خداوند نانواي آدمهاست

او پيامبري‌ بود كه‌ نه كتاب‌ نداشت نه معجزه‌اي‌ اسباب‌ رسالت‌ او تنها خوشه‌اي‌ گندم‌ بود كه‌ خدا به‌ او داده‌ بود

خدا به او گفته‌ بود: دشمنان‌اند كه‌ معجزه‌ مي‌خواهند، معجزه‌اي‌ كه‌ مبهوتشان كند. اما دوستان؛ ‌ تنها با اشاره‌اي‌ ايمان‌ مي‌آورند. و اين خوشه‌هاي‌ گندم‌ براي‌ اشاره‌ كافي‌ است

پيامبر، كوي‌ به‌ كوي‌ و شهر به‌ شهر رفت‌ و گفت: آي‌ مردم، به‌ اين‌ خوشه‌ گندم‌ نگاه‌ كنيد. قصه‌ اين‌ گندم، قصه‌ شماست‌ كه‌ چيده‌ مي‌شود و به‌ آسياب‌ مي‌رود تا ساييده‌ شود و پس‌ از آن‌ خميري‌ خواهد شد در دست‌هاي‌ نانوا و مي‌رود تا داغي‌ تنور را تجربه‌ كند، مي‌رود تا نان‌ شود، مائده‌ مقدس‌ سفره‌ها

آي‌ مردم، شما نيز همان‌ خوشه‌هاي‌ گندميد كه‌ در مزرعه‌ خدا باليده‌ايد. نترسيد از اين‌ كه‌ چيده‌ مي‌شويد، خود را به‌ آسيابان‌ روزگار بسپاريد تا در آسياب‌ دنيا شما را بسايد، تا درشتي‌هايتان‌ به‌ نرمي‌ بدل‌ شود وسختي‌هايتان‌ به‌ آساني

خداوند نانواي‌ آدم‌هاست. خميرتان‌ را به‌ او بدهيد تا در دست‌هايش‌ ورزيده‌ شويد، خدا بر روحتان‌ چاشني‌ درد و نمك‌ رنج‌ خواهد زد و شما را در دستان‌ خود خواهد فشرد؛ طاقت‌ بياوريد، طاقت‌ بياوريد تا پرورده‌ شويد. و كيست‌ كه‌ نداند خداوند او را در تنور خود خواهد نشاند؛ اين‌ سنت‌ زندگي‌ است. اما زيباتر آن‌ است‌ كه‌ با پاي‌ خود به‌ تنورش‌ درآييد و بسوزييد، نه‌ از سر بيچارگي‌ و اضطرار، كه‌ از سر شوق‌ و اختيار. پيامبر گفت: صبوري‌ كنيد تا نان‌ شويد؛ ناني‌ كه‌ زيبنده‌ سفره‌هاي‌ ملكوت‌ باشد. صبوري‌ كنيد تا نان‌ شويد؛ ناني‌ كه‌ به‌ مذاق‌ خدا خوش‌ آيد

هزاران‌ سال‌ است‌ كه‌ نان‌ در سفره‌ آدمي‌ است‌ تا به‌ يادش‌ آورد قصه‌ خوشه‌هاي‌ گندم‌ و آسياب‌ و تنور را..... قصه‌ نان‌ پختن، نان‌ قسمت‌ كردن، نان‌ شدن‌ را

‌ از عرفان‌ نظرآهاري‌

SAI BABA'S TEACHINGS on ADVAITA or NON - DUALISM

Devotee: Swami, what is the best way to relate to the world?

