The Borrowed God

And Other Stories

Jyoti Prateek
The Borrowed God
And Other Stories

JYOTI PRATEEK
Copyright © 2016 by Jyoti Prateek.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be

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We borrow gods from outside

To realise the One within

When the One within is realised

The true worship begins

Contents
Foreword ........................................................viii

Preface ............................................................ ix

God ................................................................... 1
Devotion ................................................................................ 2

The Borrowed God ................................................................. 7

The Idol Maker ..................................................................... 13

The Priest and the Cobbler ................................................... 17

Flight of Freedom ................................................................. 21

A Letter to God..................................................................... 31

The Gods of Two Hands ....................................................... 35

Elements ......................................................... 39
Om Prithvi Namah ............................................................... 40

Om Vrikshaya Namah .......................................................... 45

Om Samudraya Namah ....................................................... 50

Om Agni Namah .................................................................. 54

Om Vayu Namah ................................................................. 60

Om Akashaya Namah .......................................................... 63

The Path and the Traveller................................................... 66

True Self ............................................................................... 69

Life and Death................................................. 73

A Journey from Limited Self to Infinite Self .......................... 74

Twin Sisters – Life and Death ............................................... 82

Light and Darkness .............................................................. 85

Quest for Survival................................................................. 89

The Diamond and the Coal .................................................. 92

The Art of Dying ................................................................... 95

Body and Beyond ............................................................... 100

Values ........................................................... 110

The Banyan Tree ................................................................ 111

Desire and Renunciation .................................................... 116

Aloneness and Loneliness .................................................. 122

Story of a Kingdom ............................................................ 125

The Balloon of Ego and the Stream of Breath ................... 128

Contentment ...................................................................... 130

Nobody Wins! .................................................................... 139

A Matter of Time ............................................................... 141

Differences Don’t Create Conflict....................................... 143

The Way Up ....................................................................... 146

Rendezvous with a Saint .................................................... 148

Duty and Love .................................................................... 154

Image Courtesy ............................................. 157

Other Publications......................................... 158

Foreword
I was soared and taken away into lands of mysticism
and wisdom, where elements were speaking to my
soul. Miraculous landscapes, unassuming saints and
ancient temples were filling my mind with long
forgotten wisdom. I felt as if enlightened Masters
talked to me as I was a child and they were my
parents.

“Is it possible that all these words were written by a

modest and humble lady from a different side of the
world?” I questioned myself. How old this soul must be
when she pours such a great wisdom with so much
grace and humility?

I surrendered to her voice and words and allowed

myself to be taken into heights and depths of eternal
Truth. Blessed is the being that spread so much light
unto this world. Blessed are all those who have the
chance to be illuminated by it.

Keep shining, you beautiful Soul, whoever touches

your words and stories, will be changed forever.

_ Milan Bojic,

Editor in chief, The Awakening Times magazine

Preface
From the feet of my Guru, to the cave of my thoughts,
then the pages of my personal diary to notes on
Facebook, with some of them appearing in the online
journal of The Awakening Times, the words of these
stories have traveled much.
The Indian scriptures abound in stories that personify
elements, virtues and vices to inspire and share with
the young and old folk; the simple truths of life. When
I was interviewing Sri Vedayana for The Awakening
Times, on his treatise written about the Rig Veda, I was
inspired by how our ancients personified the basic
elements of Nature and recognised the Universe as
one Universal Being. This perspective brings out the
concept of Oneness so beautifully. While science deals
with these elements quite objectively, this perspective
of their nature is something that makes them more
alive and something that we as humans can relate to
and appreciate better. Some stories in this book
happen to be written in moments when the elements
came alive to tell their stories and revealed the depths
about the natural phenomena of life and death,
around which they exist in Nature.

Some of the stories are direct experiences; some were

pictured in imagination, some are metaphorical while
others are symbolic. Each story has a message, which I
felt was a precious insight from the Universe around
and must be shared with all.

Each of the stories was written and rewritten several

times, as new perspectives kept developing while I
meditated on their contents. The stories are ever fluid,
and may be they develop newer perspectives even
after they go out in print.

This book is an attempt to bring together all these

stories for the reader on the path of awakening; to stir
a soul search, an awareness of the elements, to instil
values and to lay bare the truth of life and death; as
perceived, in this concise volume.

Life is replete with learning that helps us, evolve and

grow in our sojourn to return to the source. In
moments when deeper truths of life are revealed,
there is an opportunity to detach ourselves and look at
the multiple aspects of events around us. The
classroom called ‘World’ has so much more to teach
us. Therefore it is rightly said “One never graduates
from the University of the World, but only evolves
through it”.

In the closing, I sincerely want to thank The Awakening

Times and Milan, the Editor-in-Chief, who has been a
constant source of encouragement, building my
motivation to bring out this book by offering a
platform for publications in The Awakening Times.
A big thanks to Prateek for being my co-traveler in this
journey of learning and for his astute critique; honest
support and valuable insights that have helped this
work take shape.

With deep reverence to my Guru (Dr. S.R Thakur),

whose words echo through me into these pages, I
dedicate this work to his vision of awakened and
liberated souls.

Jyoti Prateek
God

1
Devotion

The Shiva temple on the banks of the river near the

old Peepal tree was thronged by devotees morning
and evening. The reflection of the morning Sun
made the river waters orange, and the river seemed
like an ascetic in flowing ochre robes, bowing to the
temple of Shiva right in front of it. Birds chirping on
the tree seemed to chant some sacred hymn, while
devotees from far and near came with offerings of
flowers, fruits, milk and sweets to have a glimpse of
their deity.

Fragrance from the incense sticks wafted through

the air around the temple alongside the sound of
bells. Small bushes of Tulsi graced the entrance of
the brick floored shrine and in the center of the
temple, stood the black, rock-solid Shiva ling. Water
poured on its top through a pierced copper vessel,
constantly keeping it bathed and clean. Devotees
offered flowers and milk bowing in reverence to the
deity, while ants feasted on bits of fallen sweets
given in prasaad.
Behind the main mandap of the temple, along the
north wall stood three banana trees in a row, at the
end of which was the simple and humble abode of
Deenanath the temple priest. Deenanath would get
up early each morning and after cleaning around the
temple and bathing, would sit for hours chanting the
name of his lord Shiva. His wife Janaki accompanied
him in his chanting; sometimes his son too would
wake up along with him, but would soon go off to
sleep again.

