Feeding Yourself

Lesson #2 from Nithya Shanti: Stories of how to feed yourself

A Native American elder sat with some children, telling them stories. "Everyone has a black wolf and a white wolf which follows them around. The black wolf represents all the negativity in your life. And the white wolf represents all the positivity. When there are choices to be made the black wolf and white wolf fight. And sometimes the fight can go on and on..." Then he stopped speaking. The children waited anxiously for a minute, then started asking, "Grandfather, what happened? Who won the fight?" After a moment of silence, the elder responded, "The wolf who wins is the one you feed."

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A man had died and was waiting to see if he would go to Heaven or Hell. According to the record-keeping books, this man had spent exactly 50% of his life doing positive, good things and the other 50% of his life doing negative, bad things. The gate keepers didn't know what to do. So they asked the man, "Would you rather go to Heaven or Hell?" The man asked if he could see both options before choosing. So, the man hopped on the elevator and went down to Hell. When he arrived he was very surprised. There was sunshine and flowers and music, and a table that seemed to never end, filled with the most delicious foods. The man got very excited, but then noticed the people. They were normal looking people, except they were all very thin, pale and grouchy. The man asked the gate keeper, "Why are they all so thin, pale and grouchy? They have this abundance of food here and everything is beautiful..." The gate keeper said, "Read the sign." The man walked over to the table filled with food and read aloud the small sign: "Food must only be eaten with one's hands. No exceptions." The man was still confused, and the gate keeper said, "Look closely again at the people." When the man looked closely at the people, he noticed they didn't have any elbows. So no matter how hard they tried, or how badly they wanted it, the people couldn't get the food to their mouths.

The man asked to see Heaven. Heaven looked exactly like Hell. There was sunshine and flowers and music, and a table that seemed to never end, filled with the most delicious foods. But in Heaven the people were all healthy and plump with rosy cheeks. They were laughing and enjoying all there was to enjoy, but the man noticed they still had no elbows. "How is this possible," the man wondered, "that Hell and Heaven are exactly alike, none of the people have elbows, but the people in Heaven are so much happier?" The gate keeper answered, "It is simple. The people in Hell are concerned only with themselves, and therefore will never be able to eat the delicious food. The people in Heaven feed each other."  May we all have the foresight to feed one another, and live all our days in Heaven.  Namaste.