Sai Baba: Do not think about the world. Do not spend time thinking about the world or about your relationships to individuals. These are all impermanent. They will not last. Pay attention to that which lasts, to that which is permanent. All things involving the world and human relationships have to do only with the body. The body is like a water bubble. The mind is like a mad monkey. So do not follow the body or the mind. Follow the voice of God. It is the voice of unchanging truth inside you. It will direct you toward your highest good. If doubts come, do not follow them. Jesus had some doubts on the cross when the soldiers were tormenting him. Then he heard the voice of God telling him, "All are one, my dear son. Be alike to everyone." At that point the last doubt dropped away and Jesus declared "I and my Father are one." He realised the truth of the oneness of Self and God. This is the state of Advaita, of complete Non-Dualism, where there is only unity. If you listen to the voice of God inside you, it will tell you that there is no difference between you and God. There never was a difference. It was your imagination only. The sense of difference was only in your mind. There is no separate I or God which has to become one. There never was any other. Always there was just the one, without a second. To reach this highest truth, do not think that you and God are separate. Think always "God is with me. He is inside me. He is around me. He is above me. All there is, is God. I, myself,am God. I am the infinite. I am the eternal. I am not two. I am one, only one. There is no one else besides me. I and God are one and the same." That is called self-confidence; it is the confidence that you are atma, the one Self. You develop self-confidence by thinking all the time "God is doing everything, without God I cannot be." When you realise that God is not outside of you and separate from you, then you gain self-confidence. Then there is love, there is peace, there is truth, there is God. So first there must be self-confidence and love of God. What are you thinking about now? You are thinking about the body, but the body is just a water bubble. The body is just a dress, only a dress. Devotee: Swami, you say that everything is God, but isn't the body also God? If everything is God, then the body must also be God? Sai Baba: You are asking about the body. You are thinking about the body, not of God. If you only think of God, then, for you, there will be only God. But now you are thinking of the body. The body is an instrument; it is made of matter; and matter is always changing. The world also is always changing, but God is never changing. God is the one unchanging spirit.

Devotee: Is Swami's body also just an instrument?

Sai Baba: Swami's body is like all bodies. All bodies are just instruments. All bodies are only temporary. They have birth. They have death. The indweller of the body is permanent. That is the atma, the one Self. That is you. That is the real you. You are the immortal Self, not the body.

Devotee: Swami, how do we rise up to that highest level? How do we become perfect?

Sai Baba: Through love, only through love. Develop divine love or Prema. Divine love is completely selfless. Human love is mostly selfish. All the time it thinks only of this little `I'. This little `I' is the ego. Ego is a bad quality. It sees everything as separate. It sees everything as dual. Remove this ego and you will see only unity. Where there is duality, divinity will not be present. Think only of the basis of everything. Think only of God. Now for you at present there is only desire, desire, desire: I want this! I want that! Desires are just passing clouds. They come and they go. One moment they give pleasure and the next moment they give pain. They cannot give permanent joy. Desires make up the mind. The mind is nothing but a bundle of desires. Every thought in the mind comes from desire. Don't follow the mind. Don't follow those passing clouds. Desire comes, desire goes, but morality comes and grows. Morality is very important. Follow morality; practise it.

Devotee: Swami, should we think of God as being both father and mother?

Sai Baba: Your physical mother is only with you for some years. She is your temporary mother. Your physical father is also only temporary. The real relationship is different. Truth is the real father. Truth is permanent. Truth has no birth; it has no death. Prema, divine love, is the real mother. Devotion is the real brother. Wisdom is the real son. Peace is the real daughter. For all of these relationships there is no change, there is no birth, there is no death. They make up your permanent relationship, your relationship with God.

Devotee: Swami, if Divinity is my permanent relationship and all these others are only temporary relationships, then do I still have to take care of my family at home?

Sai Baba (very firmly): You must! That is your duty. Do your duty. Take care of your family.

Devotee: Even if it takes me away from God?

Sai Baba: No! No! No! No! Do not abandon your family. You must take care of your husband and your children. Do your duty. Duty is God. Work is worship. Do not forsake your duty.

Devotee: But Swami, not even when God calls?

Sai Baba (laughingly): God is in you. He is with you. He is above you. He is below you. He is around you. He is not calling or sending for you. He is always with you. He is you. You, yourself, are God. Always think like that. "I am God. I am God. I am atma. I am everything." Think like that and do your duty at home. God is not sending for you or asking you to come from somewhere. You are God. He is always with you.

Devotee: Swami, is everything predetermined? Is the time we take to merge already mapped out? When we finally merge and get realisation, is that moment already written on our foreheads?

Sai Baba: For atma there is no time and there is no space. It is beyond time and beyond form. In this Self all are one. Remember that unity. Live in that unity. Make that your goal. All are one. Be alike to everyone.

Devotee: Then Swami, what is the relationship between the Self and the individual?

Sai Baba: Where is Self? It is everywhere. How do you know? You do not know. You have no experience of it, so do some sadhana, some spiritual practice. Experience it. Practise it. Live it. Realise it.

Devotee: But Swami, what I wanted to ask is "Do I have an individual higher Self? Is there an individual higher Self that is specifically related to me?"

Sai Baba: The individual exists only in your imagination, in your mind. It is just an illusion. It is not real. When the one Self is everywhere, when it is one without a second, then where is the individual? Only in your imagination. The Self alone is real. Realise it.

Devotee: Swami, is there really no higher being related uniquely to this body, judging me or guiding me?

