Doors to Heaven and Hell

The following story is an adaptation of a parable of Sri Ramakrishna.

Suresh and Velu were good friends. One evening while walking through the streets, they passed by an auditorium.

From a banner displayed outside, they learnt that a discourse on the Bhagavatham by a renowned Swamiji was taking place at that venue.

Suresh turned to Velu and said “Hey, let us go in and listen to him”.

Velu shook his head and said, “Have you heard of a call-girl who has just moved into our town?  I would like to go there”.

Suresh’s jaw dropped in shock. He burst out to Velu, “Are you out of your mind? Visiting a prostitute indeed! What you are contemplating is a sin!”

Suresh entered the auditorium to listen to the lecture, while Velu wended his way to meet the prostitute.

Different doors lead to unexpected exits

The Swamiji spoke for an hour and a half and he really excelled himself.

From the very beginning Suresh’s mind was playing truant. His mind kept conjuring up lurid images of Velu and the prostitute.

The net result was that not even a single word of the discourse failed to register in his mind.

At the same time, Velu’s mind, while he was with the prostitute, was overwhelmed by self-disgust.

He thought to himself “Oh! What a miserable wretch I am! Why did I allow my mind to lead me into temptation? Why did I have to satisfy my curiosity?

“Oh! How lucky Suresh is! He must be sitting in the auditorium listening to the fascinating tales of Krishna. I can actually picture what it would be like”.

In this vein, his thoughts ran on constantly.

Heaven and Hell are due to our mind

In course of time, the two friends died and Suresh was shocked to find himself in hell while his friend Velu was in heaven.

Bewildered and a little angry, he asked God “Is this some joke? Our positions have been switched. Surely I deserve to be in Heaven and Velu in hell. After all when I was sitting devoutly in the discourse, he was dallying with a prostitute!”

God smiled, shook his head and said “Son, I agree you were present at the discourse when your friend was with the prostitute. But important question is where your respective minds were?”

Physically Present Mentally Absent

If one is physically present but mentally somewhere, the flower remedies ROCK WATER and CHESTNUT BUD can correct this.

It is the mind which is doing the karma; whether the body follows the mind or not, it is the working of the mind which is concerned with all our action (Karma).

Read the first part of the article – on Rock Water, here: http://healbybachflowers.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/denying-pleasures/