Deenanath and Janaki would wash the temple daily

and furnish it with fresh flowers which they grew in
the nearby yard. Janaki would prepare a sweet that
would be distributed to the devotees as prasaad.
This was a daily family ritual for them which kept
them happily busy. Their son, Surya, however was
not a devoted sort. But Deenanath never imposed
the rituals on him. Deenanath believed that devotion,
like friendship, could not be imposed. He believed
that it was a spontaneous flowering that took its own
time to grow and blossom.

As time passed by, he grew anxious for handing

over the temple responsibilities. He knew he was
growing old and needed someone to take over the
charge of the temple so that the devotees always
had a place to visit. So he thought of talking about
this to Surya who was now a mature adult and
though independent, showed some interest in the
temple.

3
When he finally spoke to Surya, he refused, saying,
"Baba I cannot do this job".

"But why, what is wrong with this? You would

anyway take up a job somewhere, here I am offering
you one, and the good thing is you know everything
about it".

"Yes I know everything about it, I know that you will

be a devotee for a lifetime but never be the Lord.
You work from morning to evening, making this
place worthy of worship yet this work is not
acknowledged. Those part time devotees who visit
the temple kneel and bow to the rock statue of your
lord and completely ignore your existence! Our
family feeds on the offerings made to that rock idol. I
feel ashamed that your status is even less than a
rock! This job is humiliating and self-insulting."
blurted Surya.
Deenanath was taken aback by his son's words. He
knew that Surya was not the devout kind, but his
views about his work came as a big blow to his
devoted heart. He felt broken within, and though
outwardly calm he was shattered within. He tried to
gather himself up, and regaining his composure said,

“Son, you are free to choose the work of your choice,

but there is a misunderstanding you have regarding
my work and I need to clear that, had I been
desirous of status I would not be here in the first
place. I am here for my love for Shiva, who has been
my constant companion in life; and the devotees
who visit the temple are bringing something more
precious than what is visible to you. They bring with
them a gift of devotion. Their eyes can see God in a
rock and that is great. Bowing to something powerful
is natural, but bowing to something that is
considered weak and worthless as in your views,
simply a rock, is what I call devotion. Their coming
with this feeling feeds the devotee in me. This gift is
invisible and perhaps the most valuable gift that they
bring. Their devotion is what endears them to me,
and whatever I do for them is my way of expressing
my love for them. I am happy to have a lifetime or
more of devotion, as the creation of devotion is
something as great as God.
Still if you think that status is something that is
brought by something other than love and devotion,
you are free to choose a status of your choice.”

Surya, now with tears in his eyes, hugged

Deenanath and said "Baba, forgive me, I never saw

5
things from your viewpoint. You never made a show
of your devotion, and hence I could never see it.
Devotion is something perhaps between the Lord
and the devotee, a very subtle but strong thread that
binds the two of you. I could not see the strength of
this thread that has kept your satisfaction and peace
secured amidst all the worldly attractions. But now I
see this valuable thread and want to hold onto it too,
so that I can connect to the Lord, I too shall become
a devotee now!"

Both father and son then proceeded to light a lamp

in the temple. That evening was no longer dark!
The Borrowed God

We borrow gods from outside

To realise the One within
When the One within is realised
The true worship begins

On the banks of river Sarayu, in the small village of

Chitrakoot, farmer Dhaniram worked hard in the
fields to produce a harvest that fulfilled his family
needs and also that of some others who came to him
for help. In his many years of hardships, he had
seen spoiled harvests, sometimes diseases infesting
the crops, sometimes pests and hailstorms and
sometimes a bountiful harvest. He had been through
all the ups and downs of farming enriching him with
experience in his farming skills. Having grown
through time with farming, he held his skill dear to
his heart despite being weary of it.

7
One day he was passing by the village temple where
he saw the temple priest Nakulananda humming a
bhajan and moving around joyously in a carefree
manner. He stopped and observed him carefully,
then went closer and curiously asked, “Hey Nakula,
how do you manage to be so joyous and carefree. I
have never known such a state; I am either working
hard in the fields or worried about my crops. Please
share your secret of joy so that I can also benefit.”

The priest cheerfully replied, “It is no secret, I just

worship my God and he takes care of all my work. It
is so simple!” Dhaniram was amazed on hearing this,
and said; “Ah! You are so lucky. If you don’t mind,
can I borrow your God for few days?”

Now this was a strange question for Nakulananda.

No one had ever asked him such a question, and he
was not prepared for it. None of the scriptures that
he had read had instructions on how to loan a God!
This was such an odd question, how to answer it!
Moreover what would a temple without an idol be
like? All these thoughts flooded his mind in that
instant and his joyous face turned into a worried face
that moment. Seeing him worry, Dhaniram was
puzzled and asked, “What happened, don’t you want
the people in the village to be as joyous as you?”

Nakulananda reverted in defence, “No, you cannot

take the God of this temple, but to keep you happy, I
will give you a new God.” The priest was unsure
about the results of giving this ‘God’ to Dhaniram so
he added, “But only if you worship Him properly will
he take care of you.”

Dhaniram was happy at the prospect of getting God

at last, and said, “Don’t you worry I shall worship to
the best of my ability.”

Nakulananda went inside and picked up a stone that

he used as a paper-weight and gave it to Dhaniram
saying, “See here is your God, now it’s all between
you and Him.”

Dhaniram was overjoyed, he thanked the priest for

his gift and hurried back home. He called on his wife,
and exclaimed, “See I have brought God home! Now
all our worries will go away.” His wife was a bit
puzzled and asked “Where?” He showed her the
stone that the priest had given him. She thought that
the priest had fooled her naïve husband but didn’t
want to interrupt his stream of joy, so just smiled at
him.

Dhaniram then asked her to bring food for God, as

he would have food only after feeding God. He
bathed the stone while his wife brought food.

