Last year, someone gifted me a subscription to the magazine Prabuddha Bharata, which is a journal founded by no less a person than Swami Vivekananda in 1896 and is published monthly by the Ramakrishna Order. It is a journal devoted to spreading the message of Vedanta and is published every month with learned articles on various aspects of the Hindu faith. Being the serious, scholarly journal that it is, I was pleasantly surprised to find that some of the issues contained jokes and funny stories, with or without a spiritual message, perhaps to offer light relief to the readers! This was the last place I expected to find jokes. However, I think it is a very good idea and I thank the Swamiji who was responsible. May his tribe increase!
Here are two examples from the June, 2004 issue of the Prabuddha Bharata to show the reader what I mean:
1. INTERESTING READING
Aoccdrnig to rseaerch cndoucetd at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a wrod are ; the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteers be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a tatol mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Amzanig, huh ?
2. THE DIVE
A young man who had been raised as an atheist was training to be an Olympic diver. The only religious influence in his life came from his outspoken Christian friend. The young diver never really paid much attention to his friend’s sermons, but he heard them often.
One night the diver went to the indoor pool at the college he attended. The lights were all off, but as the pool had big skylights and the moon was bright, there was plenty of light to practise by.
The young man climbed up to the highest diving board. As he turned his back to the pool standing on the edge of the board and extended his arms, he saw his shadow on the wall.
The shadow of his body was in the shape of a cross.
Instead of diving, he knelt down and finally asked God to come into his life.
As the young man stood on the diving board, a maintenance man walked in and turned on the lights.
The pool had been drained for repairs.
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