Historians of literature regard the short story as one of the most recent forms of writing, as it came into popularity with the advent of periodicals and magazines during the 18th and 19th centuries. But in countries with a strong, native oral tradition like India, the short story goes back a long, long way! The puranas and ancient scriptures of our country are full of countless tales: the sages and rishis of yore narrated immortal stories to their disciples; our gurus and teachers even now make use of stories to illustrate their precepts.

It has been said that a picture can communicate the equivalent of a hundred written or spoken words. By the same token, a story can bring home to us a profound truth which would otherwise take a whole sermon to expound!

Dada J.P. Vaswani belongs to the sacred lineage of India's spiritual tradition. He himself graciously declines to be described as a guru. "I am a disciple of all!" he avers instead. "The day I have not learnt something new, I regard as a lost day indeed!"

Be that as it may, thousands of devotees worldwide and many, many more people who have read his books in several world languages, regard Dada J.P. Vaswani as their spiritual mento — a saint of modern times, who can lead them Godward.

The stories — one for each day of the year — brought together for you in this inspiring collection, come from a variety of sources — Question-and-Answer sessions with Dada, his discourses and upadeshes in English and Sindhi, his ruh-rihans or intimate spiritual conversations, and the many books that he has written. Dada is inideed an inimitable racounteur par excellence. The appropriate parable, the right anecdote, the judiciously chosen example always seem to be available at his fingertips. With the help of these, he can bring home to us the most complex truths and the most philosophical ideas which we would otherwise find difficult to grasp.

Here are the most heart-warming stories that you will ever hear; some of them well-known, which we all ove to hear again and again, some of them which you may not have heard before — all of them brought to you from Dada's unique perspective. Here are stories from the world's great scriptures, from the Bible and the Mahabharata; here are stories he heard at the feet of his Guru, Sadhu Vaswani; here are glimpses into the lives of great ones; here are experiences people have related to him in the course of his travels all over the world; ehre too, are little-known incidents from his personal life.

The themes, events and people featured in these stories are as varied as life itself. In these pages are to be found Krishna and Jesus, Prophet Muhammad and Buddha; through them will shine the light of all the world's religions; here too, are St. Francis and St. Augustine, Copnfucius, Bhakta Ramdas and Sant Ravidas, Mira, Shankaracharya, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa and Sadhu Vaswani; great emperors like Alexander, Akbar, Shivaji and Aurangzeb are here; here you will meet Beethoven, Edison, Henry Ford and Rockefeller — as well as Rishi Dayanand, Vidyasagar, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Madan Mohan Malaviya, Mahatma Gandhi is here, as also is Abraham Lincoln. Gods and saints, sinners and holy men, singers and painters, scientists and musicians, the rich and the famous as well as the humble and the lowly and people like you and me are featured here. Tales of the hoary past are to be found side by side with events and experiences of this century.

Some of these stories will touch your heart, a few will make you smile; most of them will make you pause and think. And, without exception, they offer valuable insights that will help you know more of yourself, your life, the people around you, the world you live in — and your Maker.

This is the secret of Dada J.P. Vaswani's trememdous impact as a man of God — his philosophy is the art of living; it is practical and down to earth; his spirituality is an aspect of daily life, his God is love, his religion is service and sacrifice. When you read these stories, you will surely feel that heaven is not a distant astral destination — but a state-of-mind you can achieve here, on God's good earth!

Optimism, positive thinking, faith in human nature and the genuine belief that God is in control — therefore, all was well, all is well and all will be well now and a thousand years hence — such are the positive thought forces that Dada's stories generate.

As modern history prepares to record a new millennium, it is heartening to know that human beings still appreciate and desire goodness in all its aspects. Here, then, is a book that will make you think good, feel good, do good and be good!