He was overjoyed at the idea that God would eat

food from his hands. Dhaniram was so simple; he
never thought that a stone could not eat. In fact he
never believed he brought home a stone, all that he
knew was, that he brought God home. He offered
the food lovingly to the stone. But the stone won’t
eat. He was disappointed, but then thought “I must
pray Him to eat. The priest had said to worship
9
properly.” So he folded his hands, bowed before the
stone and pleaded to eat. Nothing happened. He
then thought, “Nakulanada sings bhajans, maybe
God will be pleased by it. I must sing to please Him.”
He sang for the first time in his life. He could feel his
voice was coarse. It failed to make the stone eat the
food. Dhaniram assumed that his voice wasn’t
melodious enough to be liked by God so he got a
music system to play bhajans. But even then God
did not accept the food offered by him.

Dhaniram felt, probably God is feeling uncomfortable

in this hut, I should arrange a better seating
arrangement to please Him. He went out to get some
fine cloth and decorations to prepare a seat suitable
for God. The whole day was spent in preparing a
decorative seat, after which Dhaniram was so tired
that he didn’t know when he fell asleep. He went
without food that day.

Next morning he woke up and saw that God had still

not eaten the food. He bathed the stone and dressed
it in the new clothes he had brought for ‘his God’,
seated Him on the decorated seat, burnt some
essence, offered some flowers and fruits and tried
singing a bhajan to appease Him. All this to no avail,
he kept calling upon God from morning to night but
God still did not eat the food offered. Three days
passed like this. Dhaniram tried his best to please
God, but He would not accept his food. Three days
Dhaniram too went without food. His wife was
worried for him. She pleaded him to have food, but
he refused and said until God accepts my offering, I
cannot eat.

An old beggar came to their house that day and

asked for something to eat. Dhaniram’s wife told the
beggar that her husband had not eaten since three
days, and unless he had his food how could she
offer him food. Dhaniram’s wife told the beggar that
her husband had not eaten since three days, and
unless he had his food how could she offer him
food.. The beggar asked her why he had not eaten;
and she told him the whole story. He then asked to
see Dhaniram. She took him inside where Dhaniram
was pleading his God to eat. The beggar went over
to the altar where Dhaniram had placed his God. He
kicked the ornately adorned stone and in his tattered
rags, seated himself on the altar. Dhaniram was in a
state of shock. For a moment he wanted to scold the
beggar for kicking down his God, but then he lovingly
picked up the food and fed the beggar with his own
hands. He wept tears of joy as he did so. The beggar
hugged him, fed the remaining food to Dhaniram and
said, “Now that you have fed me, can we go to the
fields.”

Dhaniram concluded that the one he was trying to

propitiate was not the real one. That was only a
medium to beckon the real. And the one who was
real needed no appeasement.

Later when he returned, his wife asked him “This

beggar threw away your idol and you still fed him?”

11
“The thought of anger fleeted my mind when he
kicked the idol, but then I thought; if the feeling to
feed God was not within me I could not have fed Him
either in stone or human form. But the feeling to feed
him was strong enough that it didn’t matter what
form He came in.” replied Dhaniram, with a never
before smile. And he walked towards the temple to
return the borrowed God; he had found his own now!
The Idol Maker

In the lesser known village of Vishnupur, lived an

even lesser known idol maker, Rama. He had spent
most part of his life making idols for the temples of
his own and the neighbouring villages. Sometimes
city dwellers also came by to buy his idols. He was
very passionate about the art of making idols. He put
his heart and soul into making the idol look like a
‘God’ and they really did come alive as one. The
onlookers could have possibly no choice but to bow
to such a creation and worship it. Such was the
magic of Rama’s handwork. He did not mind
skipping a meal or a nap in order to give his fullest
into the idol. In fact most times it would happen like
that. Rama used to get completely absorbed into the
art-work that he was hardly aware of what time of the
day it was or whether there was anything like
hunger, heat or flies to distract him from his work.
His total absorption and devotion to his work
13
outweighed all the seeming distractions, which never
seemed to exist for him.

One day his friend, farmer Bhola came to visit him.

Rama kept working on his new idol, while Bhola sat
near him. Rama’s wife got some tea for the two
friends. Bhola was a devoted farmer. He used to visit
the temple daily, perform the puja rituals and then
only ate something and went to work. He believed
that if he missed out on the rituals, it would displease
the gods, and the result of their displeasure would be
a failed harvest or infected crop.

Bhola had seen Rama always at work, and was

curious, as to how his work went on smoothly
without any losses as he seemed to perform no
rituals at all. Sheer curiosity made him ask
Rama, “You are always busy making your idols, but
when do you worship them?”

At this Rama replied, “Do I need to do that

separately? Am I not worshipping them while
creating them? Please don’t mind, I have no doubts
about your devotion, but people go for an hour or
even less to the temple to worship my idols, but I put
my life force into them day and night. If you define
worship by a ritual, then their creation is my ritual.”

Both were silent now. Bhola had understood Rama’s

point and said no more and Bhola left for work after
hugging Rama.
After Bhola had left, Rama saw the village school
teacher, ‘Masterji’ coming his way. Rama asked his
wife to get some water, flowers, vermilion and
incense sticks. He now performed the ritual rites of
worshipping the idols. While he was performing the
ritual, Masterji came by and greeted
Rama, “Namaste Rama, how are you”?

“Namaste Masterji, I am fine by God’s grace. Why

don’t you come inside?”

Masterji, who did not believe in idol worship or

rituals, but admired Rama’s idols and his sincerity in
making them, was compelled by the sight of Rama
performing the rituals to comment on it “Hey, Rama
why do you need to do a ritual. You are making the
idols so why do you need to worship something that
is made by you?”

Rama as if knew that Masterji would ask this, was

ready with the answer, “Masterji you are wise
enough to say so, but if I do not worship the idols I
make, how can I expect people to worship them?

15
The whole purpose of making an idol is put before a
question-mark if the one who makes them doesn’t
worship them.”

Masterji understood Rama’s point, as he was precise

and clear.

After Masterji left, Rama’s wife asked him, “Why did

you give two exactly opposite answers to Bhola and
Masterji?”
At this Rama laughed heartily then explained, “Dear,
I have made a picture and see it completely, while
Bhola and Masterji saw it with some parts missing. I
just made them see the complete picture by giving
them the missing parts of the picture from my eyes
to theirs.”

Rama’s wife had one more thing to ask, “Dear, what

is the truth then? Why do you make the idols? Is it
for worshipping them or for making money”?