Sai Baba: You are still in one hundred percent body consciousness. Do not stay with this body-consciousness. Remove it. Take it away. What will remain will be God-consciousness. Then there will be no anger, no hatred, no envy, no jealousy, no desire, no ego, only pure joy, only complete bliss, only bliss, bliss, bliss.

Devotee: But then what is reborn? When we reincarnate, what is born?

Sai Baba: The body is born. Birth and death only have to do with the body. Ego relates only to the body. Reincarnation relates only to the body. Do not think of the body, think of the atma. It is one. It is unchanging. For that one Self there is no incarnation; there is no reincarnation.

Devotee: Swami, do I, as an individual, exist at all?

Sai Baba: I! I! I! Always this I. First you must ask "Who is this I? Who am I?" Devotee (persisting): But Swami is there no individual anything? Sai Baba: When you realise the Self, then there is no separate individual. You can think of individuals as different light bulbs. There will be differences in wattage. There will be differences in age, in colour, in form, in name. One is a tube light and another is a bulb light. There will be differences in shape, but everywhere the current that powers them is the same. That current is you. You are not a bulb which appears different from any other bulb. You are the current, the one current that is found in all the bulbs. That is who you are.

Devotee: Swami, is there any difference between me and God?

Sai Baba: You are God. You are not the ego. You are God! You are God!

Devotee (incredulously): I am God???

Sai Baba: Yes! Yes! You are atma, the one Self. You are permanent. The physical body is not permanent. The physical is not the Self, but you are the Self, not the physical. You are God. Think like this always. Do not think about the body. Think about God. The body comes and goes. For the body there is birth and death, but you are not the body. The body is just rust and dust.

Devotee: Swami, I do healing and I wanted to ask......

Sai Baba (interrupting): Healing comes from God. Think of God. God is everything. He will always do what is needed. Think only of surrendering to God. You may say "I am healing others", but this is just your ego speaking. Healing cannot come through the ego. Thinking that you are doing healing is very harmful. You are not the one who is doing the healing. You are only the instrument. God does everything. Think only of Him. Love Him.

Devotee: Swami, how can we love something we don't understand?

Sai Baba: Develop self-confidence, then love will follow. It will come naturally, from within. In that way the love will be pure. Your journey starts with self-confidence and ends with the realisation of the Self. That Self is you; it is God. This is who you really are. Self-confidence is unwavering love for the divinity within. What will help you to develop this confidence? Be equal-minded. Be satisfied with what you have. Don't hanker for anything outside. Be happy! The secret of happiness lies not in doing what you like but in liking what you have to do. That is a great truth. Always have complete faith in God, Who takes care of everything. True greatness can only come from faith. Now there is no confidence in you. Without confidence your faith will be shaking and wavering. Then where is there room for grace to come in? Where is the room for the Divinity to come inside? If you shut the door, how can the spirit be revealed?

Devotee: Lord, I want to merge with you. What do I have to do? I am ready.

Sai Baba: Through love, only through love. Love is everything. Love is God. Live in love. Start the day with love, spend the day with love, fill the day with love and end the day with love. That is the way to God.

Devotee: Swami, how do we develop this selfless love?

Sai Baba: Only through God's Grace. Prema, divine selfless love, comes only through God's Grace. Without Grace you cannot do anything. First do your duty and think about God all day, from morning until evening. See everything as God and be happy. Think to yourself "O Lord, you are my everything. You are my goal. You are my breath." Do not think that this is mine or that is mine or that this is not mine. Instead, think "All is you, Lord. All is yours." Think "I am beyond the body. Mind is just a mad monkey. I am the Self. I and God are one." Think like this "Before this body was formed, I was there. After this body goes, I will still be there. I am omnipresent. I am the all." To reach this truth you have to do some spiritual practice. You have to inquire: What is God? Who is God? Who am I? The first step in self-realisation is to always think of God and after some years you will know that you are one with God. Jesus spent twelve years in the desert before he realised this fact. In the beginning you can think that this whole world is just like a stage and you are only an actor. God is the director. All of Humanity are actors. God is directing everything. But do not stop there. Move on and identify only with God. Think God. Be God.

Devotee: Swami, shall we go out and tell these things to other people?

Sai Baba: Do not talk so much. Do some spiritual practice. First do. Then be. Then you can talk. But only a little. Do some meditation. Do everything with love. Be good, see good, do good. After you develop self-confidence and love for God, you can share with others, but it is a good rule not to talk too much. Talk very little, even about God. In spiritual practice there will always be internal talk with God. You will give up all attachments and attach only to God. For this, purity of the heart is very important. Where there is no purity, there is no unity. Without unity, you cannot attain divinity. Then your whole life is just a waste. First purity, next unity. Then you realise divinity.

