What do you see, what do you see? husband and me.What are you thinking when you're I'm an old woman now and nature is looking at me? cruel; 'tis her jest to make old age look

like a fool.A crabby old woman not very wise,The body, it crumbles, grace and vigor Uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes.depart; there is now a stone where I I'm a small child of ten with a mother once had a heart.and father,But inside this old carcass a young girl Brothers and sisters who love one still dwells, and now and again my another.battered heart swells.A bride in her twenties - my heart gives I remember the joys, and I remember a leap, remembering the vow that I the pain; and I am loving and living life promised to keep.over again.A woman of thirty, my young now I think of the years all too few - gone grow fast, bound to each other with ties too fast, and accept the stark fact that that should last.nothing can last.At forty, my sons have grown and have So open your eyes, open and seegone, but my man is beside me to see I Not a crabby old woman; look closer - don't mourn.see me.At fifty, once more, babies play around

my knees; again we know children, my

A BEAUTIFUL POEM WRITTEN BY AN ELDERLY WOMAN

Contributed byMaria Jensen

WITSEND WISDOM

Fifteen years ago, I was faced with a parent's worst nightmare. My son, Ishan, who was just 22 years old at that time, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I was in India and he was in USA. He needed urgent surgery - I had gone into a state of shock. It was almost as though I had stepped outside my body and someone else had taken over. It was just before Christmas and tickets were impossible to get. I called KLM and told them about my dilemma. The lady who answered was really kind and said, "We have an emergency quota - I'll make sure to get 2 tickets for you and your husband and put you on tomorrow's flight!" When we reached the airport, we found that all out-bound flights had been cancelled due to heavy fog. The next morning, the airport told us that there was a 20 minute window of opportunity and out of the 25 delayed flights, they would manage to clear just 2. One of them was ours! When we arrived at Seattle, just 10 minutes after our plane landed, there was a terrible snow storm and the airport was closed. It was as though some guardian angel was making sure we would reach my son on time. I spent the next few days wracked by guilt, fear, despair and quiet suffering. I was held up by total strangers, who would come up to me as I sat, with a haunted look, in the waiting room or by an elevator. They would put a gentle hand on me and whisper, "Hang in there - it'll be okay." I had an amazing experience on the day of the surgery. I went with my son's stretcher right up to the Operation Theatre door. As I finally let go of his hand, I turned to the OT nurse and said, "I guess this is where I have to hand him over to your care. Tell me, what is your name?" And she said, "Faith." To me it was a sign from God that I must just have faith. And faith is what sustained me throughout. But there were times, when I felt I was being tested. I remember one night, in agony and despair, I actually called out to God. "I have kept the faith - Why have you abandoned me?" That night, as I finally fell asleep. I got a strange feeling as though someone was saying to me - "Why do you think I've abandoned you? I've been with you every step of the way. I was there in the skill of the surgeon's hands. I was there in the compassion of the nurses. I was by your side as you took care of your son. I was there in the pain you felt as you watched your son sleep. I was even there in your tears. I have never left you - and I never will." The next morning I really felt comforted and able, to face the world with renewed hope and energy. I guess that is the Power of God's Love.

The night after the surgery, there was a knock on my son's door at the hospital. A group of carol singers were standing outside and asked if they could sing to my son. As they sang “Oh, little town of Bethlehem...” I felt a shiver when they came to the words,"... the hopes and fears of all these years," for that was precisely what I was feeling.

The next morning I opened the window and a shaft of light fell straight on my son's bed. It was the first sunny day in weeks. Outside, Mount Rainier floated above the misty horizon, like a beautiful guardian angel. It was sometimes shrouded by clouds, and yet, it was ever present and steadfast, even when it was invisible.

Sunita Khosla

May 2013 has been a month of unforeseen trials and unprecedented receiving.

From having lived a life, most often in the role of a giver, my eyes often closed to the enormous grace of god in my life. As much as I saw how I gave relentlessly to humans in my private life, I failed to see how much I received from them and the world around.

