Why me?

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983. From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?

To this Arthur Ashe replied: The world over -- 5 crore children startplaying tennis, 50 lakh learn to play tennis, 5 lakh learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the Grand Slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, *When I was holding a cup I never asked GOD "Why me?". And today in pain I should not be asking GOD "Why me?"

Happiness keeps u Sweet,

Trials keep u Strong,

Sorrow keeps u Human,

Failure Keeps u Humble,

Success keeps u Glowing,

But only God Keeps u Going.....

Wisdom tells me I am nothing. Love tells me I am everything. And between the two my life flows.

—Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Is Eckhart Tolle a re-incarnation of Meister Eckhart?

I purchased an interesting book titled "Eckhart Tolle & Sri Aurobindo- Perspectives on Enlightenment by A.S.Dalal printed in 2008. This book is a comparitive study of the teachings of these two teachers. There is an interview of Eckhart Tolle by AS Dalal & Dr.Mistry in 2002 during Eckhart Tolle's visit to India.

The last question in the interview by Dr.Mistry was that the being in the present form of Eckhart Tolle must have been growing in previous incarnations until it flowered in the present incarnation and that it was unlikely that the totality suddenly put forth ET in this present life? In fact Dr. Mistry hinted that ET might be "Meister Eckhart" reborn. Meister Eckhart was a 13th century German mystic and philosopher. ET seemed to have laughed at this suggestion and did not agree or disagree with Dr.Mistry and answered the question of rebirth in a very impersonal way. However, there is a footnote to this interview which caught my attention:

However subsequent to this interview, in an article on "Living in the Now" (published in the July / August 2002 issue of Body & Soul magazine), Peter Occhiogrosso writes about Eckhart Tolle: In a dream several years after his transformation, he (ET) says, 'Somebody called me "Eckhart" I saw books written by [Meister] Eckhart and I knew I had written them. I realized it was a sign, and that it was my name.' " Soon after, he discarded his given names of Ullrich Leonard and adopted the name he now uses.