Devotee: And purity comes from service, Swami?

Sai Baba: Yes, purity comes from selfless love, from doing selfless service. All are one family, so serve all, not just the Sai family, but the whole world family. All are brothers and sisters. All are one. Be alike to everyone. That is unity, the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God. " You are divine, that is the truth. You and the Universal are one. You and the Absolute are one. You and the eternal are one. You are not the individual, the particular, the temporary. Feel this. Know this. Act in conformity with this. "

Sri Sathya Sai Baba Courtesy: http://www.ramalacentre.com

Religion

Religion has two sides. If we look at the all religions in the world, they share some basic foundations. Do not betray, don not backbite, be kind to people , respect self and others.

The problems which have arisen these days are from the wrong interpretations on it not the religion itself. Religion gives us a framework to look at the world through it. The bigger framework gives wider scope; and we must choose a religion which can answer most of our questions . To me , most important ones are who invited us into this world ? Where are we going to ? And what will happen after our death?

Sometimes Religion makes people stupid too, but we must be aware not to be fooled by the false interpretations. For example in an article written by Bertrand Russell , he mentioned that at the Dark ages, some nuns got shower while dressing in a silk full slip. You know why? Because they believed God can see their body. Russell says : I wonder if God can pass through a thick wall of a bathroom, can't He pass through a thin dress?

Like everything which has two dark and bright sides, religion does have. I believe that religion serves for the mankind as the manual for using properly our ethereal soul similiar to manual for using Adobe Acrobat Photoshop software. We can use Photoshop in a limited way, but when we read the Help written by Adobe Corporation, we can make the best use of the software.

When we read the history, we can see that there was a time that the living girls were buried because of being a female. tribalism , prejudices , etc made people blind and they followed just their instincts. At that time religion brought a new meaning to life. It said all people are equal. And if you are pious, you are better than others etc.. I think religion connected the inner self with creator. And our job nowadays is to redefine what our ancestors found out about religion as Nietzsche says.

If we consider religion as a perspective to life, we have two general perspectives to life. One perspective says that god looks at human from the viewpoint of a mother and the other says that God views human as father. I think most Tibetan,religions can be placed in first category. In this perspective, the reactions of God to his creature are the same as a caring mother. She loves her bad children as well. She is kind, soft, etc.… I think Islam, Christianity, Judaism will be placed in the second category. Because it is the matter of punishments and rewards. That is why that in Islam we have hell and heaven. If we are doing bad we will be placed in hell and if we are doing good deeds we are in heaven, chatting with cutie angels. Similar to God, in this perspective, if the son passes the exam he will be given a bicycle, otherwise he has nothing. This perspective makes people feel guilty all time and to release from this state of mind , it is said that Jesus Christ ( Peace be Upon Him) carried all the sins of mankind and was crucified for salvation of mankind .

Similar to Islamic Codes, there is a book in Christianity called CODEX which says what a man must and must not do . I think it comes from a father perspective to call Pope as a shepherd too . What is the job a shepherd? To give directions to a flock.

To me the nature of human is organized in a way to do easy jobs, therefore many prefer the summarized version of Martin Luther Protestantism rather practicing based on Catholic church principles. The PERSPECTIVE for 1960s slogan of make love not war could be found easier in those religions / sects/ beliefs which believed an easier life for mankind .

But the fact is that all need a perspective to connect themselves with our creator. Because God did not leave His creatures high and dry in this world. There exist a God spot in the brain , which is the point of connection between you and Your creator. Read more about God spot on http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/images/new_page_2.htm

خوشبختي

ما خودمان را متقاعد مي کنيم به اين که زندگي بهتر خواهد شد وقتي که ازدواج کنيم و خانواده اي تشکيل دهيم.سپس سر خورده و نا اميد مي شويم چرا که بچه هاي ما کوچک هستند و به توجه دائمي نياز دارند، پس به اميد آينده بهتري هستيم تا آنها بزرگ شوند بعد که به سن نوجواني رسيدند وما درگير مشکلات آنها هستيم آرزوي گذشتن آنها از سن بحران و فرداي شادتري را داريم.....به خودمان وعده ميدهيم زندگي بهتري را..............وقتي من و همسرم با هم تلاش کنيم،تا ماشين بهتري تهيه کنيم،تا به مسافرت تفريحي برويم،تا......بالاخره بازنشسته شويم

