Re: manobodhaH - manaache shlok

From the Bhakti List Archives

• March 4, 1998


namaskaaraM,

The Hindu's religion brief at http://www.indiaserver.com/thehindu/relig.htm  
has a very nice article about Mediating role of the Divine Mother.

I am very glad to have input from Giri & Srini for enriching the manaache
shloka postings. Please keep it coming, like the Lord's prasad, I
want to share it with all :-)

Thank you Srini for highlighting the importance of reminders to 
the mind to eradicate bad qualities and to replace it with 
constant rememberance of the Lord. 

> Hi shree
> 
> Just thought i would share another story which relates to the concept of 
> manaache shloka. i do not know whether it is too well known to be 
> distributed..
> 
> These shlokas are but injunctions to the mind on how to behave and
> what thoughts to think. To what end we may wonder. Consider this...
> 
> 
> There was this visiting painter who came to the court of a king and
> asked him for a chance to exhibit his skill.
> 
> The king asked him to paint a Mural (painting on the wall) on 
> one of the walls of the palace. He alloted one wall to the visiting
> painter and asked to court painter to paint on the opposite wall.
> 
> The visiting painter immediately started work by putting a huge curtain
> accross the wall and working tireless almost 12 to 13 hours a day. The
> court painter also put up a huge curtain but then he worked hardly 2 to
> 3 hours a day.
> 
> People wondered how the court painter was going to stand up to this 
> visiting painter. But the court painter was unperturbed.
> 
> On the day of reckoning, the visiting painter was ready with his Mural
> and when the curtain was taken away, people were treated to a
> breathtakingly beautiful and intricate mural of the type never seen
> before. The king was very appreciative of the mural.
> 
> Now the court painter pulled away his curtain and everybody was amazed
> that this painting was an exact replica of the painting on the opposite
> wall. They could not understand how this was possible since the visiting
> painters mural was really unique, never seen before. There was a sense of
> wonderment and everybody including the king were extremely happy yet 
> curious to see how the result was achieved.
> 
> When they went to look closer they found that the court painter had only
> polished the wall to such an extent that it now was like a mirror. It
> now reflected the mural on the opposite wall fully.
> 
> The moral is that we will also see the lord in our minds when we have
> polished all the bad qualities out of our mind. When all the negative
> qualities and emotions are conquered then the lord will be seen in the
> mind automatically nothing more needs to be done.
> 
> In this context the practice of Manache Shlok assumes a lot of 
> importance.
> 
> More later
> 
> love
> 
> srini
>