He, whose khazana, is where we, as humans are born into, receive amply, yet sometimes; we need to be shaken to see it. It is easy to forget, that it is He who is the Provider unless we are bought to acknowledge and surrender to His force.

As part of my self-actualization process, I have started to do, what I see myself to have been destined to do. I write for my own enjoyment and thrill and publish with the hope that there will be something, someone will find in my words that they can keep in their hearts as golden nuggets.

In the last book I published, I was not so careful about the editing process from my end and sent it to my publishers in USA, who did the bare minimum editing. I realize, that is their way of working. Hence, this time, I sent my second novel for editing from Facebook connects who are from the writers/authors category. And I was in for a very big shock! When the first deadline to revert back with feedback was delayed by weeks and a cascade of excuses followed, I was gentle. But when the same set of excuses followed after the said editor was supposed to return the manuscript, my alarm bells went off. I wrote email after email, sms after sms, but received no answer. For days, I panicked and lost sleep for two nights. I was exhausted and dreaded that my work would be plagiarized. I tossed and turned and thought of all the characters so dear to my heart being born through a mother that is not theirs. My heart ached and my womb began to pain as if there was a lump there that refused to be born.

And then, the miracle happened! I let go! That morning I prayed and literally felt something falling off from my head. I could breathe again. And lo! And behold! When I opened my email box I found the first edited version of my book, looking neat and clean as any publisher would like to see it, on their laptop. In time, the final version came as well.

I prayed giving thanks for His wonders! I realized, this was His way to bring me back to His folds, for it is He who writes and He who edits, and He who finds the publisher best for me. And it is He who protects the manuscript from taking birth from any other womb.

So why do I need to get the worry warts then, if all is His doing? Just because to be reminded is to re-discover His grace in my life.

Julia Dutta

BY THE GRACE OF GOD!

THANK GOD IMMEDIATELY

One day a construction supervisor from 6th floor of building was calling a worker working on the ground floor. Because of construction notice, the worker on ground floor did not hear his supervisor calling.

Then, to draw the attention of worker, the supervisor threw a 10 rupee note from up which fell right around in front of the worker.

The worker picked up the 10 rupee note, put it in his pocket & continued with his work.

Again to draw the attention of worker, the supervisor now threw 500 rupee note & the worker did the same, picked 500 rupee note, put it in his pocket & started doing his job.

Now to draw attention of the worker, the supervisor picked a small stone & threw on worker. The stone hit exactly the worker head. This time the worker looked up & the supervisor communicated with the worker.

This story is same as of our life. Lord from up wants to communicate with us, but we are busy doing our worldly jobs. Then God gives us small gifts & we just keep it without seeing from where we got it.

Then God gives us amounts (gifts) & we are the same. Just keep the gifts without seeing from where it came & without thanking God. We just say we are LUCKY.

Then when we are hit with a small stone, which we call problems, then we look up & we communicate with God.

So every time we get gifts, we should thank God immediately, and not wait till we are hit by a small stone, and then communicate with God.

As a boy, I listened to a drama story about a young paratrooper in the U.S. army, named Keith, who depended on his faith and connection with the Lord to bring him through many perils. So strong was his faith in the Lord’s protection that he refused to even carry a gun, despite the protests of his friends and superiors.

One day, while on a plane with a failing engine, with nothing but the ocean below and still a good way from land, instead of panicking along with the others on board, Keith prayed out loud, beseeching God to make the motor start again. It did so before his prayer was even finished, eliminating the need to parachute out of the plane.

“Say,” said one of his buddies, “are your prayers always answered like that?”

“Jesus is a friend who never fails,” replied the young believer.

“No wonder you don’t need a gun!” exclaimed the former.

At another point in the story, a fellow soldier called out to the two paratroopers to come to a gathering in a Flying Fortress1 to hear a radio broadcast from America. This greatly interested Keith’s buddy. Keith, on the other hand, insisted that they should continue with what they were doing.