حقيقت اين است که هيچ زماني براي شاد بودن بهتر از زمان حال نيست.زندگي هميشه پر از درگيري و سعي و تلاش است.چه بهتر قدرت رويارويي با آنها را داشته باشيم و عليرغم تمام مشکلات تصميم بگيريم شاد زندگي کنيم

براي مدت مديدي به نظر هر کسي مي رسد که زندگي واقعي را بايد از جائي شروع کرد ،ولي هميشه موانعي سر راه وجود دارد-تجربيات سختي که بايد از سر گذراند -- کارهايي که بايد به سرانجام برسد--زماني که بايد صرف انجام کاري شود--قبضي که بايد پرداخت شود سپس...........تازه زندگي آغاز خواهد شد.اين عقايد کمک کرد تا بفهمم ..هيچ جاده اي تا سعادت و خوشبختي نيست بلکه خوشبختي همان راه ولحظه هاي زندگي است که طي مي کنيم .
پس از تمام لحظات زندگيت لذت ببر......کافيست در انتظار بودن براي اتمام تحصيلات يا شروع آن.به دست آوردن پول يا خرج کردن آن ،براي کاري را شروع کردن،براي ازدواج،براي يک روز تعطيل،خريد ماشين جديد،دادن قرضها،براي بهار،تابستان،پاييز وزمستان،براي اول ماه،پانزدهم ماه،براي آهنگي که قراره از راديو پخش بشه،براي مردن ،براي دوباره زنده شدن.......قبل از اينکه تصميم بگيري شاد باشي

شاد بودن يک سفر طولاني است،نه يک مقصد
هيچ زماني براي شاد بودن بهتر از زمان حال نيست..............
زندگي کن و از تمام لحظاتش لذت ببر

آيا به خاطر مي آوري:نام پنج نفر از ثروتمندترين اشخاص جهان،پنج شخصي که در سالهاي اخير ملکه زيبايي جهان شده اند يا ده نفر از کساني که جايزه نوبل را برده اند و يا حتي ده هنرپيشه اي که اخيراً اسکار گرفته اند.......نسبتاً مشکل است.نگران نباش هيچکس به خاطر نمي آورد


تشويقها پايان مي پذيرد..........مدالها را گردوغبار فرا مي گيرد..............و برنده ها خيلي زود فراموش مي شوند

ولي اکنون ببين آيا به خاطر مي آوري :نام سه معلمي که در پيشرفت تحصيلي تو نقش موثري داشته اند،سه نفر از دوستانت که
در زمان احتياج به تو کمک کرده اند ،يا انسانها يي که احساس خاص و زيبايي را در قلب تو به وجود آورده اند،يا اسم پنج نفر
از کساني که مايل هستي اوقات فراغت خود را با آنها بگذراني
جواب دادن خيلي بي دردسر و راحت است ،..نيست؟

کساني که به زندگي تو معنا بخشيده اند ،جزو مشهورترين و بالا ترين افراد دنيا نيستند؛ آنها ثروت زيادي ندارند يا مدال و جايزهً
مهمي به دست نياورده اند؛ولي...........آنها کساني هستند که نگران تواند واز تو مراقبت مي کنند؛کساني که مهم نيست چگونه؛
ولي در کنار تو مي ما نند

مدتي دربارهً آن فکر کن.......... زندگي خيلي کوتاه است ........و تو ؛در کدام ليست از کساني که نام بردم هستي؟آيا مي داني؟




مدتي پيش در المپيک معلولان در شهر سياتل؛ نـُه دونده در خط شروع براي مسابقه صـد متر ايستاده بودند؛تير شروع مسابقه
شليک شد؛دونده ها سعي مي کردند بدوند و برنده شوند.ناگهان پاي يکي از آنها پيچ خورد و افتاد و شروع به گريه کرد.هشت
دونده ديگر پس از شنيدن صداي گريه او دست از مسابقه کشيدند و باز گشتند.يک دختر عقب مانده ذهني کنار او نشست او را
در آغوش گرفت وبه او دلداري داد .سپس همهً دونده ها در کنار هم راه رفتند تا به خط پايان رسيدند..تمامي جمعيت حاضر در
استاديوم ايستاده بودند و براي آنها دست مي زدند...تشويقي که مدتي بسيار طولاني ادامه پيدا کرد


