April 1998

Quotes & Quips

"He who attracts the notice of God may be entirely unknown to the world."

Paramahamsa Yogananda (1893­1952), founder of Self Realization Fellowship and author of Autobiography of a Yogi

It is found that people usually remember religion when they run into hard times. Otherwise, they don't even think of it. H.H. Penor Rinpoche, revered head of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, now living in exile near Mysore, South India, in his monastery of 1,500 monks.

I don't need movie stars to point me toward the path of enlightenment; even if they managed to push me in the right direction, I'd probably head the other way out of sheer spite. CNN's Paul Tatara in his review of "Seven Years in Tibet."

Muslim King Akbar had some foolish courtiers who said that handsome people are better than unattractive people in every way. Akbar found them tiresome, as did his Hindu chief minister, Birbal. Many were jealous of Birbal's intelligence. They railed, "Birbal is a Hindu. You cannot trust him. He will poison Akbar one day so that he can become King." One day they asked the King, "Why are we so handsome and Birbal so homely?" The court was shocked. Birbal smiled, "The answer is simple. After God created fish, birds and animals, He still had many gifts to give away. So He decided to make man. He wanted to give men anything they liked, but they had to collect these gifts from Him. In one part of His court, intelligence was available. In another, beauty. In a third, wealth. I went immediately to get intelligence. By the time I finished collecting my share, it was too late to collect any beauty. But my friends in this court who are so good-looking were too late to collect intelligence."

Go ahead and be miserable. Whatever makes you happy. Swami Beyondananda

DID YOU KNOW?
The Original Doctor
Much of modern medicine can be traced to the Hindu surgeon, Sushruta, circa 600 bce. Best known for plastic surgery, his other notable achievements include cosmetic surgery, treatises on medical ethics, definitions for 121 surgical implements, control of infection through antiseptics, use of drugs to control bleeding, toxicology, psychiatry, midwifery, cataract operations and classification of burns. And if all this weren't enough, Sushruta was among the first to prescribe surgical anesthesia--which in his day was a healthy dose of strong wine!