“Don’t you like to listen to the news from home?” asked his buddy.

“Yeah, but I have a feeling,” said Keith. His friend agreed to stick with him. No sooner had they turned down the offer and continued on their way, when an enemy plane came flying by, bombing the Flying Fortress and killing all of its occupants. “That would have included me, except for you and your ‘feelings,’ commented Keith’s friend. Through these and other such incidences, the young man became a believer.

A number of happenings in my own life have caused this story to ring true - making me see the urges I often feel, as more than mere “feelings” My family and I currently live in Northern Mexico, where there is much crime and insecurity. We regularly learn the importance of keeping in tune with the Lord, obeying the tugs and nudges He puts on our hearts.

A few months ago, my stepmother was preparing to go to a nearby store to buy some needed items. Just as she was about to step out of the door, she felt a strong urge to not leave then but to work at home instead. She had not been working for long, when she heard shootings at a distance. She later found out that a shooting had occurred on the very road she had planned to walk, in order to get to the store. It is often easy to dismiss or brush off the urges of the Spirit, especially when following them means a change in routine or an interruption. When I was a teenager, I was taught a lesson along this line.

My father was out sharing the Gospel in a rather dangerous part of Los Angeles, California. At one point during the day, my mother felt a strong urge to stop what we were doing back home and pray for him. Not wanting to be interrupted, I dismissed her suggestion, thinking she was overly concerned. Only minutes later, Dad called, informing us that the car had been stolen. Although it was miraculously found and brought back to us only days later, the lesson was not lost on me.

Just recently, we planned to attend a weekly Bible study with some good friends of ours. But, at nearly the last minute, we felt the urge to stay home instead and do an activity with the little ones. The next day, we found out that violence had broken out throughout the city, including in the area where the meeting was held. We praised the Lord for His prompting and direction and for helping us follow it.

One evening several years ago, while visiting my relatives, I felt a strong urge to pray for the safety of an aunt who was on her way over. I stopped what I was doing to pray. She arrived several minutes later and told us that while stopped at a light, she’d had a close call with a driver who was heading full speed in her direction. She shot up a prayer for him to put on the brakes and he did, just in the nick of time for a serious accident to be averted. When I asked what time this had happened, I found out that it was the exact same moment in which I was urged to pray.

How easy it is to overlook prayer at times and focus instead on the multitude of things that “need” to get done. Yet, in doing so, we may fail to see what a “lifeline” prayer and communication with the one above, really is. No matter how many gifts we have, prayer is, and will always be, our best lifeline.

By Steve Hearts

OUR BEST LIFELINE

WHAT I LEARNED IN LIFE IS...

That no matter how good a person is,sometimes, they can hurt you & because of this we must forgive.It takes years to build trust and only seconds to destroy it ..We don’t have to change friends if we understand that friends change..The circumstances & environment influence our lives, but we are the one who are responsible for ourselves, that you have to control your acts or they will control you..That patience requires much practice.. That there are people who love us, but simply don’t know how to show it..That sometimes the person you think will hurt you and make you fall.. is instead one of the few who will help you to get up..You should never tell a child that dreams are fake, it would be a tragedy if they knew..It’s not always enough to be forgiven by someone,in most cases you have to forgive yourself first..That no matter in how many pieces your heart is broken, the world doesn’t stop to fix it ..Maybe God wants us to meet all the wrong people first before meeting the right ones.So when we finally meet the right one, we are grateful for that gift ..When the door of happiness closes, another door opens..but often we look for so long at the closed one, we don’t see what was open for us ..The best kind of a friend is the kind in which you can sit on a porch or walk… without saying a word & when you leave, it feels like it was the best conversation you ever had.It’s true we don’t know what we have until we find it, but its also true,we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives..It only takes a minute to offend someone, an hour to like someone,a day to love someone, but it takes a life time to forget someone.Don’t look for appearances, they can be deceiving, don’t go for wealth, even that can fade,Find someone who makes you smile, because it only takes a smile to make a day better,find what makes your heart smile..There are moments in life when you miss someone so much, that you wish you can take them out of your dream and hug them for real..Dream what you want, go wherever you want to go, because you have only one life...and one change to do the things you want to do ..The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything that comes their way.The best future is based on the forgotten past..You can’t go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

From the blog of Paulo Coelho

Poverty? When you touch God, you serve others, and you are crucified. What can you hold on to? Nothing. Not even your will. That is poverty! The things of God are so simple..we are complex.