Rama replied in a clear voice, “All creation is the

progeny of bliss. I create the idols as it is blissful
to make them. Neither do I intend to worship
them, nor to make money from them. Respect for
them and the money for our family is only a
blessing of that bliss”.
The Priest and the Cobbler

Ravidas was a simple and contented man. He

repaired shoes in a small thatched corner of the
town market lane. A good night’s sleep was his only
treasure. He was happy with his life, and had little to
desire than a few broken slippers a day or some
unpolished shoes, that would earn him a belly full.
He did not have many friends as he hardly went to
the temple or to the choupal to play a bet with other
cobblers of the community. His only good friends
were his hands, feet and eyes.

He went to bed as soon as the sky turned dark and

woke only when the sun appeared on the horizon.
So he had no need of either electric or any other
lamps. The sun and the moon were the only lamps
that lit up his house. His food was simple as he ate
only fruits so he did not need cook or wash any
17
dishes. A simple and peaceful life made him feel like
an emperor in his own right, and this free spirit lived
like one, though without an external crown. He rolled
in the luxuries of abundant quality time with himself,
peace and good health.

It was festive season and everyone in the town was

visiting the temple to worship and seek divine grace.
Deepavali was round the corner and all over the
town lamps were lit. The whole town was bustling
with celebration. Yet Ravidas’ house had no lamp.
He slept early as usual and the noise of the
firecrackers in the neighbourhood was not enough to
rob him of his treasure of sleep.

Early next morning he went to the river for his bath.

On the way he saw the streets all messed up with
ashes and trash from firecrackers, sweet wrappers,
prayer flowers and burnt out lamps and candles. He
wondered why celebrations that were preceded by
cleansing of houses and towns ended up in trash to
be cleansed again. The sweepers were still asleep
and unwilling to go to work as they had been tired by
the late night celebrations. Ravidas anyways took his
bath and went home. He knew no one would come
to the town market early that day, so he picked up a
book and started reading. He was fond of reading,
and usually spent his leisure time either reading or
playing his flute. He liked reading the scriptures and
playing melodious tunes on his flute.

As the sun rose he headed towards his thatched

shelter to work. Greetings exchanged amongst men
in the marketplace. The shops were getting ready for
the day’s business. The priest of the local temple
was heading towards the temple. Ravidas greeted
him, ‘Namaste Panditji’. ‘Namaste Ravi, you never
came to the temple?’ the priest said, hoping to know
how someone’s celebration could be complete
without visiting the temple. Ravidas simply smiled
and chose not to say anything. The priest however
could not resist his speech and said, ‘It is sad that
you never came to the temple or heard God’s song,
sorry that you know Him not’. The cobbler still said
nothing and smiled back. This slightly agitated the
priest and he hurriedly made a move to the temple.
All along the way he kept muttering to himself, ‘Oh
what does this cobbler know of God, after all that’s
why they remain in the dirt mending smelly shoes.’
He was unable to forget the cobbler’s smile. He was
totally upset at the idea of how a man could smile
without going to a temple. He had spent his life
teaching people that temples were meant to bring
good things into life and here a man could smile and
be happy without all those ‘good’ things!! This was
too true to be swallowed raw. But it was true. The
priest wanted to assert the importance of God and
temple to Ravidas and the whole day kept thinking of
how he could do it.

In the evening, while he passed by Ravi’s house, he

saw he was already asleep. The priest, who was
already upset by the morning incident, muttered to
himself. ‘It’s only 8 p.m. and this guy is asleep! I
need to wake him up before his lazy ways spread to
the whole town. This is my moral duty. Yes, I need to

19
awaken Ravi to the purpose of life. He needs to do
something for the good of the community. His
resource is just going waste.’

So the priest woke up Ravi and asserted the

importance of worship to him. Ravi listened with
great intent and sincerely asked what he needed to
do. The priest asked him to fast in order to get
cleansed off his sins. Ravi inquired what he needed
to do in order to fast. The priest told him to eat only
fruits. At this Ravi told him that he had already been
doing that. He asked him to light at least one lamp in
the house every day. Ravi told him that the sun lit his
house each day and the moon lit it up at night. At
this the priest thought he must scare Ravi to instil
fear of evil in him so he went on to say ‘You don’t
know if you don’t worship God, evil spirits will haunt
you in the dark!’ At this Ravi laughed and said ‘Yes,
you are saying the truth and I can see that!’ and
laughed again. While the priest understood his
mistake and made a quick move from there.
Flight of Freedom

“A bird whether in hand or in the bush; lives best

when free”

On the outskirts of the village of Baandi was a small

temple. The temple wore a deserted look. It was
apparent on seeing it that the villagers lacked
interest in the gods, or had perhaps found a more
interesting pre-occupation than worshipping an idol
supposed to represent God.

From dawn; as the first rays of the Sun played

through the eaves and brackets of the temple walls,
till the hours of dusk, when the last rays of the sun
bade farewell to the grains of dust upon the idols of
the temple, the temple waited for a visitor, a visitor
who could perhaps make it regain its lost glory.

21
Days and months were passing swiftly by and the
ageing temple was growing weary of the wait. Much
weakened by neglect, it had lost the strength and
vigour to make a ritualistic offering in worshipping
God. So it silently prayed in its heart, on behalf of the
villagers, as a duty entrusted to it by those who
installed it.

One fine morning as the Sun sent its rays to visit the
temple, a ‘fakir’ happened to pass by it. The ‘fakir’
was an old, but actively fit man. He had been
walking all night through the forest, with the hope to
find a village where he could probably find some
food. The fakir was quite relieved to see the temple.
It was a sign that at last he had reached a village.

He went inside the temple and on seeing the state of

this place of worship, decided to give it a new look.
Even though he was tired he decided not to rest until
he had cleaned the temple. It seemed he had
communicated with the temple and heard its woes of
long term neglect. The temple was infused with the
enthusiasm of the fakir, and both the fakir and the
temple enjoyed each other’s company. The temple
had at last got its most awaited visitor!

The fakir’s hard work was rewarded by few passers-

by who were pleased to see the temple refreshed.
They brought him some fruits and sweets. He
thanked God for having sent him the fruits of his
labour and keeping alive his belief that no work done
goes unrecorded and unrewarded.
After the refreshments he went to the nearby pond
for a bath and then set out on the village tour. As he
went about the village he was surprised to see
almost every house in the village to have a caged
bird as a pet. Some had two; some five and some
had a whole nursery of birds! Bird catching, rearing
and selling was a predominant occupation of the
village inhabitants. Some were engaged in cage-
making. Cages of all shapes and sizes, ornately
designed and decorated were on for sale! Too much
of the village life-force was being put into this
business.

