The alphabet prayer

0009



The alphabet prayer

A Hasidic tale:


Late one evening a poor farmer on his way back from the market found himself without his prayer book.

The wheel of his cart had come off right in the middle of the woods and it distressed him that this day should pass without his having said his prayers.

So this is the prayer he made:

“I have done something very foolish, Lord.

I came away from home this morn­ing without my prayer book and my memory is such that I cannot recite a single prayer without it.

So this is what I am going to do:

I shall recite the alphabet five times very slowly and you, to whom all prayers are known, can put the letters together to form the prayers I can’t remember.”


And the Lord said to his angels,

“Of all the prayers I have heard today,

this one was undoubtedly the best

because it came from a heart that was simple and sincere.”

The prayer of the frog. Volume – I

Anthony de Mello

THE LITTLE FISH

011


THE LITTLE FISH

“Excuse me,” said an ocean fish,

“You are older than I so can you tell me

where to find this thing they call the Ocean?”

“The Ocean,” said the older fish, “is the thing you are in now,”

“Oh, this? But this is water.

What I’m seeking is the Ocean,”

said the disappointed fish as he swam away to search elsewhere.


He came to the Master in sannyasi robes.

And he spoke sannyasi language:

“For years I have been seeking God.

I have sought Him everywhere that He is said to be:

On mountain peaks, the vastness of the desert,

and the silence of the cloister and the dwellings of the poor.”

“Have you found him?” the Master asked.

“No. I have not. Have you?”

What could the Master say?

The evening sun was sending shafts of golden light into the room.

Hundreds of sparrows were twittering on a banyan tree.

In the distance one could hear the sound of highway traffic.

A mosquito droned a warning that it was going to strike...

And yet this man could sit there and say he had not found Him.

After a white he left, disappointed, to search elsewhere.



Stop searching, little fish.

There isn’t anything to look for.

All you have to do is look.

The Song of the Bird

Anthony de Mello

Mary wants to be a Prostitute

0087


Mary wants to be a Prostitute

When Sister asked the children in her class what they wanted to be when they grew up

little Tommy said he wanted to be a pilot.

Elsie said she wanted to be a doc­tor,

Bobby to Sister’s great joy, said he wanted to become a priest.

Then Mary stood up and declared she wanted to be a prostitute,

“What was that again, Mary?”

“When I grow up,” said Mary with the air of someone who knew exactly what she wanted,

“I shall become a prostitute.”

Sister was startled beyond words.

Mary was immediately segregated from the rest of the children and taken to the Parish Priest.

Father was given the facts in broad outline but he wanted to check them out with the culprit,

“Tell me what happened in your own words, Mary.”

 “Well,” said Mary, somewhat taken aback by all this fuss,

“Sister asked me what I wanted to become when I grew up and I said I wanted to become a prostitute.”

“Did you say prostitute?” asked Father, double-checking.

“Yes.”

“Heavens! What a relief!

We all thought you said you were going to become a Protestant!”

The prayer of the frog. Volume – I

Anthony de Mello
 

Alligator teeth for pearls

240

Alligator teeth for pearls

A woman tourist from the West was admiring a native’: necklace.

“What is it made of?” she asked.

“Alligator teeth, ma’am,” said the native,

“Oh, I see. I suppose they have the same value for you people that pearls have for us,”

“Not quite. Anyone can open an oyster,”


The enlightened understand that a diamond is a stone until endowed with value by the human mind.

And that things are as big or as small as your mind chooses to make them.

The prayer of the frog. Volume - II

Anthony de Mello

“She has no family"

214


“She has no family"

The family was gathered at dinner. The oldest boy announced he was going to marry the girl across the street.

“But her family didn’t leave her a penny,” objected his father.

“And she hasn’t saved a cent,” added mother. “She doesn’t know a thing about football.” said junior. “I’ve never seen a girl with such funny hair,” said sister.

“All she does is read novels,” said uncle.

“And such poor taste in the choice of her clothes,” said aunt.

“But she isn’t sparing of the powder and the paint,” said grandma.

“True,” said the boy. “But she has one supreme advantage over ail of us.”

“What’s that?” everyone wanted to know.

“She has no family!”

The prayer of the frog. Volume – I


Anthony de Mello

Making friends with a dragon

24


Making friends with a dragon

A man went to see a psychiatrist

and said that every night he was visited by a twelve-foot dragon with three heads.

He was a nervous wreck, could not sleep at all and was on the verge of total collapse.

He had even thought of suicide.

“I think I can help you,” said the psychiatrist,

“but I must warn you that it will take a year or two and will cost three thousand dollars.”

“Three thousand dollars!” the man exclaimed.

“Forget it!

I’ll just go home and make friends with it.”



The Muslim mystic, Farid, was prevailed upon by his neighbours to go to the court in Delhi and obtain a favour from Akbar for the village.