Catherine de Hueck Doherty(Author of Poustinia)

'Tis heaven alone that is given away

'Tis only God may be had for the asking...

James russell lowell

According to Dada, at the lower state, we are concerned more with words and when you reach the higher stage, words lose their meaning.

In fact, if you enter samadhi and come out of it, you cannot describe it in words. “On the physical plane, we have to work for unity. On the spiritual plane, unity is already established; there is no difference between the two of us.”

Speaking of higher planes, would he explain the concept of zero in Sindhi tradition which is different than ‘nothingness’?

“It is the point (not a circular symbol) where your ego has to vanish.

Sadhu Vaswani used to say, ‘I am only a zero but not the English zero, because the English zero occupies some space.

I am the Sindhi zero; am just a point.’ It’s what we call nukta in our Sindhi language.”

How do you arrive at nukta, and how do you vanish?

Dada says it can only happen with the grace of the guru.

“The guru first draws you to himself - so much so, that you arrive at a point where you know you cannot do without him; you cannot live away from him. Once that point is reached, he starts his play.

He becomes a butcher.

He picks up the trident and strikes you (your ego).

You cry, you want to run away, but the pull of the guru is such that you cannot even run away.

Then, he takes you to a point where the ego vanishes,” he says.

However, the guru’s grace and the disciple’s ego vanishing does not happen to all, for you have to be ready to receive that grace.

“Narendra (Vivekananda) was ready, he was a prepared soul; therefore,

ZERO IS HERO

Sanjay Thakker

Dear Sanjay Uncle,

In one of the matches in the chess tournament which I was participating in, I agreed to draw a match that I was winning. I was very upset about it and I cried.

Then mumma told me that the truth was that, I could not see the win myself when I was playing, then how could I win the match?

I learnt to trust and stand by my decision. I also learnt that while I should hear everyone out I should not worry about them feeling bad, if I decide on my own after that.

Mumma also told me that this is not a failure, but a breakdown.

I realized that I can build up my game further from here. I got over my crying fast and was ready for my next games and finally won the tournament.

Please take my mumma to the Ashram before all my tournaments so that she can give me some good and interesting bhashans.

Love Aditya (Age 10)

Thanks sir!

What we are learning in our journey with you and all my companions adds so much value to the life we live.

I feel my kiddo is learning faster and absorbing more than me and is making my life more beautiful.

Manju (Mother)

FAILURE TO FUTURE

Sanjay Thakkar is the creator of Corporate SSY (Siddha Samadhi Yoga founded by Guruji Shri Rishi Prabhakar). He has trained and transformed several thousands of people through programmes like Corporate SSY, Care for Life, Leadership Training Programme, Blissful Bonding and several more. He also leads silence camps at the Dehari Ashram.

THE MIRACLE OF MY LIFE

My Name is Mark De Souza and I am a Qualified Chef and have been a chef for all my life, around 24 years. As a chef, you work under a lot of pressure, feeding thousands of people , and have to make sure its all ready in time and served hot and fresh...Over the years, working in Kuwait, I developed high blood pressure , which in turn left me with kidney failure.

When I came to Australia, in the first year itself, I was diagnosed with this disorder. I had a check up and they told me I had just 18% of my Kidney Function left. The Doctors here in Perth, tried a lot of different medication to regress the kidneys from failing with steroids and other heavy drugs too, but they would not work on me.

The side effects were really bad. I

they gave me a kidney. It was that time also when my dad visiting from India, got a heart attack and passed away, here in Perth.