As the fakir moved on, he stopped to rest a while

under a tree. The tree stood near a bird catcher’s
home.

Two birds; a parrot and a cockatoo, sitting in the

cage there, were talking to each other. Their sound
caught the fakir’s attention and he heard the parrot
saying to the cockatoo: “Don’t you feel like ever
getting out of this cage?”

23
The cockatoo replied: “Are you foolish! I had been
tiring myself all these years in the jungle; flying about
searching for food, building nests and saving myself
from enemies. Here at least I can sleep in peace.
Food is also readily available, and the master takes
care that no enemies prey upon us. Plus we have
this luxurious cage to stay in. I am so much enjoying
this! Who wants to be free! Freedom my foot! Getting
into the cage is really blissful! Just think of the many
birds that are without cages and masters to look
after, poor things have to struggle so hard for a
living!”
The parrot was taken aback at the cockatoo’s words.
He had always heard the tales of freedom from his
elders. All those tales glorified freedom as a valuable
thing, something they valued much more than being
in a cage! His family values and beliefs had taught
him that freedom was the most precious resource a
bird could ever have. And here was this cockatoo
who spoke from direct experience. His words
seemed true and convincing too. But the parrot was
torn between his own set of ideals and the
experience of the cockatoo.

He started questioning himself “Is it my beliefs and

my ideals that are making me sad, while in this cage
the cockatoo enjoys himself? Are those age old
ideals all a waste? Are they untrue? The cockatoo’s
belief is exactly the opposite of my own beliefs, but
they are convincing as they are powered by direct
experience. My beliefs lack power as they lack
experience, they were simply passed down from
generation to generation, while those who taught me
those beliefs were themselves internally struggling
against them. Wishing for an easy life, and hating
the daily struggles of a life that was free but not
exactly free. Then what exactly is freedom? Simply
being out of the cage isn’t freedom then what is it?”

The fakir watched and heard all this. He could

understand the parrot’s dilemma and somehow felt
that the birds needed him. He got up to meet the
bird-catcher, the master of those birds.
A little boy’s voice inside the house was saying:
“Father, please set those birds free".

The father replied: “You silly boy, the birds are safe
here, if I set them free some cat is sure to feast upon
them.”
The fakir heard this, smiled and knocked at the door.
The bird-catcher greeted the fakir and asked him
what he could do for him.

The fakir said: “I want your cage and the two birds in
it; would you like to sell them? I shall pay you a good
price for the twosome".

The bird-catcher was delighted at the offer, and

readily agreed. The fakir handed out all the money
he had collected in alms, to the bird-catcher. The
deal was such that it made all involved in it to be
happy, except the cockatoo that was a bit sceptical
of how this new master would treat them.

On reaching the temple, the fakir set open the cage.

The birds walked out but did not fly away. They had
forgotten how to fly. Staying in the village bird farms
25
for long and then in the cage, they had developed a
dependant mind-set. They had no idea where to go,
where to find food. They looked up at the fakir to
give them some food. Now the fakir knew exactly
what to do. He threw some grains up in the air,
which fell at a little distance from the birds. The birds
walked up to the grains to swallow them. And ah!
They were already tired by this extra effort. They had
forgotten to fly! Forgotten the meaning of being a
bird!

The fakir was not a bird trainer; he knew that flying

was instinctive in birds, so he had set them free to
go wherever they wished to, while he busied himself
in the upkeep of the temple and the worship. The
birds roamed about freely in the temple with the
fakir, watching him do his daily rituals. They followed
him at work, ate when he ate, and rested when he
slept. They had started feeling at home and like
family with the fakir. They felt much healthier than
they were in the cage. Felt lesser hunger than before
as their mind was not focused only on the food. They
had lots to explore about and learn. They could now
fly short distances, perch upon the trees, look down
and search their own food and water. But as of now,
fear had not left their hearts. They could perch upon
trees, but what if a cat was to climb up. They knew
they were safe as long as they were in the temple
but beyond that, it was an unknown world!

The fakir sensed this fear, and wanted to use it to

their advantage. He knew that extreme situations
bring out the best in individuals, so he brought a cat.
The two birds took a magnificent flight upon seeing
the cat; a flight that they had never before
undertaken, a flight which they never believed they
could make. They were frightened when they took
off, and were trembling when they landed. But both
were happy to realize that they could fly high! Each
of them smiled at the other.

Until now they had viewed cats as enemies.

Enemies that were meant to be despised, to be
feared and kept away from, a species that had
always seemed to be a threat to them; today
became their propellant to strength! They were
seeing the cat in a new light now. They realized that
all that we fear makes us stronger if we face it. If
they could fly swiftly and with ease to escape the cat,
they would obviously be stronger than what they
used to be, and had they been caught and feasted
upon by the cat, even then, their whole being would
become part of a stronger animal and they would
continue to remain in existence as part of the cat.
Death that they feared was totally out of question!

27
They could see the whole of existence to be so well
planned that it doesn’t support fear, rather it supports
evolution.

From that day on they made it daily practice to fly.

To fly for the sake of flying only, not just for food, or
escaping predators. They had learnt a valuable
lesson for life, ‘do not sharpen your arrows only
when you need to strike - if they are sharp, you can
strike anytime you need to.’

Gradually and with practice they were developing

their flight muscles. They could fly higher and higher
each day. All fears were slowly receding from their
hearts. They now enjoyed landscapes from far atop,
and had discovered the joy of flying. They
discovered that flight itself was joy, and the food and
protection it offered was only an added advantage.
They understood the meaning of what they had once
heard “One doesn’t live by bread alone” and found it
to be true!

The parrot was beginning to realize the true meaning

of freedom; he realized how freedom meant much
more than simply being out of the cage. Freedom
now meant much more, than simply finding one’s
food and escaping with it. Freedom that meant, not
seeing an enemy as an enemy, and not simply
escaping it. A freedom that opened a vast infinite
world, which was unexplored till now! Freedom that
widened and broadened the vision! This freedom
brought a joy, a sense of wonder and amazement for
simply being there in this world! The freedom whose
tales he had heard from his elders. And now his
beliefs were powered by his own experience, and he
could feel the difference in the power. He could feel
how experience actually outdoes the beliefs and one
can always turn a belief into an experience or an
experience into a belief!

