"'How do I know I'm saved' is perhaps the central question of Christian life. Each tradition & sect finds different answers.

Most end up engaging in some flavor of works righteousness. For someone it is straight-up synergism. For others, it's the more subtle "fruit checking." /1

#SatiSavitri #RealLifeExperiences #BharatDarshana

Bharat Darshana publishes a small monthly magazine which has some very interesting puranic anecdotes and snippets.

When I picked up this month's magazine, I was intrigued by a story which I want to share as below

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This is a real-life incident as narrated by Prof. Krishna Bihari Pandey titled "Sati Savitri"

Sati Savitri is a well known puranic figure from Srimad DeviBhagwatham and Mahabharatha as one of those who fought with Yama to save her husband.

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This story is a modern real-life experience which mimics the puranic account in it's own unique way.

The story occurs in 1975 with Prof and his wife in Delhi with professor working as a researcher in university. Prof's family is in Allahabad in a large joint family

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Once Prof gets to know that his mother is not keeping well. He goes to his native and brings his mother. With dedicated care of his wife, his mother recovers quite remarkably and regains full stamina and strength

Mother-in-law & Daughter-in-law go out for shopping frequently

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Life's going smooth until one day when they receive a telegram that Prof's father is not keeping well.

His mother is distressed about the situation and requests her son to take her to the native. Prof is a little angry due to frequent travels and turns it down

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1. Father God, it is our declaration and our stance that we will not fear bc You r w us. We thank You that You strengthen God-fearing Americans and harden us to the current and coming difficulties. You help us! You hold us in Your righteous right hand of justice. We appropriate

“So Moses finished the work.” (Exodus 40:33) I came to the end of my reading in Exodus this morning. To fully appreciate those 5 words, you really need to read the 39 preceding chapters. The whole thing had been such an ordeal, drama from the time God called out to Moses from

the burning bush to the moment he “inspected all the work they had accomplished” in the building of the tabernacle. For starters, Moses wasn’t looking to lead anything but sheep to pasture. He was hiding when God found him. Moses was no volunteer. And even after God called him,

he insisted God find someone else. But the force of the divine call is hard to resist. The people he served nearly drove him nuts. He was supposed to lead a group of worshippers and what he mostly got was whiners. He’d lost his temper over & over. Even thrown the stone tablets

inscribed by the finger of God. Nope. Moses couldn’t say it had gone well. What the whole thing had been was WORK. Unrelenting, frustrating work so detailed that it had to match the divine instructions down to every clasp on endless yards of curtains. There had been some great

moments like the time the people were invited to contribute any personal possessions to the makings of the tabernacle furnishings. They had given so freely, Moses had to tell them to stop. There was that. But overall, what he’d done, what they’d all done, was WORK. Lo & behold,

#Ramayana #LecturesOnTheRamayana

In today's thread and perhaps some subsequent threads, we will start looking into Rama as a person. The author clearly tries to bring out the human aspect of Rama captured beautifully in some of the verses.

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Please note, the discussion is NEVER challenging the supreme divinity of the person, but tries to capture the nuances or the finer points of the Bhagwan.

Sri Rama had extra-ordinary merit - Unequalled, Unmatched merit. He always remained at his own highest level.

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He seldom fell below it at times, wherein one can spot the conditions that led to the decline. In these conditions, he did & said things that his own higher nature would never approve.

Sri Rama was indeed the guardian and embodiment in himself of Dharma.

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Some incidents bring out the very best in him where he is able to uphold his own moral ideal.

For ex, when Vibhishina sought asylum, he held a council of war with all eminent counsellors. Except Hanuman whose advice was considered weak, rest all including Lakshmana ..

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recommended him to reject Vibhishina, with a few even ordering killing him.

He listened to this charged conversation (a skill where we humans utterly lack today) & said the famous words:
" No man shall seek my protection in vain. No matter who, how undeserving, how wicked..

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