What a refreshing change from the ferocious, animalistic people on
many groups I have posted on! This is a beautiful group of God's souls.
From Rasa Von Werder
July 7, 2005