The cockatoo also understood the value of true

freedom. He understood that death was inevitable
even in the cage that seemed comfortable. It was a
meaningless life, a cyclic repetition of feeding and
excreting! It did not add to life the zest of flight.
Freedom not only made you safe and comfortable
but truly secure. Security offered by the cage was
dependant security; food availability was subject to
the master. True freedom was true security as true
freedom happens only in absence of all fear and
dependency, and awakens the master within. The
master who sets you free to fly! This was an
invaluable learning that had changed the beliefs of
cockatoo which were once powered by his
experience and now slain to waste by the greater
experience!
He realized that a true master was not one who
feeds you in a cage for his own amusement, but one
who sets you free, helps you understand true
freedom, overcome your fears, and helps you
discover that true security is not just being ‘safe’ but
overcoming fears. Both of them returned back to the
fakir to thank him for releasing them from the cage
and bringing them to this realization. And the fakir
said to them: “God made a bird of himself, not for
food, or to run away from enemies, but to fly. Fly

29
and do His work, let God fly through you and
may you be one with Him as you fly".

Then the cockatoo asked the fakir: “What of the

others like us, who are caged?” And the fakir
replied: “Fly with fervour, fly with passion and fly with
joy… and your joy shall make them seek theirs".

With this, the fakir set on his journey once again. His
work in the temple was complete now. More temples
in other villages awaited him...
A Letter to God

When I was around eight years old, my mother had

been sick for some days. I asked my father “When
will Mummy be well again?” He said, “If you write a
letter to God to make Mummy better, she will get
well soon. God responds to small children very
quickly.”

I took his word and tore a paper from my school

note-book and wrote a letter to God asking Him to
make mummy well. I even decorated it with small
sketches colored with crayons to make it appealing
for God to read. Then I went to Papa and asked him
for a stamp. He said that letters to God did not
require stamps. So I simply glued the edge of the
paper, folded inside like an inland letter, addressed
‘TO GOD’ and posted it in the post collection box
near our house. I was still unsure if the letter would
reach God without the stamp. But in my heart I
hoped it would. I waited for a reply too. Each time I

31
heard the postman’s bicycle bell, I would run out to
see if he had got a letter from God. After two weeks
Mummy was fine, I gave up on receiving a reply from
God, and gradually stopped thinking about it.

I kept hearing about God from people around me,

but like I could see or communicate with people, I
was not able to see or talk to God, let aside the
possibility of receiving letters! God seemed to me,
some distant power residing in some far off heaven
that I may or may not be able to see. But with life
catching up, this search didn’t seem to hold any
meaning, as ‘He’ didn’t seem to be concerned with
the daily events of my life, except calling up on Him
in trouble or before appearing for the exams. Yet
whenever the talk about God arose, it stirred me. I
wanted to ‘see’ God, at least for once, and know
who, that the world speaks of, to be so great, looked
like.

Four years later, we had a seminar in school. This

seminar was to be conducted by Father Ivo
Fernandez from the Holy Redeemer Church. All
students from my class were required to attend this
seminar. I was curious and hoping to know about
God from this holy man. After all he held an authority
in the church and was supposed to know about God.
When the seminar started to roll on, the subject of
God came up, and this was my chance to express
my concerns. I told Father that I could not see God,
and inquired how it was possible to see ‘Him’.
To this he replied that 'just as milk contains butter in
it, but is not visible unless the milk is churned, the
world had God in it but He cannot be seen. He had
given an appropriate answer as per my state at that
time, but that too didn’t seem to satisfy me, as I kept
reasoning with myself that the butter still becomes
visible at some point, then why not God?

The discussion, however, was carrying off too long

and it was difficult to convince me how God would be
visible, so he dismissed it to proceed with the
seminar. Seeing God seemed like an eternal
mystery, solving which was something I didn't know
how to go about so I kept postponing it for reasons
that were not clear to me then.

Over years I kept meeting all sorts of people, ranging

from theists, atheists, agnostics, fanatics and god-
men. The broad range of views brought huge
insights, opening to me a new reality each time.
Each reality seemed to have an element of truth to it.
Books and literature on related stuff too brought
fresh viewpoints, or rather old viewpoints seen in
newer light.

These revelations through people, books, and other

sources kept enriching me, until this discussion with
my son. It happened one day that I asked him what
he thought about God, I wanted to know his views.
His reply surprised me as to how he had known the
views I had held and how his simple reply undid it in
that moment, “Ma, God is not somebody in some

33
far off heaven, God is very ordinary, found
everywhere. I see God everywhere.”

Hearing this made me inevitably compare the views

of my childhood days to his... it had been a long
journey from 'far off heaven to everywhere'. I learnt
that it wasn't about what you saw but how you saw it
that mattered.
The Gods of Two Hands

Rahul and his mother were returning from the

temple, where he saw the four armed idol of Vishnu
(The Preserver aspect of the Hindu Trinity), seated
leisurely on the throne of a serpent.

The young boy visited the temple everyday but today

was a bit unusual for him. The Priest had very
lovingly given him a flower from the temple saying,
“It is a blessing from Lord Vishnu. Keep it with you
and you will have him by your side to protect you”.

A stone idol to protect him and to bless him! The idol

has always been there in the temple ever since he
had his memories of it. How would it ever be on his
side when he fell down while playing and bruised his
knees? How would it make him sleep when he was
tired and needed some loving care to forget the pain
and sleep in peace? Would it be able to provide food
and chocolates when he craved for it?
35
There were more questions that stirred up his usual
indifference to the routine visit to temple with his
mother and his peace within.

Today, he was quieter on his walk back home. The

calm outside had a stirring within that needed an
answer. He could now resist this no longer and with
a naïve quizzical look on his face, he held his
mother’s hand and asked, “Maa, Lord Vishnu has
four arms yet he does not even move. Seems like he
sits so leisurely and people expect him to help
others, which I never saw him doing. He can sure do
much more than a normal person with two arms
only, but I have never seen him doing anything
around”.

The comprehension of a deity and the invisible help

was too far to grasp for the young boy. He
continued, “Daddy has only two arms but he goes to
office each morning, and is tired at the end of the
day. You are busy throughout the day in taking care
of us”.