کساني که نظاره گر اين صحنه بودند هنوز دربارهً آن حرف مي زنند.مـي دانيد چــرا؟

زيرا اين حادثه عميقاً در قلب ما تاثير گذاشت و ما همه مي دانيم چيزهاي مهم تري از برنده شدن يک نفر در دنيا وجود دارد
کمک کردن به ديگران براي اين که آنها هم موفقيت را تجربه کنند حتي اگر به اين معني باشد که قدم هاي خود را
آهسته تر کنيم و در شيوهً زندگي خود تغييراتي ايجاد کنيم

يک شمع چيزي را از دست نمي دهد اگـر به ديگري روشني ببخشد

Dragon

Immigration is not an easy job at all because you have lots of homework to do. So I deliberately prepared a to do list. There were different tasks in my list . To sell the car , make a good bye phone calls to friends and family, to sell the home stuff etc... But I think the most difficult one was to decide what to do with the books which I gathered for years . So I chose to start with pleasant one !

At first I thought to sell them and make good money, so I skimmed a daily newspaper and found a phone number of a guy who bought second hand books in GOOD PRICE. Methinks that the basis of the payment would be the 40 or 50 percent lesser the real price , but when I asked the buyer how much you would pay for each book , he answered: " 500 tomans ( about 80 cents) for 1 kilo !" I thought he was joking because you never go to a bookshop and say : " 2 kilos book please" . But what I heard was true . I called other buyers and I heard the same reply . So I changed my mind and decided to give them away.

The books were consisted of different subjects and I decided to sort them based on the interests of my friends and family. Religious books from Islam,Buddhism, Zoroastrian , Christians etc , scientific books , novels , English books etc.....I could manage to give most of them but the toughest part was the magazines which I published my articles in them.....I did not know what to do with them . Nobody accepted them because they were old , and I couldn't throw them away because they were my children ! So I decided to publish a website and put the scans of my works there . How ? I did not know. So I went to a book shop and bought a book about Frontpage Software paying the price based on volume not kilo ! Then I came home starting self study on frontpage ! But frontpage couldn't be learnt based on famous theory of reading " one night before exam." How would I do the scanning stuff? I was spending seven days just for books , what about other tasks? Therefore I found that I was just building a castle in the air and with a big smile I gave up and left all my children into the garbage bin and happily ticked the first job in my to do list !

My recommendation : when you have to meet a deadline , be realistic and do not be disturbed if you put most of your precious stuff into garbage bin . Remember that sometimes your to do list is the same as dragon in cartoons. When you cut one head , tenfold heads will appear at the same place.

Reality

“There came wise men from the East
And offered unto him gifts
Gold and Frankincense and myrrh”
(St Mathew 2:1)

I suddenly scared when I received the final letter of granting permanent residency of Australia. Until that time, it was just a game for me. When you have nothing to do you have to do something! I think that is why many Iranian youths get married soon. Most of them do not know how effectively enjoy their life when they reach to the age of 27 or 28. Waking up at 11 AM as a result of mother’s grumbling; then have a bitter tea for the sake of have a bitterer smoke. Usually they puff the cigarette not around their house, because the region is under the natural surveillance cameras owned by dear neighbors. I think Iranians are among the first settlers on earth who explored and made the best use of CCTVs, but the God given version i.e. eyes and ears. Any movements around your home is recorded and simultaneously dispatched by dear neighbors to the relevant officials i.e. your mother and father. You can not imagine how quickly the information is transmitted to your parents. So no mint chewing gum can help removing the smell of cigar from your mouth, even no perfumes made by France , because your mom already knew the story. I recall a friend who used to have the leaves of trees instead of mint before entering home. But it did not help either. Finally, he ended in using opium. You know why? Because no God Given CCTVs could monitor his behavior when he was staying at the house of his friends.

In her email, the Aussie case officer allowed us to leave Iran and heading towards Australia in 2/5 months, otherwise our visa would be cancelled. Immediately I found that I faced a reality rather than a joke. Have you ever played a real poker? It is a petrifying game when you are not a millionaire. Each cent has a meaning for you. A poor man never lose money in a real poker, but in the middle of the game he is losing the bread of his home, bra for his wife or the pumpkin he promised to buy when he is back to home. Now Australia was a real poker for me. I had only two aces- and I wanted to claim “rest”. But I had no way to go for it because I was forced to! How could my mom answer the endless questions of the neighbors? She definitely would have no excuse for my rejection to go Australia. So I decided to leave Iran in 2/5 months for the sake of neighbors!

The Journey of the Magi

'A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For the journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins,
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death,
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.
-- T. S. Eliot