pilgrim’s blog

Sunday, post lunch is the time to catch up on reading .As I settled down with a book ,my daughter handed me a magazine which carried an article that had caught her attention and hence she wanted to share it with me. It was a poet’s imagination of a conversation between Rama (Goddess Lakshmi) and Uma(Goddess Parvathi) about their respective husbands Murari(LordVishnu) and Tripurari (Lord Shiva). The conversation between the two who are thick friends also, goes like this REMA: Don’t you cook proper food for your husband that he is seen begging all the time? UMA ( smiling) : What if he begs ,he doesn’t steal from others’ house atleast. REMA: How is your husband’s bull? Is it still there? UMA: Why ask me? The one who spends time with cows would know more about bovine nature than me. REMA: Heard your husband fell for my husband’s female form .Is it true? UMA: He did not fall for16008 forms definitely. REMA: Doesn’t your husband have proper clothes to wear for he is always seen in deer skin? UMA: What if he wears deer skin ..he does not for sure steal other people’s clothes. REMA: What a pity your husband has to wear snake around his neck for want of proper jewels! UMA: I too feel pity for your husband for having to sleep on one for want of proper mattress. REMA: Heard your husband dances well. Can you arrange for me to watch his performance? UMA: Why take the trouble? You only have to walk into Vrindavan to see your husband dancing and mind you he has company also. REMA: What happened to your husband’s deer? UMA: I don’t trouble him for one. REMA: I did not know your husband loved to hunt for his food( referring to Lord’s Kirat roopam) UMA( chuckling to herself): I t was to scare a boar who lifted bhoomi from the ocean depths with the help of his tusk. Thus went the repartee between the two who still remained close friends at the end of it. When I read it, the first thought that came to my mind was what fun it would be to participate in such a game. More than fear and reverence it was love that I felt for the universal force which manifests in different forms. To a lay man He appears like one among them to explain the complexities of life. All that I could do at that moment was bow before age old wisdom of Hinduism and sing this bhajan from yore… Hara ohm hara ohm Sada shiva Hari ohm hari ohm Narayana Shambo Mahadeva Sada shiva Ambuja nayana Narayana Pannaga bhushana Sada shiva Pannaga shayana Narayana Anatha rakshaka Sada shiva Apathbandhava Narayana……

Her heart murmured evolution evolution evolution .Evolution the gift of nature. Evolution that is unhurried, graceful and always for the better .Evolution that is beautiful, natural and enriching. Evolution that reveals itself slowly like the blooming of a flower, like the transformation of a girl into a woman. It is a feeling it is metaphysical.

Her mind screamed revolution revolution revolution. Revolution that is man's prerogative ,his weapon. That which distincts him from animals. Fast, brash ,hitting on the face. Revolution that breaks free the shackles .Revolution that is a gush of fresh air to the gasping. Revolution that is palpable ,that is physical.

If evolution is the Yin ,revolution is the Yang and they together give the sense of entirety.

She was his best friend. He had the freedom to tell her anything. She would always come up with a simple solution to all the problems he thought was complicated and beyond his understanding. Hope she finds a solution to this problem also which was eating into his conscious for the past few days .he wished ardently.

He had everything in life. A promising career. A loving family .A financially stable future. But nothing was offered to him on a silver plate. He had to strive for it. His youth was spent in chasing his career and building the life of his dreams. He had no complaints about it..

But now he had reached that dreaded plateau where there was nothing further, for him to achieve. He missed the gush of adrenaline in his blood that kept him going. The emptiness was too much for him to bear and he was becoming restless.

There were so many easy and tempting ways out of it. His mind was being drawn towards them and he could do nothing about it. After all he was a human being. What you resist persists. So the harder he tried the stronger was the pull.

The tug of war in his mind was taking its toll on him and she noticed it. She waited patiently, giving him time to figure out a solution on his own. As they sat over their morning cup of coffee in the pantry he broached the subject. His haggard look tore at her heart .It was a little complicated. She too did not know how to go about it.

After listening to all that had transpired, she said "don't resist it .Reflect on it. Nothing is here to stay. If you think you can come out of it stronger don't turn your back .But remember one thing as it involves another person .Don't do anything that would hurt her because I know you will never be able to forgive yourself." Saying thus she slowly pushed towards him the poem he had written long ago. He read it and smiled to himself.

Today his collection of poems was going to be released  and to who else could he dedicate it to other than her for she had given him the right direction without which he would have lost his way.