I could not travel overseas due to the infection problems, as the problems of having my glucose liquids, shipped with me to other countries. I began to get very frustrated, and kept asking God, Why me?? What have I done to deserve this. Although, I was a regular church goer, my faith was not that strong.

Then, one day I visited the church in Maddington and heard Fr. Varghese, preaching and having the healing prayers, I felt so good. I began going to the church whenever I could. I was lucky that I even had him lay his hand and pray specially over me. I had terrible pain in my heels, while I was sick and on one of the healing sessions in Maddington, I experienced a miracle and the pain from my heels just vanished. Praise God for that. And my hopes were raised so much...

After a few months though, again the dialysis treatment started getting to me again. Then, in the month of August 2012, I met a friend, who said she had some terrible back pain and she prayed to the Divine Mercy and she was healed. And so I said, I must pray from my heart to over-come this kidney

thfailure. On the 26 of August 2013, I set to work in my breaktime and just started praying in my heart, and kept saying Divine Mercy, heal me with your precious Blood, and told my friends around me, that I was loosing hope and desperately needed to be well again. They all said it will happen Mark, just keep hope and pray.

Three days later, I was at work and I got this call from the Hospital, They said, they had a match for my kidney and I had to drop every- thing and just come straight to the hospital. Thats what I did, I informed my manager and called my wife, who by God 's grace had off that day. We rushed to the hospital and after a few tests, I was taken to the operation theatre and got a new kidney put into me. In three days I recovered and on the fourth day I was sent home. I was one of the first cases, to heal so fast, and get on my feet and go home. It was a miracle, which changed my life for ever. The kidney has been working in my body and I feel 10 years younger. I have unlimited energy and eat and drink everything, can go swimming! Man just do everything... praise God... I just can't thank Him enough... All my friends and family who have prayed for me over the years are overjoyed to see me well again... and keep praying and giving thanks for my miracle of a second life.

It's 7 months on now and by the grace of God... I am a perfect human specimen...well that's what the kidney specialist, said to me, after he examined me a month ago.

-Mark De Souza

became hyper for those months. Just sleeping 3 hours a night, working 2 jobs, 12 hours a day. Having arguments and fights at home. Going out and doing random things like buying a new car, ordering a thousand pavers, etc, and could not recollect doing them. Not to mention the water retention I had, in the face and whole body.

I put my wife and kids through hell at one point I had to go for counseling just to keep my family together.

Then in 2009, my kidneys failed completely and I was put on dialysis. I used to be plugged in to a machine every night for 8 hours and the machine would do what my kidneys couldn’t. Even with this condition, I worked full time as it was tough not too, with all the family and medical expenses.

This changed my life, drastically, as I could not go out for late night parties, could not dance.. not having enough energy to spare and most of all on a strict diet. I could not swim in public pools and the sea, due to infections I would pick up as I had a hole in my stomach, where a tube went into a peritoneal cavity in my stomach area.

Could not drink more than 1.5 liters a day and had restrictions on my favorites stuff like chocolate, mackarel, beef, lamb and all protein.

All this tore me to pieces. The first few months I rarely went out and it took me 6 months in and out of hospitals, clinics & pathologists to get stable with the dialysis. Then there were occasions, when infections would set in and I would be rushed to hospital for treatment, where I was given heavy antibiotics and injections, just to stop the horrible pains in my stomach, which would go on for a couple of hours before stopping slowly. I would be sedated and this would happen, sometimes at 9 P.M. in the night, just after having my dinner. It would be a nightmare, getting the infections, as at any hour of the night I had to wake up my wife, jump into the car drive down to the Royal Perth Hospital, wait in the emergency, get taken in, have blood tests, get sedated, get admitted, and then only my wife would leave the hospital, sometimes at 1 A.M. in the morning, sometimes at 3 A.M. in the morning. Then she would come back the next day to pick me up, after sending the kids to school take me home, she would have to clean and sanitise the whole bed room to avoid me from getting another infection. This went on for 3 years of my life.