Farid walked into the court and found Akbar at his prayers:

When the Emperor finally emerged, Farid asked.

“What sort of prayer did you make?”

“I prayed that the All Merciful would bestow success and wealth and long life on me,” was the reply.

Farid promptly turned his back on the Emperor and walked away, remarking,

“I came to see an Emperor.

What I find here is a beggar no different from the rest!”

The prayer of the frog. Volume – I

Anthony de Mello

God and the cookies

16



God and the cookies

Mother: “Did you know that God was present when you stole that cookie from the kitchen?”

“And he was looking at you all the time?”

“Yes.”

“And what do you think he was saying to you?”

“He was saying. There’s no one here but the two of us-take two.’

The prayer of the frog. Volume - II

Anthony de Mello

The three wise men

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The three wise men

Three wise men set out on a journey for, even though they were considered wise in their own country, they were humble enough to hope that travel would broaden their minds.

They had barely crossed into a neighbouring country when they saw a skyscraper in the distance.

What could this enormous object be, they asked themselves?

The obvious answer would have been: go up and find out.

But no, that might be too dangerous.

Suppose it was something that exploded as one approached?

It was altogether wiser to decide what it was before fin­ding out.

Various theories were put forward, examined and, on the basis of their past experience, rejected.

Finally, it was determined, also on the basis of past experience of which they had an abundant supply, that the object in question, whatever it was could only have been placed there by giants.

This led them to the conclusion that it would be safer to avoid this country altogether.

So they went back home having added something to their fund of experience.



Assumptions affect Observation.

Observation breeds Conviction.

Conviction produces Experience.

Experience generates Behaviour,

which, in turn, confirms Assumptions.

The prayer of the frog. Volume – I

Anthony de Mello

What causes arthritis?

152


What causes arthritis?

...and not respond to what we assume the other said...

The village drunkard staggered up to the parish priest, newspaper in hand, and greeted him politely.

The priest, annoyed, ignored the greeting because the man was slightly inebriated.

He had come with a purpose, however,

“Excuse me, Father,” he said,

“Could you tell me what causes arthritis?”

The priest ignored that too.

But when the man repeated the question the priest turned on him impatiently and cried,

“Drinking causes arthritis, that’s what causes arthritis!

Gambling causes arthritis!

Chasing loose women causes arthritis...”

And only then, too late, “Why did you ask?”

“Because it says right here in the papers that that’s what the Pope has!”

The prayer of the frog. Volume - II

Anthony de Mello

The window cleaner

167

The window cleaner

A woman stepped out of her shower stark naked and was about to reach for her towel when she saw,

to her horror, that there was a man on a scaffolding washing her window and eyeing her appreciatively.

So shocked was she by the unexpected apparition that she stood transfixed to the ground, gaping at the man.

“What’s the matter, lady?” the fellow asked cheerfully

“Have you never seen a window cleaner before?”

The prayer of the frog. Volume – I
Anthony de Mello

THE WORLD FAIR OF RELIGIONS

105

THE WORLD FAIR OF RELIGIONS

My friend and I went to the World Fair of Religions.

Not a trade fair.

But the competition was fierce, the propaganda loud.

The handouts at the Jewish Stall said that God was All-Compassionate and the Jews were his Chosen People.

The Jews. No other people were as Chosen as they.

At the Moslem Stall we learnt that God was All-Merciful and Mohammed his only Prophet.

Salvation comes from listening to God’s Prophet.

The message at the Christian Stall was:

God is Love and there is no salvation outside the Church.

Join the Church or risk damnation forever.

On the way out I asked my friend what he thought of God.

He replied, “He’s bigoted fanatical and cruel.”


Back home, I said to God, “How do you put up with this sort of thing?

Don’t you see they have been giving you a bad name for centuries?”

God said, “It wasn’t I who organized the Fair.

In fact, I’d be too ashamed to visit it.”

The song of the bird

Anthony de Mello

Label Makers

22

Label Makers

Life is like heady wine.

Everyone reads the label on the bottle.

Hardly anyone tastes the wine.

Buddha once pointed to a flower and asked each of his disciples to say something about it.

One pronounced a lecture.

Another a poem.

Yet another a parable.

Each outdid the other in depth and erudition.

Label-makers!


Mahakashyap smiled and held his tongue.

Only he had seen the flower.


If I could only taste a bird,

a flower,

a tree,

a human face!

But, alas, I have no time.

My energy is spent deciphering the label.

The Song of the Bird

Anthony de Mello

The alphabet prayer

009


The alphabet prayer

A Hasidic tale:
Late one evening a poor farmer on his way back from the market found himself without his prayer book.

The wheel of his cart had come off right in the middle of the woods and it distressed him that this day should pass without his having said his prayers.

So this is the prayer he made:

“I have done something very foolish, Lord.

I came away from home this morn­ing without my prayer book and my memory is such that I cannot recite a single prayer without it.

