There was once a prince, a minister’s son, and a treasurer’s son who were all close friends. Once upon a time, all three of them set out on a long journey to different distant lands. On the way they happened to arrive at a royal palace where the king of that land was absent, but…

A landlord had hired a tutor for his son, who was weak in mathematics. The tutor gave the boy lots of sums to do, but the boy would continually whine that the tutor must show him how to add the sums first. The boy was so indulged by his wealthy parents that he could not…

A pious brahmana once told a drunkard, “Look, if you continue to drink wine, you are going to go to hell when you depart from this body. This is the statement of the Vedas.” The drunkard replied, “But Suren Babu also takes wine.” The brahmana said, “Well, then he will also go to hell.” Drunkard:…

In a village lived two persons name Susanta and Krtanta who had for a long time been mischievious towards one another. Once they had been good friends, but somehow or other that friendship turned to rivalry. Now their relationship centered on one making trouble for the other, back and forth, tit for tat. Susanta, at…

A boy wanted to seize the moon. Though his parents explained that this desire could not be fulfilled, he insisted that it must be fulfilled. They finally brought him to the top of a high building. Though he stretched his arms out as much as he could, he could still not catch the moon in…

Harakanta Cakravati was famous for his Vaisnavism in his rural locale. People would say, “Cakravarti Thakur never accepts any food unless it is offered to the Lord.” Once at a Pous-samkranti festival, Cakravarti bought some popcorn for his wife’s lunch. By chance a strong wind came up and blew a quantity of popcorn from the…

As a dowry gift, a man was given a cot, which was actually very cheap and was soon broken. To save face, the man took to sleeping on the bare ground in a pretended mood of renunciation. He also began preaching to all and everyone that a life of comfort and material opulence is illusion;…

In setting out to write an article on the subject of ‘Hinduism and Ecology’ I felt a necessity to come up with at least some functional definitions of the two terms. Ecology was the easiest to define. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica it is explained as “the relationship between organisms and their environment.” When we…

There was a man who kept his head clean-shaven. When he passed underneath a particular bael (wood-apple) tree, a bael- fruit fell on his head. The next day it happened again. Later, when he was walking with some friends and they approached that same tree, he left the group and made a wide circle around…

When a spoiled young man who was pampered by his parents once overslept in his bolted and shuttered room, his family gathered outside to awaken him. Inside his room it was dark, so he yelled out, “Why are you waking me in the middle of the night? It’s time to sleep!” The family called back,…

There was a landlord, who, while strolling through his courtyard, saw his gardener watering the leaves and flowers of the plants, but not the roots, and his pandit stuffing his ears, nose and eyes with food and chanting om karnabhyam svaha, om nasikabhyam svaha, om caksurbham svaha. —– This story is to illustrate the foolishness…

In the village of Vilaspur lived a blacksmith named Vama- caran. One he went to Haripur to visit a friend who was a potter. He found his friend engaged in the delicate work of hammering a copper pot into the right shape. Vamacaran asked if he could help; his friend said yes, so he took…

Yesterday the digital camera arrived from Amazon.com. Thanks again Laura for letting me send that stuff to your house and posting it on to me in New Zealand. Everything here is so expensive compared to the states. I’ll post more pictures onto the site as time allows. For now here’s another one:

Prior to the 18th century, the church had a great influence over Europe, especially the catholic monasteries where the monks performed austerities. But the monasteries dwindled as time went on, and gradually they became historic sites. One such monastery was inhabited by an order of monks who had previously consisted of many branches, but now…