I was beginning to loose hope of getting a kidney donated to me. Both my brothers did not qualify as they had pre-existing ailments, which would make them vulnerable if

‘God is so good to me’- This has been my experience all through my life. I experience enormous protection from the Lord as a result of the daily praying of Psalm 91.An experience: I was in a deep slumber on the night of June 30, 2013. Quite early in the morning around 1.30 am, I was awakened by a hissing sound outside and I opened my eyes and found brightness in my room. As I looked out, saying, “Jesus save us.” Immediately the ball of fire dropped down and there was darkness and a burnt smell all around. Once again I took the torch and looked around for the fire. But to my surprise I found no fire anywhere, I thanked God for a few minutes for his goodness to us. Then I woke up and called the watchman who went out and found the whole electrical wire burnt. The fire ceased and we went back to bed. The next morning we sent for the electrician to check the spot. He was surprised to see how the fire had stopped at the point outside, since the wire was continuing up to my room. Had the fire entered my room, the curtains, my clothes and books would all have burnt. The name of Jesus is so powerful; he not only saved me, but the whole household.Believe it: Psalm 91 is so powerful and much more is the name of Jesus.

Sr. Victorine CSTT

SAVED FROM A FIRE

The door to heaven is a broad mind that digests everything from the past, mind that is broad enough to digest mistakes made by others, not keeping it in our minds and chewing on it. This is called Vairagya or dispassion. digesting the past; however it was.

Being like an elephant. Do you know elephants eat the leaves, the bark, the fruit; they eat absolutely anything from coconut leaves to bamboo to bananas. The banana is so soft, the bamboo is so hard, yet they eat and digest it all.

Similarly, in life, there are many pleasant things and unpleasant things, good people and bad people. (In my life, there are no bad people. There are only good people, who sometimes behave badly.) Thus, whatever has happened, digest it all. Digesting the past brings happiness and relief in the present.

We should become strong, like an elephant; digest everything; the soft fruit and the hard bark, i.e. digest everything of the past and move on. That is called dispassion.

What happiness will, dispassion not bring you. All types of happiness come to you in dispassion.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Contributed byEkta Sharma

DOORS TO HEAVEN

Countries where income is under US$ 10,000 a year, are countries where majority of the population is unhappy. However, it was discovered that from that figure upwards, monetary difference is not all that important.

A scientific study conducted on the 400 richest persons in the United States shows that they are only slightly happier than those who earn US$ 20,000.

The logical consequence: of course, poverty is something unacceptable, but the old saying that “money does not bring happiness” is being proved in laboratories.

Happiness is just another of the tricks that our genetic system plays on us to carry out its only role, which is the survival of the species.

So, to force us to eat or make love, it is necessary to add an element called “pleasure”.

However happy people say they are, nobody is satisfied: we always have to be with the prettiest woman, buy a bigger house, change cars, desire what we do not have.

This is also a subtle manifestation of the instinct of survival: at the moment when everyone feels completely happy, no-one will dare to do anything different and the world will stop evolving.

Therefore, both on the physical plane (eating, making love) and on the emotional plane (always wanting something we do not have), the evolution of humanity has dictated one important and fundamental rule: happiness cannot last.

It will always be made of moments, so we can never get comfortable in an armchair and just contemplate the world.

Conclusion: Better forget this idea of seeking happiness at any cost and look for more interesting things like unknown seas, strangers, provocative thoughts, risk.

Paulo coelho

HAPPINESS CANNOT LAST

JUST ONE THOUGHT

- Sanjay Thakkar

Two things define you: your patience when you have nothing, and your attitude when you have everything.

- Mahatma Gandhi

We cannot be together in Heaven unless we have begun to live so in this world.

St. Jean Vianney

If the only prayer you said was Thank You, that would be enough.

Meister Eckhart

I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.

Dorothy Day

Angels are so unemployed these days. Call on the angels today and everyday; they will not refuse the assistance you need. - Mustard Seeds

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Trust: How much is enough?

