Age New Spirituality - Inspirational Stories ( Part 42 )
Many people care about the spiritual side of their life more than ever. Young people have a thirst for spirituality and are looking for ways to find their own path.
In this blog post we're showing some amazing stories that are a unique way to learn how spirituality can affect your day-to-day life, while being able to inspire others at the same time.
Here's what you'll find in this post:
How spirituality has helped an Alzheimer patient find his peace
The story of an orphan who found peace in Buddhism
The touching story of how a family came together after father's death by suicide.
The story of a man who found his new life purpose through spirituality.
How a woman was able to cope with the death of her disabled daughter by turning to prayer.
The story of a young woman who used spirituality to move on after being raped and abused.
Read these inspiring stories on how spirituality has helped others like you, and let us know if any of them resonated with you by commenting below!
Check out our other inspirational stories: http://www.age-new-spirituality.com/inspirational-stories _________________________________________________________ "As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will...You'll have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too...You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love....So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back." ~Anonymous _________________________________________
In 1917 a 12 year old boy was taken in by the Child Welfare League after his mother became unable to care for him due to ill health. He was taken to a London orphanage, known as the International Orphans Home, on the instruction of the Home Secretary.
The man who took him in was one of the directors at the London Orphanage, and he soon discovered that this child had unusual spiritual vibrations.
In his journal he recorded that: "I found him more interested in religion than anything else. I had never heard anything about this religion before, but it seemed to match his type of personality perfectly." He then went on to say: "This is what we call a medium. I have never seen anything like him before. The way he thinks and the way his mind works is very unusual. He has a wonderful potential to become a great man."
This boy's name was Gandhi, and he would grow up to be one of the most influential men in history. With his beliefs in non-violence and truth, he became known as the father of our nation; without which India may never have become independent of England. Gandhi held many beliefs, however being a spiritualist was not one of them. He had quite the opposite view on religion, and believed in an impersonal cause for everything that happened in life; therefore claimed it was irrelevant for him to believe in any God or Higher Power.
However, Gandhi's beliefs would change in the years to come when he was faced with impossible challenges that he could not solve. In 1912, Gandhi was thrown a challenge that changed his life forever. He was requested to lead a march of 2000 Indians to the sea as they were being oppressed by British rule. The government had also banned them from making salt in an effort to squeeze the local economy and create tension amongst the people.
On March 12th, approximately 3000 men, women and children arrived at Dandi Beach. They were all unarmed, and wore only white clothes as they walked towards the sea where they made salt by evaporating sea water. To their surprise, however, the British navy were waiting for them. The men and women who made salt were tied together and taken ashore, where they were all executed. The men and women whom had been tied to the train were also shot when it was forced to leave the track by a locomotive.
Gandhi stood by helplessly as he watched his people suffer unjustly because of him. He knew that he had done his job as a leader, but the fact that his people had been killed whilst he watched without doing anything bothered him greatly; leaving him to question what is right and wrong in life?
After these events occurred, Gandhi began to question his beliefs about spirituality. He had always believed in an impersonal God, however what happened to his people proved that there was a higher cause. He decided that revenge was not the right thing to do, and decided he should seek truth instead.
In 1914 Gandhi went on a train journey; this time to South Africa where peaceful protests were taking place by the African National Congress (ANC) against British rule. Back in India, Gandhi had become involved with Muslims as they were being oppressed by Hinduism.
The Muslims of South Africa meanwhile were fighting for self-rule and for a better future for their children. The way Gandhi dealt with the two groups was quite different. He spoke a lot of truth to the Hindus, but did not speak out against the injustices that his own people were facing in South Africa. Gandhi could see that his followers were having difficulty accepting what he said, so decided to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.
With this new knowledge came enlightenment, which he had been searching for since his early days. He decided that he wanted to concentrate on spirituality rather than religion; and set up a small prayer meeting every day for those who would listen and follow him in his beliefs; which was called The Phoenix Settlement.
Whilst Gandhi was sitting in his prayer meeting one day, a man came up to him with a book in his hands. He presented the book to Gandhi, who opened it and read: "The son of man came eating and drinking and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! He spoke to them of righteousness, self-control and the judgement to come."
Gandhi said: "I felt as if I had been struck on the head with a sword. The passage recurred to me again and again. The words 'a man gluttonous, and winebibber' held my attention. I had no doubt in my mind that I was being told that I was a sinner. But what kind of a sinner? A thief, a liar or an alcoholic?"
Gandhi concluded that his sins were such that they were things the average person would think he should have renounced long ago. He wanted to repent of the drunkenness, gluttony and lying; but realised one had to be so bad as to be beyond hope, for then there was only one thing left he could do. The only way left for someone who is beyond redemption is to give up on themselves completely.
Conclusion
Another Gandhi story is that of Mahatma Sundarajanagar and Subramania Swamy. One day, (as usual) he was out walking in the streets of Madras, when he came across a man who was beating his wife with a heavy stick. Gandhi decided not to interfere as it wasn't his business; however the man hit the woman so hard that she fell unconscious in front of the Mahatma.
Gandhi said: "I felt as if I had been struck on the head with a sword. The passage recurred to me again and again. The words 'a man gluttonous, and winebibber' held my attention.