Life is a banquet

Life is a banquet

Life is a banquet. And the tragedy is that most people are starving to death. That's what I'm really talking about. There's a nice story about some people who were on a raft off the coast of Brazil perishing from thirst. They had no idea that the water they were floating on was fresh water. The river was coming out into the sea with such force that it went out for a couple of miles, so they had fresh water right there where they were. But they had no idea. In the same way, we're surrounded with joy, with happiness, with love. Most people have no idea of this whatsoever. The reason: They're brainwashed. The reason: They're hypnotized; they're asleep.

Awareness

Anthony de Mello

ILLUSION OF THE FEAR

162

ILLUSION OF THE FEAR

Samuel was down in the dumps and who could blame him? His landlord had ordered him out of the apart­ment and he had nowhere to go. Suddenly light dawn­ed. He could live with his good friend Moshe. The thought brought Samuel much comfort, until it was assailed by another thought that said, “What makes you so sure that Moshe will put you up at his place?” “Why wouldn’t he?” said Samuel to the thought, somewhat heatedly, “After all it is I who found him the place he is living in now; and it was I who advanced him the money to pay his rent for the first six months. Surely the least he could do is put me up for a week or so when I am in trouble.”
That settled the matter, until after dinner he was once again assailed by the thought: “Suppose he were to refuse?” “Refuse?” said Samuel, “Why in God’s name would he refuse? The man owes me everything he has.
It is I who got him his job; it is I who introduced him to that lovely wife of his who has borne him the three sons he glories in. Will he grudge me a room for a week? Impossible!”
That settled the matter, until he got to bed and found he couldn’t sleep because the thought came back to say, “But just suppose he were to refuse. What then?” This was too much for Samuel. “How the hell could he refuse?” he said, his temper rising now. “If the man is alive today it is because of me. I saved him from drowning when he was a kid. Will he be so ungrateful as to turn me out into the streets in the middle of winter?”
But the thought was persistent. “Just suppose...” Poor Samuel struggled with it as long as he could. Finally he got out of bed around two in the morning, went over to where Moshe lived and kept his finger pressed against the doorbell button till Moshe, half asleep, opened the door and said in astonishment, “Samuel! What is it? What brings you here in the middle of the night?” Samuel was so angry by now he couldn’t keep himself from yelling, “I’ll tell you what brings me here at this hour of the night! If you think I’m going to ask you to put me up even for a single day, you’re mistaken. I don’t want to have anything to do with you, your house, your wife or your family. To hell with you all!” With that he turned on his heel and walked away.

THE PRAYER OF THE FROG 2

Anthony de Mello

“She thinks I’m real!”

1

“She thinks I’m real!”

The family settled down for dinner at the restaurant. The waitress first took the order of the adults, then, turned to the seven-year-old.
“What will you have?” she asked.
The boy looked around the table timidly and said, “I would like to have a hot dog.”
Before the waitress could write down the order the mother interrupted. “No hot dogs,” she said. “Get him a steak with mashed potatoes and carrots.”
The waitress ignored her, “Do you want ketchup or mustard on your hot dog?” she asked the boy.
“Ketchup.”
“Coming up in a minute,” said the waitress as she started for the kitchen.
There was a stunned silence when she left. Finally the boy looked at everyone present and said. “Know what? She thinks I’m real!”

“How are your children?”
“Both of them are very well thanking you.”
“How old are they?”
The doctor is three and the lawyer is five.

THE PRAYER OF THE FROG PART 2

Anthony de Mello

THE GREAT REVELATION

THE GREAT REVELATION

A Guru promised a scholar a revelation of greater con sequence than anything contained in the scriptures.

When the scholar eagerly asked for it,

the Guru said, “Go out into the rain and raise your head and arms heavenward.

That will bring you the first revelation.”

The next day the scholar came to report:

“I followed your advice and water flowed down my neck, and I felt like a perfect fool.”

“Well.” said the Guru, “for the first day that’s quite a revelation, isn’t it?”



The poet Kabir says:

What good is it if the scholar pores over words and points of this and that but his chest is not soaked dark with love?

What good is it if the ascetic clothes himself in saffron robes but is colourless within?

What good is it if you scrub your ethical behaviour till it shines, but there is no music inside?




Disciple: What’s the difference between knowledge and enlightenment?


Master: When you have knowledge you use a torch to show the way.


When you are enlightened you become a torch.

THE PRAYER OF THE FROG PART 1

Anthony de Mello

THE PRAYER OF THE FROG

1

THE PRAYER OF THE FROG

When Brother Bruno was at prayer one night he was disturbed by the croaking of a bullfrog.

All his attempts to disregard the sound were unsuccessful so he shouted from his window, “Quiet! I’m at my prayers.”

Now Brother Bruno was a saint so his command was instantly obeyed.

Every living creature held its voice so as to create a silence that would be favourable to prayer.

But now another sound intruded on Bruno’s worship- an inner voice that said,

“Maybe God is as pleased with the croaking of that frog as with the chanting of your psalms.”

“What can please the ears of God in the croak of a frog?” was Bruno’s scornful rejoinder.

But the voice refused to give up: “Why would you think God invented the sound?”

Bruno decided to find out why.

He leaned out of his window and gave the order, “Sing!”

The bullfrog’s measured croaking filled the air to the ludicrous accompaniment of all the frogs in the vicinity.

And as Bruno attended to the sound,

their voices ceased to jar for he discovered that,

if he stopped resisting them,

they actually enriched the silence of the night.


With that discovery Bruno’s heart became harmonious with the universe and, for the first time in his life he understood what it means to pray.

THE PRAYER OF THE FROG PART 1

Anthony de Mello