Monday, July 26, 2004

Life with Chinmayee!

This was written on Feb 09 ´04, but still relevant!!

Life with Chinmayee has been a very good learning experience. Or perhaps an unlearning experience. She has been teaching a lot of things ever since she came about ten months back.

The latest of her teachings is that you should never give up. And it is precept by practice when she drives home the point. Only I have to be ready to grasp the lesson. When you are trying to achieve something, there will be many obstacles that may throw you off balance and make you fall. You should get up and have a go at it again because there is great joy in achieving what you want.

Lesson number two is that in order forget the pain of one setback, the best way out is to distract yourself or focus on something else. Very often you will find a situation where you have been felled and feeling pain. The best course is to focus on something else and momentarily forget the setback. That way you are always happy. Anyway, you will go back to the previous one if you must and you can be more careful then.

Lesson number three is that you should be uncomplicated. If you are hungry, eat; if you are thirsty, drink; if you are sleepy, sleep. There cannot be any other solution to these things. We tend to complicate our life without necessity.

Lesson number four is 'Communicate'. You must communicate to the other person about what you want. It is a fundamental necessity for human beings because we can't live without the society.

Actually, you must be gathering your vocabulary to ridicule me for preaching such simple and fundamental things. But coming as it does from my ten month old daughter, they are great lessons. I am sure there is nothing in it that is unique to my daughter. I am sure the child who was born a year ago your next door will be doing pretty much the same things -- trying to walk, keep falling and trying again; forgetting the pain of a fall by seeing a dog bark; crying for food when hungry, for sleep when feeling sleepy and demanding the parent or the grandparent to take her on a small outing so that he can see the world. Actually I often wonder that I too was like this once, perhaps trying to teach the elders around me pretty much the same things. Perhaps you will wonder that you too were like this. Then why are we a lot different today, so much so that we are trying to learn what we 'preached' even as a child? That is why I said life has been an unlearning experience with Chinmayee. We have to unlearn a lot to actually get back to that pure and unsullied state of mind. I am sure there are many more lessons lurking there in every day life of these wonderful kids.

A poem by Richard Feynman

There are the rushing waves
mountains of molecules
each stupidly minding its own business
trillions apart
yet forming white surf in unison

Ages on ages
before any eyes could see
year after year
thunderously pounding the shore as now.
For whom, for what?
On a dead planet
with no life to entertain.

Never at rest
tortured by energy
wasted prodigiously by the Sun
poured into space.
A mite makes the sea roar.

Deep in the sea
all molecules repeat
the patterns of one another
till complex new ones are formed.
They make others like themselves
and a new dance starts.
Growing in size and complexity
living things
masses of atoms
DNA, protein
dancing a pattern ever more intricate.

Out of the cradle
onto dry land
here it is
standing:
atoms with consciousness;
matter with curiosity.

Stands at the sea,
wonders at wondering: I
a universe of atoms
an atom in the Universe.

Saturday, July 24, 2004

lOkO ratihi!

Aum Sri Sai Ram


Sitting in Brindavan while Swamy was on HIS throne enjoying the Bhajans, I reflected 'Perhaps the formless Godhead won't be so much joy'! Of course that is a path yet untrodden. But while I sit and watch Bhagawan enjoying the Bhajans, I wanted that moment to freeze so that I can savour it forever.

How lucky we are that the Formless Divine principle is walking the earth as our contemporary! And luckier still, out of HIS infinite grace, HE has drawn us unto HIM. We have no knowledge of the previous Avatars of the Lord. Our idea of Them mostly comes from mythological stories we have heard about Them. But we have now an unique opportunity to see the Avatar, and experience HIM.

What is HE? There can be varied descriptions but the most apt of them all, by Swamy's own declaration is HE is love on the move. HIS love for all of us is boundless. HE once said 'lOkO ratihi' which means HE loves the whole world! HIS love is immeasurable. I will try to give a few examples of how HE expresses that Love to us.

Perhaps the greatest expression of that Love divine is the Superspeciality and General Hospitals at Prashantinilayam and Whitefield, Bangalore. These hospitals cater to the health needs of people cutting across religion, caste, creed, social stratum and whatever other discrminations our mind can conceive. A better description for these hospitals is 'Temples of Healing'. The efficiency, efficacy, results and the happiness they confer on the patient alongwith good health are astounding. The whole world is stunned that such high quality medical care could be made available entirely free of cost. When the Avatar descends, there is no scope for patch work. The peace that is to be established has to be sustained over a long period of time to come. That is why HE doesn't take short cuts. A country's future can be safe only if its citizens are honest, hardworking and sincere. And what better way to make such citizens than establish schools, colleges and Balvikas where the citizens of tomorrow are moulded with love. Bhagawan has made no secret of HIS preference for students. When HE comes for darshan everyday, HE goes straight to the students first, blesses, converses, enquires and gives HIS love. The students reciprocate the love by being ready to give their very lives to Swamy. And when a student emotionally told Swamy that he is even ready to lay down his life for HIM, Swamy was quick to correct him and said 'I want you to live for ME, not die for ME'. Can there be a better example of exchange of Love?

Swamy mentioned in a discourse after the inauguration of the Water supply project in Anantpur district that for fifty years after independence, this place has been neglected by politicians and bureaucrats alike. So HE took it upon HIMSELF to provide clean drinking water by laying about 1750KM of pipeline covering hundreds of villages. With anybody else, a project of this magnitude and dimensions is impossible, but not with Baba. This project has been successfully replicated in many other districts now. The root cause, Swamy's love for humanity - now we understand lOkO ratihi better.

Swamy's love for us constantly finds newer expressions and betters itself, if that is possible. I am saying this in the light of last one year's incidents. Bhagawan is in human casing and HE is so selfless that HE won't use HIS miraculous powers to heal HIS body. HE is approaching eight decades in this human form. Last year, HE underwent a surgery in the hip. HIS bone was relaced by a steel rod. It would have been impossible for anyone else of that age to walk about, oblivious of his own state of body. But Swamy has told us before 'HIS life is HIS message'. So, even as HE suffers excruciating pain, HE walks amidst us, with a smile, as if nothing has happened. HE continues to receive letters, HE continues to make Vibhuti, HE continues to bless, HE continues to show us that HE loves and HE cares. In the first week of May 2004, Bhagawan sustained another injury on HIS shoulder. But HE was there for everyone during the Easwaramma day celebrations. In fact, HE stood and spoke for one hour and enthralled everybody. And HE came out for darshan in a revolving chair.

What more proof do we want to recognise HIM as Love personified?

Perhaps, I can keep on writing about the various instances of HIS Love. But the sole point is the undercurrent of love that flows. We must grasp that love and treasure it, imbibe it and inculcate it unfailingly. What greater good fortune than giving that LOVE divine our love. After all, that is what HE wants and that iswhy HE took pains to descend. Let us Love HIM and recollect what HE said once:

Come one, come all, let us not be ungrateful called.
Let us faithfully serve HIM and love HIM and love HIM and love HIM.
-- Baba

Jai Sai Ram


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Love to blog. Every time I turn joyous or in extreme pain, I blog. Huge believer of 'charity begins at home'.