Vol 19 - No.2 May-June-July 2013

Trust with all you have, trust from the bottom of your heart, trust as if your entire being depends on it.

Sometimes I wonder at myself and the idiocy of all human beings. Do we ever sleep in the night doubting whether the sun will rise? Are we not certain that the night will fall and the moon will wax and wane as per the natural cycle? Every animal, insect, bird and nature at large knows it is being taken care of. Then, why do we need to be taught to trust? By the time we become adults we need to unlearn so many things we have inadvertently learnt. We have to go to Gurus and other spiritual teachers only to relearn what we are naturally born with. If you ever get the opportunity watch a film called 'The Shift' By Wayne Dyer. It is an eye opener. He says that when we were in our mother's womb we were completely taken care of. All the nutrients required were provided to us. We were blissfully trusting and safe. So what happens when we come into the world?

Let us reclaim our natural selves. We are meant to trust. We will be taken care of. After all it is not ' The End' until everything sorts itself out like they show in our Indian Films. All loose ends are neatly tied. There is a universal order which exists and if we are aligned to the feeling of peace, trust slowly starts reappearing in our life. All we need to do is access it. How do we access it?

Prayer, deep breathing, silence and connecting to the universe amongst other things.

Miracles will follow.

Kiran Bhat

MAILBOX

Dear Editor,

I have been an avid reader of this wonderful journal of creative faith. I'm so glad that now I can receive it online. Hence this email to ask you to add to the mailing list for the online version of TMS as there are times when I don't get the Mustard Seed.

Please do consider the same.

Regards,

Jen Mathew

Dear Editor,

I enjoy reading all the copies of The Mustard Seed as they give a lot of insight to our spiritual lives.

I would like you to stop sending the copies to me at the present as I am moving to a new place shortly.

I will inform you about my new address later.

I have been sharing my copy with others & they in turn pass it on to their friends.

Thank you once again & may God bless you & your team in the years to come.

Regards,

Marina Fernandes

Dear Editor,

Keep up the good work . The world needs spiritual articles to restore goodness, kindness & love of neighbors for there is too much selfishness & materialism and corruption.

Regards,

Denise Lobo

Dear Editor,

Loving greetings of peace and joy.

Recently one of my friends introduced me to your journal The Mustard Seed. I read the above magazine with gratitude and it was an inspiring and enhancing experience for me which helped me go close to God and others.

May I request you to kindly send the magazine every month for which I will be very grateful to you.

Regards,

Mary Francis SJL

Respected Madam,

I have gone through your edition ' reclaim your life' in Feb- March April 2013 journal.

Just as you had experience of two miracles. I too had an experience of God's miracles.

In 1973 I was a Judicial Officer in Anantapuram. I had to appear for a test at Thirupati and when I with my relative reached the abode of the Lord, there was a big Q and it was impossible for me to have darshan. It was 4.30pm then I said that it would be better to give up the attempt and go down the hill to see the lord the next day. Just then three police constables arrived on the scene and asked me to accompany them.

I said I was the magistrate. Hearing this the three persons immediately took us all to the lord despite there being a long queue on one side. I was able to stand before the lord for 15 minutes. At one time, the lord did not do what I wanted. I stopped puja to him. Then every day I got Prasadam from Thirupati and I resumed my Puja again. The lord after wards did everything for me. As you correctly put it, we cannot ignore these miracles

You say that the journal is a prime example as each issue is a miracle and how just enough money appears for every issue. You also say that the Mustard seed as usual comes to us free of charge and again say that monetary contributions are welcome. We are prepared to subscribe for the journal.

K. S. Shiva RaoEditors Note:

The Mustard Seed is a Journal of Faith. Readers can contribute in any way, any amount they wish to. The smallest contribution made in good faith will go a long way to keep the journal going.

It continues to amaze me everyday that when others come in contact with a person of virtue, they comment in awe rather than commenting on a desire to imitate the virtue of that person.

- Mustard Seeds