Something that happened today reminded me of this short story that I had read some time back.Let me share it with you.Those were the days when Alexander the great was invading India.The Indian rulers ,one after the other, were being defeated and their provinces annexed to his empire.One day as Alexander was passing through a forest he saw a mendicant sitting under a tree,deep in meditation.On being approched the saint,looked at Alexander and smiled.Alexander who was used to being received with obeisance was offended at the saint’s calm posture.He ordered the saint to bow before him as he was the great emperor who had conquered the kingdom ,of which that forest and the hut that belonged to the saint was also a part.

On hearing the angry words of Alexander, the saint still smiling replied “How can I bow to the slave of my slave.”Not understanding what the saint meant ,Alexander ordered him to explain what he meant by calling him the slave of his slave.The saint explained thus”I control anger.Hence it is my slave.Anger controls you my son.Hence you are its slave.So are you not the slave of my slave”.

Realising his mistake the great Alexander bowed before the mendicant and returned a wiser man.

Moral:Anger if uncontrolled controls you

This is the story of a small time juggler who made a living performing small feats at roadsides.One day he saw two clergymen passing that way and the calmness on their face effected him deeply.For days at a stretch he thought of the peaceful ex-pression on their face and it had a lasting effect on him.At last he decided to join the order.There he met the other priests who were in one way or the other talented in different art forms.Father Damien who had a good voice would compose songs on the Lord,which would touch the hardest of hearts.Father thomas’ hands would sculpt life like statues of the Lord out of the most ordinary of things.Seeing all this the juggler felt very sad because he had no such talents using which he could express his love for the Lord.He would toss and turn at nights thinking of his shortcomings compared to the other priests.One such sleepless night he went to the chapel where he saw the face of the Lord looking at him with all the love and compassion in the world.With tears uncontrolled, he started performing the feats that he used to do on the roadside, in front of the Lord ,as he had nothing else to offer Him.Seeing light in the chapel at such an odd hour the chief priest came to check on it.Seeing the juggler perfom in front of he Lord the chief priest was dumbstruck.As the juggler was immersed in his feat a small drop of sweat broke on is forhead which started slowly trickling down.To the chief priest’s amazement he saw the apparition of the Lord himself stepping down from the pedestal and slowly walking towards the juggler.Unknowing to him the Lord wiped the juggler’s forhead of the sweat and slowly disappeared

Howmuchever small may be your offering to God, if it comes directly from your heart it occupies the highest place in His eyes. 

I have wondered many times why do so many good people suffer in life whereas people who are not very good keep coming up in life.In many discourses by famous Gurus i have heard people asking them this question.Once when i was reading, i came across this story of Krishna and Arjuna.One day as they were passing through a village disguised as ordinary men they spend the night in a rich man’s house.The man is very arrogant and shows no respect towards the guests.While leaving the house Krishna blesses the man with more wealth and prosperity.They resume their journey and reach the house of an old man who is so poor that he has only thin gruel to offer the guests which he does with great love and respect.As the duo leave the house they see that the old man has only a cow to call his own.To Arjuna’s utter surprise Krishna slaughters the cow on his way out.Arjuna who has never ever questioned Krishna’s actions becomes perplexed to see such a reaction from Krishna’s side.Sensing his friend’s disturbance Krishna explains the reason behind his action.The rich man had a long way to travel before he would reach salvation .So he blessed him with more wealth that would entangle him further to this world.Whereas the only thing that bound the old man to this world was the cow and by breaking that bondage he was clearing his passage to eternity.This short story cleared my doubt as to why good people suffer in life…..Hope it has done yours also. 

That summer i was visiting my elder sister.My 4 yr. old neice wud come home every evening crying,saying the neighbour’s son who was a year younger to her hit her.This neighbour happened to be my sister’s close friend.As the kids played both the mothers wud sit and chat.One day i decided enough was enough.As my neice came home crying as usual i caught hold of her and told her if she came home again without hitting the guy back i would spank her.I thought this would help her in future also when she would be on her own.Next evening i was more excited to know if my neice had reacted as advised by me.I sat innocently with my sister and her friend( the bully’s mom).What do i see!!!!my neice running to me shouting at the top of her voice….”masi i hit babloo as u had told and he is wailing ….hoorah”.I wudn’t have prayed more ardently for the earth beneath my foot to swallow me.After that day i saw to it that i never came in front of my sister’s friend till my vacation got over.