In our life it’s not easy to discriminate what is right and what is wrong. And then this nature’s turn of events or God’s will is confusing enough. Therefore, very often we are left baffled at what we witness. Here is a story based on a real life incident:
Ramesh ji was an old face in the locality. He worked in a university, in an administrative position. He was in his fifties. He had two sons who had gone the wrong way, and others avoided them. He lived with his wife and his sons. One peaceful afternoon, news about his accidental death broke out. What had actually happened was very disturbing. He had a fight with his younger son - perhaps the quarrel was going on for quite some time. That day, Ramesh ji got too agitated and went to the railway track and committed suicide. His dead body arrived at his home after post-mortem. Ideally, and from what we can think about it, society should have deplored his younger son and would have sympathised with the old man’s situation that made him fed up of his life. But what actually happened is as follows.
Realising that it was a case of suicide and hence it would create problems for the family, some plans were made backdoor. The university gave it in writing that Ramesh ji had gone to catch a train with some college work on duty when he had died. That made his son eligible to get a job in his position. And the fact that it was an accidental death causing loss of life, the insurance claims would also be substantial.
His deviated son, because of whom he took such an extreme step and ended his life, would now enjoy his government job. And with the insurance money pouring in, it would indeed be a life full of material pleasures.
What an irony!
- Rahul
This girl was born in the month of January 1953. She was later admitted into the hermitage of Swami Gopalteertha, a holy man in Muradabad in northern India. It is reported that she was hardly three years of age when she had corrected the errors in recitation of the Vedic mantras by her Guru. She also spotted out similarly mistakes in the recitations by two pandits in the ashram.
She had revealed her extraordinary mastery of knowledge of Vedas in her interview with the Governor of Rajasthan. It was found that she knew all the four Vedas by rote and that she had a flowing delivery of the Vedic mantras in her recitation even without a single error of pronunciation of even the most difficult mantras. All this in spite of the fact that she had no advantage of any schooling!
The council of the learned Sanskrit scholars of Jaipur tested her by asking her to recite some unfamiliar and difficult mantras of the Vedic lore. She passed the test not only with correct recitations by pointing out to her examiners the exact location of the mantras in the particular Samhita (volume of compilation) of that specific Veda.
The most mysterious fact to cap this all, as revealed by Swami Gopalteertha and the other ashramites was that Kalpana had received no training and drilling in the Vedic recitations at all. Of course, it is really a mystery when we know that a three year child is not expected by any stretch of imagination, to be well versed in the studies of the Vedas!
(This story of Kalpana appeared in Gujarat magazine ‘Shri Rang’)
(This is one among many other real-life stories shared to prove the existence of reincarnation of souls in the book ‘Science and Religion’ (P 121-122); By Muni Shri Chandrashekhar Vijayji; Translated into English by SR Falnikar Kamal Prakashan Trust, Ahmedabad. First Edition, 1st Oct 1978.)
Mystery
Survival of the fittest?
I was startled to see the statistics on the survivors of the tragic sinking of Titanic. We already know that women and children were sent back safely, since there were lesser numbers of rescue boats than people on board. But what statistics are these? See the table attached.
First there is an 'age bias', then a 'gender bias' and even then there is a 'class bias'! While I really appreciate the way in which those in face-to-face with the death took the decision to offer their seat to kids and women, yeh dil mange more!
There is a hard truth: A 'man' in the first class is more likely to be alive than a man in the second/third class. But, a man in the first class is LESS likely to be saved than a woman in the third class! Gender bias wins over the class bias
What struck me is the irony that the law of "Survival of the fittest" goes down to dumps as we become more civilised and educated What do you say?
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PS: As such, this is nothing new. Even Lord Ram asked Sita to get on the boat first this is part of our culture But the fact that 'life' is not 'equal' for all, makes me think. (And even further, those who think women are discriminated against at all places can see these statistics and smile :) Life is not fair. But life is not unfair either.
(Another titanic fact of the present: If you are living in a state with BJP in power, you are less likely to survive… the bombings…)
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Movies
Kismat Konnection: An average time pass kind of movie that we watch casually. There are good loveable moments; but with a weak plot and not-so-great performances it will not be in the memory for a long time. Shahid is ‘regularly’ good; Vidya is a bit artificial and I don’t like her hair-style :) Can watch type.
Cat which smells death
This is a portion of an interesting report, reported by AP and published in The Hindu on 27th of July, 2007. [Link]
PROVIDENCE: Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours. Its accuracy level, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once it has chosen someone. It usually means the patient has less than four hours to live.
After about six months, the staff members noticed Oscar would make its own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses. It would sniff and observe patients, then sit beside people ? who would end up dying in the next few hours.
Now what will you call this? Just a sixth sense? Even if it is a sixth sense, how can a cat "sniff" some event which is yet to happen? This is not at all possible. One can make out the past event by any special power, but to know the death of some one? Is this a miracle?
Does this cat see the Yamraaj ' the God of Death ' standing by the patient's cot? How else do you explain this phenomenon?
[Mumbai, Friday, 27-Jul-07]
Picture: The attached picture with this post is that of “The Cat” - Oscar.
PS (3 Aug): I got to see the same news article on the Guardian, UK. This news is correct. http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2135381,00.html