“Both of you are always around me, whenever I need

anything, sometimes without even asking for it. I feel
so safe and comfortable when you both are around
me. I can see you, feel your presence and be with
you. But I have never seen Lord Vishnu anytime in
the village, except in the temple, on his throne.” The
boy was clearly trying to reason out and understand
the phenomenon of God in the temple, who
everybody was so devoted about.
Mother smiled at Rahul’s inquisitiveness and lightly
patted his cheeks, “We are all manifestations of God.
The outer form of God in the Temple provides us
with an anchor to help us discover the good qualities
within ourselves. You are right in your thinking, but
maybe too young to understand this”. Mother had
her daily errands to complete and went to the kitchen
for cooking meals for the family.

The boy sure did not understand what mother said

and the thoughts continued to pound his young
mind. He did not have interest in going out and play
with his friends in the park today. He was ruffled
inside and needed a solution to his inquiries and
unclear aspect of the morning episode.

He sat outside watching the birds fly by, the

butterflies fluttering on the flowers in the garden and
the squirrels hopping from tree to tree. These were
the moments of usual liveliness when he would run
after the butterflies, and chase the squirrels. But
today, he just sat there, his body still, but his mind
hopping from thought to thought and he was chasing
an answer that was not so forthcoming.

The sun finally decided to light up another part of the

world and started to chart its way dipping behind the
mangrove of trees in the backyard.

There was then a bell at the door. His father had

returned home from work. And there was then, a bell
that went off in Rahul’s mind. He jumped with joy
and gathered some flowers from the garden, just like

37
his mother would do every morning before going to
the temple every morning.

He went inside and his face was now gleaming with

light. The young boy had finally found something.

Rahul took father by the hand and seated him on the

sofa, while mother brought water for him. Perhaps
this was going to be another request for a toy that he
had seen with one of his buddies this afternoon!

But today, he also asked his mother to sit beside

father. Ah…so there is a bigger request coming their
way, they thought.

His father a bit amused by all this asked what this

was about. Rahul kept quiet and brought his hands
from behind his back, carrying the flowers. He
placed them at their feet, and sought their blessings.

Rahul then spoke, with a warm innocence in his

voice, “I don’t know whether there is a four handed
God or not, as I have only seen his statue and not in
real. But I know I have two Gods who have two
hands. And they are for real. They are there for me.
They protect me and I feel so safe and loved.
Together you both make the Four Handed Vishnu for
me”.

He had indeed found an answer, and had seen the

living Vishnu in the temple of his own home.
Elements

39
Om Prithvi Namah

(I Bow to the Mother Earth)

“That which nourishes the seed;

Grows and evolves with it”

Film making had been her passion and this passion

took her to places that the world needed to know
about. Diksha was working on a travel documentary
when she happened to visit this ancient tribal village
in a remote area of North-Eastern India. This village
enchanted her with its ancientness unadulterated by
the modern day urban developments.

She was amazed to see how the villagers here

worship the Earth on a daily basis. They all walk
barefoot, as a mark of respect for her. When she
saw this, she was reminded of the thousands of feet
at the metro station in Mumbai, all walking hurriedly;
such a contrast to these bare feet that walked so
gently and mindfully, in full awareness of the contact
that they made with the ground.

They took special care to keep the streets and lanes

clean, each morning before they began their chores.
The streets lined with bushes of aromatic herbs and
flowers made it a pleasant walkway to their lush-
green fields. Each household had a temple of Mother
Earth where she was worshipped every morning with
floral tributes. Diksha was mesmerised with the
beauty and cleanliness of this place that she was
keen to know more about the place and the people
who lived there.

She went to the fields where some farmers worked

in the fields, and after exchanging greetings asked
them how the village managed to be so clean. They
told her that the village chief inspires them. He tells
them that they are sons of the soil and the Earth
their mother. On the Earth they grow farms, build
houses, shops and temples. Like a mother, the Earth
feeds them, nourishes them and watches them grow,
so when they plant crops on the fields, they see
Mother Earth rise and how she sacrifices herself
after that full grown harvest to feed them. She takes
care of them, and they just make sure that she is
clean and happy. All waste in the village is carefully
decomposed in large community composts where it
is used to generate manure. Animal waste was
utilised in preparing bio-gas the fuel for their cooking.

41
And insect repellent plantations kept the residential
areas mosquito free.

Finding all this so amazing, Diksha thanked them

and headed to the residences of the farmers to have
a look at their households. She was impressed by
their immaculate upkeep and cleanliness. The ladies
decorated the floors of households with rangolis and
welcomed her to join them. They told her that
rangolis was their way of decorating Mother Earth.
They told her that they viewed Mother Nature as a
hardworking householder. They described her as a
busy woman, with a big household to take care
of...using the winds as her broom and the multi-
tasking sun as her lamp, kitchen fire and
dryer...laying carpets of green, filling ponds with
water, cooking fruits and veggies in the Sun... And
how to improve the efficiency of the process she
taught them the process of growth!

They felt that her house was without a roof or door,

as she’s least bothered about the rain coming
in...she lets it pour in...It serves a dual purpose of
showering and watering her gardens.

“For spring cleaning she sets up autumn and for

summer she sets up new leaves to give us shade

For winters she makes the trees bare so the Sun can
make it warm everywhere.

As for the doors and windows squeaks there's no

problem as she didn't install them, so it's always an
open house”, they laughed as they said this.
For the music she just trained the birds to coo...and
the winds to rustle by

Her pest control is the most efficient as she set up a

food-chain!

She's an independent woman who doesn't depend

on money and just enjoys doing her work! She is our
inspiration as She doesn't call this selfless service as
all is Self to Her.

They told Diksha how they felt the happiness that

mother felt, through her expression in their
prospering farms and livestock.

This description of Mother Nature left Diksha in

smiles. She was now eager to meet the village chief,
the inspiration behind these people. The ladies told
her that he would perhaps be out with his sheep at
that time. They pointed towards the east and told her
the place she could find him.

She saw a shepherd with some more than fifty

sheep following him. He was dancing joyfully and the
way he moved from left to right across the road, the
whole herd behind him followed. It was a joy to
watch them sway in a group! As Diksha approached
him, he stopped and the sheep instantly halted. After
introducing herself, she thanked him for being such
an inspiration for the villagers.

