The Best Religion

There was once a king who ruled over his subjects well. All his people were
happy and his kingdom prospered. One day the King called all the religious
heads of his land. Some were well renowned and well versed in Vedas and
Puranas and some in the Bible, and yet others in the Koran and other
scriptures. When all were gathered together, the King asked, "Oh holy ones!
Today, at the request of my subjects, I wish to declare one particular
religion as the religion of my land. I leave it to you O learned ones, to
decide amongst yourself and to arrive at a unanimous decision as to which
religion deserves royal patronage. However I feel only that religion should
be chosen whose teachings are not refused by anyone."


Years rolled past, but no decision was taken. Each felt that his religion
was the best, but none of the others agreed.


One day a traveling saint arrived in the kingdom. Upon learning about the
king's unfulfilled desire, he immediately went up to the king and said "O!
Mighty one! I am willing to show you the religion whose teachings nobody can
refute."


The king was delighted. At last after long years of waiting an answer was at
hand. "Please tell me soon my dear saint. I am impatient. I have waited for
many long years." The saint replied "Be patient my king. I shall reveal the
name of this religion to you, only at a quiet, secluded spot. Tomorrow at
twelve noon, I shall be waiting for you near the banks of the holy River
Ganga. We shall go across to the opposite shore and then I will reveal the
best religion."


As decided, the saint and the king met at 12 noon the next day. The king
ordered a boat to take them across the river. Immediately a boat was
brought. Before the king could step inside, the saint expressed the desire
to inspect the boat. "No this boat will not do as one wooden plank at the
bottom of the boat is loose," he complained.



Another boat was brought. After close inspection, the saint observed that a
few nails were missing along the side of the boat. The king ordered another
boat to be brought. After close scrutiny, the saint rejected the boat saying
that the paint was chipped. This was repeated many tunes over and over
again. The king was slowly loosing his patience and could not stand it any
longer


"Respected sir!" he said, "For the past so many hours you have been
inspecting one boat after another. You have rejected each one of them. After
all, what does it matter whether the paint is chipped or a few nails are
missing or a plank is loose? As long as the boat is capable of taking us
across the river, I feel that these minor faults should be overlooked."


The saint turned towards the king and smiled. Softly he explained "You have
finally discovered that no boat is incapable of taking us across. The
religions prevalent in our land are like the boats. Each one of them is
capable of taking you to the Lord. To find faults in each other's faith is
mere foolishness. Go back to your kingdom and continue to rule wisely,
giving each religion as much respect as your own. Live in unity."


The king fell at the saint's feet. When he got up again, he felt himself
richer - richer in knowledge and in wisdom, and better able to understand
God's plan.

State YouthVikas, JULY

An exciting event a.k.a Getting to know SAI (Spiritually Aspired Individuals); The Warriors! The Arjunas!

A platform that provides opportunity to know SUCCESSFUL personalities; Icons that have imbibed The SAI in their lives.

DUTY, DEVOTION, DETERMINATION, DISCIPLINE, DISCRIMINATION so we have heard. But now it will be WITNESSED!

The personality of the month can be described as HILARIOUS, SIMPLE & PROFOUND, DRAMATIST, A VISIONARY, An AUTHOR, A WORLD RENOWNED GOLD MEDALIST.....A PARASITOLOGIST.....

Yes, its none other than PROF. DR. SURESH GOVIND!

A rare opportunity to meet him in person. He will share about his new book "Unleashing the Success Principles of Mahabharatha". Lots of personal life experiences and day to day tips to practise these principles in our various phases of life; student, worker, adult will be given to us. The SECRET will be UNLEASHED!

Our HOST will moderate the session.

Participants will get a personally autographed book (of course upon purchase) by the author himself!

Date: 19th July 2008, Saturday.

Time: 7.45pm

Venue: Bangsar Sai Center, Jalan Abdullah.

Humble request: Pls read the book beforehand, if possible :)

Pls RSVP to Sis. Darshana - 014-2280 529/ darshana.nathan@gmail.com