Children's Corner
Story for children: Just 57 cents
A little girl stood crying near a small church from which she had been turned away because it 'was too crowded'. As the pastor walked by, he asked her why she was crying. “I can't go to Sunday school,” she sobbed to the pastor. Seeing her shabby, unkempt appearance, the pastor realized that she was poor. He took her hand, went inside and found a place for her in the class.
Two years later this child died in a poor tenement (dirty and run-down) building. The parents called this same pastor, who had befriended their daughter, to handle the final arrangements. They gave him her prized possession, a worn and crumpled purse. On opening it, to his surprise, he found that it contained 57 cents and a note: “This is to help build the little church bigger so that more children can go to Sunday school.” For two years she had saved for this offering of love. On reading the note the pastor was overcome with emotion. Immediately, he carried this note and the purse to the pulpit and told the story of her unselfish love and devotion to all attending the church. He proposed to the members of the church to raise money for a larger building. They all began to work towards this goal.
But the story did not end there! A newspaper learned of the story and published it. A realtor offered them land for the 57 cents. Donations came from far and wide. The result, the Temple Baptist Church in Philadelphia (seating 3300), Temple University, the Good Samaritan Hospital and a Sunday School housing hundreds of Sunday scholars, benefiting the entire Philadelphia community, was built from those donations. In one of the rooms of these buildings is displayed the picture of the sweet face of the little girl whose 57 cents, so sacrificially saved, made such remarkable history.
Moral: Dear children, we can learn from this story how if we offer whatever we have to God, however little it may be, He will surely return it many times over. Similarly, whatever steps and efforts we take towards reaching God, be it daily prayer, chanting* and so on, He will take many more steps towards us.
Spiritual experience of a child seeker
Cure of my son's asthma with the spiritual practice advised by His Holiness (H.H.) Dr. Jayant Athavale
Our little son would stay awake until late in the night and cry. He would also suffer from asthma. Luckily, when he was about six months old, H.H. Dr. Athavale happened to visit Goa (a place in India). During the conversation, my husband happened to tell Him that our son was suffering from asthma and that he was not responding to any treatment. Stating that he had less vital energy (pranshakti), H.H. Dr Athavale advised us to worship Lord Ganesh until the child was old enough to do it himself. He was also affected by a distressing energy for which He recommended repeating (chanting) one turn of the 108-bead rosary (mala) of Lord Shri Gurudev Datta's Name (see Clarification of Doubts in Issue 8) after lighting an incense stick, the ash of which had to be applied to the child at the end of it. Within just a fortnight of commencing this spiritual remedy, we observed favourable changes in his physical condition.
– Mrs. Mangala Pandurang Marathe, Goa , India.
[Dear Friends, from the above experience we can see the importance of following the guidance of an authority in the field of Spirituality. Just as one would seek a doctor in matters related to medicine and a lawyer in legal matters, it is equally important to seek the guidance of spiritual masters for spiritual matters. More important, however, is following that guidance, as in so doing, our spiritual problems and obstacles will surely be removed.
-Editor.]
* Chanting means constantly remembering or repeating God’s Name according to our religion. Young children should also chant 'Om Gan Ganapataye namaha' (Lord Ganesh's chant) for at least 15-30 minutes daily for divine protection. Older children, who have been doing spiritual practice for some time, can determine their exact chant from the experiment in Issue 124, Message to Seekers section. Parents should repeat (chant) The Lord's Name for children too young to do so themselves.