So this is what I am going to do:

I shall recite the alphabet five times very slowly and you, to whom all prayers are known, can put the letters together to form the prayers I can’t remember.”

And the Lord said to his angels,

“Of all the prayers I have heard today,

this one was undoubtedly the best

because it came from a heart that was simple and sincere.”

The prayer of the frog. Volume – I

Anthony de Mello

They do exist!

They do exist!

We have people in the world like this.

No matter what scholars and priests and theologians tell you,

there are and have been people who have no quarrels, no jealousies, no conflicts, no wars, no enmities, none!

They exist in my country, or, sad to say, they existed until relatively recently.

I've had Jesuit friends go out to live and work among people who, they assured me, were incapable of stealing or lying.

One Sister said to me that when she went to the northeast of India to work among some tribes there, the people would lock up nothing.

Nothing was ever stolen and they never told lies until the Indian government and missionaries showed up.

Awareness

Anthony de Mello

Living or just keeping the body alive?

Living or just keeping the body alive?

People don't live, most of you, you don't live,

you're just keeping the body alive.

That's not life.

You're not living until it doesn't matter a tinker's damn to you whether you live or die.

At that point you live.

When you're ready to lose your life, you live it.

But if you're protecting your life, you're dead.

If you're sitting up there in the attic and I say to you,

"Come on down!" and you say,

"Oh no, I've read about people going down stairs.

They slip and they break their necks; it's too dangerous."

Or I can't get you to cross the street because you say,

"You know how many people get run over when they cross the street?"

If I can't get you to cross a street, how can I get you to cross a continent?

And if I can't get you to peep out of your little narrow beliefs and convictions and look at another world, you're dead, you're completely dead; life has passed you by.

You're sitting in your little prison, where you're frightened;

you're going to lose your God, your religion, your friends, all kinds of things.

Awareness

Anthony de Mello

Life Style

Do you call this life?

All the other methods we use for self change could be compared to pushing a car.

Let's suppose you have to travel to a distant city.

The car breaks down along the way.

Well, too bad; the car's broken down.

So we roll up our sleeves and begin to push the car.

And we push and push and push and push, till we get to the distant city.

"Well," we say, "we made it."

And then we push the car all the way to another city! You say,

"We got there, didn't we?"

But do you call this life?

You know what you need?

You need an expert, you need a mechanic to lift the hood and change the spark plug.

Turn the ignition key and the car moves.

You need the expert - you need understanding, insight, awareness you don't need pushing.

Awareness

Anthony de Mello

The Effect of words

The Effect of words

A guru was once attempting to explain to a crowd how human beings react to words, feed on words, live on words, rather than on reality.

One of the men stood up and protested; he said, "I don't agree that words have all that much effect on us."

The guru said, "Sit down, you son of a bitch."

The man went livid with rage and said,

"You call yourself an enlightened person, a guru, a master, but you ought to be ashamed of yourself."

The guru then said, "Pardon me, sir, I was carried away.

I really beg your pardon; that was a lapse; I'm sorry."

The man finally calmed down.

Then the guru said,

"It took just a few words to get a whole tempest going within you;

and it took just a few words to calm you down, didn't it?"

How many people spend their lives not eating food but eating the menu?

A menu is only an indication of something that's available.

You want to eat the steak, not the words.

Words, words, words, words,

how imprisoning they are if they're not used properly.

Awareness

Anthony de Mello

Patriotism!

Patriotism!

I was told a lovely story about a farmer in Finland.

When they were drawing up the Russian-Finnish border, the farmer had to decide whether he wanted to be in Russia or Finland.

After a long time he said he wanted to be in Finland, but he didn't want to offend the Russian officials.

These came to him and wanted to know why he wanted to be in Finland.

The farmer replied,

"It has always been my desire to live in Mother Russia,

but at my age I wouldn't be able to survive another Russian winter."

Awareness

Anthony de Mello

Enculturation

Enculturation

Nowadays, in Third World countries, we talk a great deal about "enculturation."

What is this thing called "culture"?

I'm not very happy with the word.

Does it mean you'd like to do something because you were conditioned to do it?

That you'd like to feel something because you were conditioned to feel it?

Isn't that being mechanical?

Imagine an American baby that is adopted by a Russian couple and taken to Russia.

It has no notion that it was born American.

It's brought up talking Russian; it lives and dies for Mother Russia; it hates Americans.

The child is stamped with his own culture; it's steeped in its own literature.

It looks at the world through the eyes of its culture.

Now, if you want to wear your culture the way you wear your clothes, that's fine.

The Indian woman would wear a sari and the American woman would wear something else, the Japanese woman would wear her kimono.

But nobody identifies herself with the clothes.

But you do want to wear your culture more intently.

You become proud of your culture.

They teach you to be proud of it.

Awareness

Anthony de Mello