namami.org

I wish we can somehow catalog all the vedas. We have lost huge chunks of it they say.

Like a candle light in the darkness, I found this website called namami.org which is a database of manuscripts. Its a website created and maintained by Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Govt. of India. They store all kinds of manuscripts not just the vedas or hindu scriptures. They are into conservation, digitization and publication of all the old manuscripts found in this ancient land. So if you find any manuscripts at home or your grandpa's attic, please send them across to namami and they will preserve it.

Go to Him

A friend of mine, Srikanth, forwarded this story -

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects.

When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists."

"Why do you say that?" asked the customer.

"Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine loving a God who would allow all of these things."

The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and un-kept.

The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist."

"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!"

"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."

"Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me."

"Exactly!"- affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

Great Story!! Its normal to feel the way the barber did, since we look at the Lord as our parent (atleast most of us) and expect Him to help us out at all times. Among all the other things, He has given us a tiny bit of free-will as well (remember we are like Him, like the saltiness of the sea water drop), and he respects that to the core. So like a dad who will stand back and not really meddle into His teenager's life, He will stand back and watch. At the same time, He will feel real bad if his son/daughter treads in the wrong direction. He even tries to tell us, but we normally don't listen to our dad, do we? So if you don't choose to go ask Him, He will stay out of your way. However if you just choose to cry out loud once for your dad, He will appear out of nowhere and pick you up in an instant and console you. Love you Dad!