Brad - The servant of Lord (St. Louis)

During my visit to Gateway Arch at St. Louis, I saw this man standing under the Arch in pure white clothing. It was super chilly wind during that time. But his posture was stiff, as if somebody from army is standing.

He was stiffly standing in this posture, motionless, holding white flag with red plus sign of christianity.

Somebody asked him what was he doing there?

Loudly, he said he is Brad, Servant of the Lord. The Lord had spoken to him and he would be there on earth and would come under this great monument along the mighty river Mississippi, on Sundays from 10 am to 4 pm. He is standing there to give this message to everyone.

I came across several St. louis based bloggers who have reported about Brad. One of the blog tells about the actual story of Brad and the reason behind this act of standing.

"A few years ago, Brad Lee was living a rebellious lifestyle and felt that nothing could touch him, but it didn't take long for life to shatter his facade of independence. A female friend, Sunshine, was diagnosed with cancer, and the doctors weren't sure she would survive. The news sent him into a tailspin. Broken down, he cried out desperately for God's help.
Brad felt God drawing him toward repentance. Somehow God revealed that he was not a genie in a bottle. It would take commitment - a full turn from Brad's careless ways - for his prayers to have any weight.
Relationship with God restored, Brad turned his attention and prayers to Sunshine. For him, those Bible references to healing weren't literary devices. They were promises that God hears his saints and responds when they ask for something in the name of Jesus.With the zeal of a radically new believer, he threw himself into fasting and prayer. In light of God's power, he would only accept a full recovery.
Though given only three months to live, Sunshine's health began to dramatically improve. Eventually she was cured completely. Brad saw this not only as an answered prayer, but a new commission. He would pray for as many people as possible, hoping God might similarly change their fate.
So now he stands stoically in the same spot every Sunday from noon to 3 p.m., three solid hours faithfully hoping and praying that God will lead an injured soul his way."

Posted on: http://stillstandingforhim.blogspot.in/2011/06/saint-brad-of-st-louis.html

"In the name of God!" - Conversation with an Autowala

This is a blog post of a funny incident that happened with me in Bangalore, the city of nasty autowalas (auto-drivers)! Here, incidents like meter tempering, excess fares, faulty meters, abusive language is very common. However some autowalas are good too, no doubt. In my past 3-4 years of stay, I share a kind of love-hate relationship with these as I've met both kind of autowalas. In my case most of the time I engage in an argument if they ask to go without meter or charge 10-20 Rs. extra on meter fare value. It is hard to convince them to follow meter against their numerous reasons for not following it! Sometimes, I try to warn them by telling about police or I simply look for another auto. Nevertheless I simply fail in most cases. I have so many memorable incidences to tell. However this one is little different -- God came in between us. Or rather, I brought him in!! :D

It was evening 6:00 pm and I was looking for autos in K.R. Market area. Since it was office-off time, none of the autos were free and also the buses were all jam packed. I started walking towards K.G. road, thinking that I may find an auto on my way. But I couldn't! I got one auto and he asked me 150 Rs., more than double the meter rate and I refused hire him after gently asking him to go by meter. After walking around 4km., I saw a vacant auto in a traffic signal. At that time I was near Majestic Bus Stand. From Majestic, roughly 55 Rs. fare is normal.

"Malleshwaram Jaate?", I asked. (Will you be going to Malleshwaram?)

He replied, "Malleshwaram me kahan?" (Where in Malleshwaram?)

I said near 18th cross. He asked for Rs. 90. without meter.

"Meter se chalogae?", I asked again. (Can you go by Meter Fare?)

"Meter slow hai, islye to bina meter ke jaa raha!", he replied. (My meter is slow, that's why I am going without meter.)

I smiled since I had no option and it was getting late. I told him Rs. 60 is the max I could offer. He came down to Rs. 75.

"18th cross, Temple Maramma tak jana hai", I said and sat inside. (18th cross, Maramma Temple is where I want to go.) That is where our campus' entrance gate is located. And then came the funny part.

"Aap log 100-100 rupaye coffee peeney mein kharch kartey aur abhi apko problem hai", he taunted. (You guys spend 100 bucks on Coffee and here you have problem)

"Wo log proper bill bhi detey bhaiya! Apka to meter hi slow hai", was my quick reply. (They provide us proper bill. Here your meter itself is slow.)

Then after a momentary pause I said, "Kya bhaiya, aap sandhya ke samay zada paisay maangtey, pata hai uper se bhagwan cross hotey iss samay!" (You are asking for extra money at the time of dusk. You know God travel around during that time.) During my childhood, my grandmother used to give me this reason to wake me up if I was asleep in evening.

"Arrey aap 5-10 Rs. ke liye bhagwan ko beech mein le aaye!", he said. (You are bringing God just for 5-10 bucks)

I replied, "Mandir mein to itna hi daaltey naa aap, to bhagwan to beech mein aa hi saktey!" and laughed. After then he did not uttered a single word. My stop came in some time and it was a temple! (If in temple you can donate this much, then God can also mind for this much!)

To pay him, I took my wallet out followed by a 50 Rs. note and two 10 Rs. note. I was searching for 5 Rs. change and then he said, "Chalo 60 Rupaye hi dae do, kya aap bhagwan ko beech mein le aaye!" (Just pay me 60 Rs., You bought God in between!)

He took 60 Rs. from me and left.

I smiled an moved on!



PS: The auto-driver in photograph is not the same one as in the post. I took that photo long time back when I was learning panning-photography.

[Photo] "Your daily life is your temple"

"Your daily life is your temple", a photo by Nitesh Bhatia (navapalavalabhatia) on Flickr.

A Pujari (priest) sitting on doorstep of a temple, calling his family. In the back you can see the dark temple room with small glowing light.

[Photo] "Invocation"

...As I see her performing morning rituals in Temple.
(Location: Maramma Temple, Malleshwaram, Bangalore)

Random Thoughts about Life: Bend you Genius

Random Thoughts about Life:
God to Man- "You work with this tiny little screw and prove that you are genius!! I made it drop on floor full of grit to thwart your ego!"

(While I was working with some hardware and I accidentally dropped a tiny screw which took me about half an hour to find it. It made me bend down at my knees literally!)

Random Thoughts about Life

Is man one of God’s blunders or is God one of man’s blunders?

What is God? (conversations on facebook)

NB: Visited ISKCON temple today... for the first time I did the Krishna enchanting. feeling quite contented after that ! and I bought a box of incense sticks.. this makes 10th flavor in line.. !
... but again I ask the same question to myself. God is a thought or belief or perception of happiness?

RP: A thought to keep us confident when we r trying to achieve something,
A belief to blame when we don't reach our goals...
A perception of happiness is only in progress.

VH: God is faith.

MD: God is what you want 'god' to be- faith, belief, a goodwill thought, an appreciation of humanity or rigid rituals, barricaded thoughts, superstitious lines...

SR: Some questions r worth keeping for entire life. so preserve it safely. There's saying in our ancient scriptures; the one who knows it (GOD) tells it not and the one who tells it knows it not. Moral is, don't listen to speculators :) :) :) AMEN.....

PS: When u believe in something ... u tend to think about it during times when u need it's assistance .. and if the process brings forth an unhindered happiness thru the act of remembrance.. u feel the realm of happiness :)

(conversations on facebook)