April blogging #A-Z 2018- S

 This post is written for the April blogging #A-Z 2018.

I have chosen the theme Books and Authors for this year.

S – Song of the Bird by Anthony De Mello S.J

I purchase two books while I travelled to Venkanni Church, Nagapattnam, which is a shrine and a pilgrim centre.. I was just married and it was a long journey and I found some good books, randomly I picked up books which were easy and simple to read and the two books were by the same author. The first book was the “Song of the Bird” and the other book was the “Prayer of the Frog”.

I lost the second book as I do not remember who borrowed from me, but never got back. The book that I have with me is the “Song of the Bird” . This book contains short stories for everyone who loves parables, stories that are Buddhist, Christian, Zen, Russia, Chinese, Hindu, Sufi which are all ancient and contemporary.

I loved reading all the short stories as they are full of insights, challenging your beliefs and thought provoking. It has 197 pages to read and I counted around 192  parables and short stories to inspire and reflect.

There is one page in the book in the beginning which tells you how to read this book – first time reading will give entertainment. Reading it twice, reflecting and applying in life will give insights revealing its inner depth and meaning: The writer encourages the reader to let this book speak to the heart and not the brain.

I enjoyed all the parables and short stories: am sharing few of them from this book..

Don’t Change

I was a neurotic for years. Anxious, depressed, selfish. And everyone kept telling me to change.

And I resented them, and agreed with them, and wanted to change, but simply couldn’t, no matter how I tried.

What hurt me the most was that, like the others, my closest friends kept urging me to change,

So I felt powerless and trapped.

One day he said, “Don’t change, I love you as you are”

 These words were music to my ears: Don’t change, Don’t change, Don’t change….

I love you as you are..

I relaxed. I came alive. And suddenly, I changed!

  

Now I know that couldn’t really change till I found someone to love whether I changed or not.

Is this how you Love me God.

The Formula

The mystic was back from the desert

“Tell us” they said, “What is God like”

But how could he ever tell them

What he had experienced in his heart?

Can God be put into words?

He finally gave them a formula -

Inaccurate, inadequate- in the hope

 that  some might be tempted to experience it for themselves.

They seized upon the formula. They made it

a sacred text. They imposed it on others

as holy belief. They went to great pains

To spread it in foreign lands, some even gave their lives for it.

The mystic was sad. It might have

been better if he had said nothing.

The Food God

God decided to visit the earth

So He sent an angel to survey

The place before his visit.

The angel brought back this report;

“Most of them are starving and

most of them are unemployed”

God said.”Then I shall become

 incarnate in the form of food

For the hungry and work for the unemployed.”

The Coconut

A monkey on a tree hurled a coconut at the head of a Sufi.

The man picked it up, drank the milk, ate the flesh and made a

Bowl from the shell.

Thank you for reading my post, appreciate you … hope you like these parables, would  love to hear your thoughts

Be Blessed & Be happy!