Then the chief said “All living and non-living bodies

derive their forms from the Earth, they are in fact the
various extensions or manifestations of the Earth
energy. She is rich in variety and magnanimous in
43
sharing her abundance. Like a mother she offers the
best to her offspring and takes up all that we fail to
absorb and recycles it to make it new again.

Since times immemorial, our ancients have

worshipped her as a goddess which she verily is,
without her our bodies would not exist. She bears
the weight of all of us without a sigh. It’s because
she never considers us apart from her, because only
when something is considered outside of oneself
that it appears a burden, but once it becomes part of
us it is no more a burden. The Earth knows it that we
are all her extensions, part of her, incorporated into
her”.

To explain his point, he plucked a huge, ripe water-

melon from the field and asked Diksha to hold it and
asked “Its heavy, isn’t it?”

Diksha nodded in affirmation. Then he said, “If you

eat it, it won’t seem so heavy to carry, isn’t it”?

She smiled at his rustic wisdom and was happy to

have learnt some valuable lessons from the village
and its people.

Inspired by the experience she uttered joyfully:

~Om Prithvi Namah~

Om Vrikshaya Namah
I Bow to the Trees

India is a strange country where people worship

anything from stones, trees, rivers, stars, planets or
even snakes. The ancient principle that the divine
pervades all is perhaps put into practice quite literally
here. At other times, I feel just the opposite takes
place. I lived in the small town of Ambala, located in
North India, for over twenty years. Life here is slow,
as compared to metros and other big cities, but it
has its own charisma. I remember going to the
temple near my house on Sunday mornings, and
Tuesday evenings. There was a big Peepal tree
(Ficus religiosa) outside the temple. Sari-clad,
women devotees lit lamps, burned camphor and
incense sticks, tied threads around its trunk and
bowed to the tree in reverence. More often than not,
a few crows would sit on top of it and caw through
the whole process, as if chanting a mantra. As a
45
child I thought, why so much for a tree? It’s a tree
after all! I thought that trees did not have a life, as
they seemed so much like the so called lifeless
things around.

The stone idols inside the temple were bathed

sometimes with milk! Fed the most delicious sweets
in town, and dressed in attractive dresses, and well
matched accessories. While the tramp outside the
temple wore torn clothes and seldom got more than
the meagre prasaad to eat through the
day. Sometimes one could feel it was better to be a
lifeless stone within a temple than a living tramp on
the road. However, everyone seemed to be at peace
with the whole process. It was accepted in total by
the entire community. No objections raised, no
arguments, no questions asked. Watching the rituals
brought me a pleasant feeling, though I hardly
understood what they meant then.

Years later when I got married and came to stay in

Nabha, a very small town in the state of Punjab,
there was a huge Peepal tree facing the house
where we stayed. Hundreds of birds had their nests
in the tree. Each morning I would wake to the
chirping of birds. The owner of the house would fill a
bowl of water for the birds to drink. He had planted
many trees and had a small farm near the house. He
made it a daily practice to place water and grains for
the birds, and light incense for the trees. It was a joy
to watch the birds eat the grain and sip water from
the bowl. Sometimes even bathe in it! The owner
and his wife were simple people, who loved and
respected nature as a way of life. It was here that I
learned that one could love Nature without
conducting campaigns. I felt that those who conduct
campaigns hardly got time to love Nature the way
she deserves to be loved.

All was going well, when one day I heard a noise

outside the house. It seemed to be the sound of
heavy chains. I went over to have a look, and was
sad to see that the Peepal tree was being pulled
down. A contractor had bought the land and wanted
it to be cleared, to make place for an upcoming
building. The birds were flying all around, crying in
distress. The whole scene was so upsetting. It was
hard to stand there and watch. The grand Peepal,
who had been house to so many lives, shade to
innumerable travellers, for so many years, was being
pulled down, and we could do nothing about it. It
was hard to believe that the next day we wouldn’t
see it any more. It took two days and heavy earth
moving machinery to pull out the dear Peepal. Who
knows it must have cried for help, but their voices
are not in the human audible range. It was during
this incident that I remembered the Peepal outside
the temple in Ambala, and now understood why
people worshipped it.

Trees are great, they spend an entire lifetime moving

towards light, taking an entire multitude of cells
housed in their bodies from darkness to light. They
house insects who bore holes into their very trunks
and I had thought that compassion and forgiveness

47
was something that could only be related to humans,
while trees exemplified it beautifully!

They offer a safe abode to thousands of birds,

whose droppings they effortlessly absorb as
fertilizers. They even don’t mind snakes residing in
the hollows of their trunks, or squirrels hopping
about. Like a huge father figure, a tree supports the
huge family of creatures that thrive on it. They
themselves eat the dirt of the soil, turning it to fruits,
to serve as food for other creatures. No one can
ignore their noble service of inhaling the toxic fumes,
and transforming them into life giving oxygen. Even
a dead tree serves mankind, providing wood for
hearths and homes. Such selfless service has and
will keep inspiring humans to nobility.

Above all they offer such valuable life-lessons, in

their own silent ways…Simply by being themselves.

It was so ignorant of me to have thought ‘why so

much for a tree’ regarding the worship of a tree. In
fact, they deserve much more. Worshipping them is
the least we as humans can do.

~ Om Vrikshaya Namah ~

49
Om Samudraya Namah
(I Bow to the Ocean)

Life is a never ending process of learning. We keep

learning from everything and everyone around us. In
fact the whole world can become a teacher for us if
awakening of the learner within happens.

It was a sunny December afternoon, when my family

and I visited the seaside at Cherating, in Malaysia.
The Sea as usual was wonderful...the vast endless,
expanded body of water with its waves wrinkling its
surface. He had been there for ages, seen many
years roll by. Many people visiting his shores, surfing
his waves or diving deep into his body had enriched
him with their varied experiences. Old Sea had seen
so much and seemed so much wiser as I
approached him. I felt he had lots for me to learn this
time; these were some new lessons from the old
Sea.
Humility
As his waves touched my feet and washed them
over, I recalled an old time ritual performed by my
father on the occasion of kanya pujan.

It is a ceremony performed on the Ashtami, following

Navratri (festival of worshiping the Goddess form of
Supreme Being) in India, whereby each householder
washes the feet of the girl children who are
worshipped as goddesses thereafter. And I felt the
same blessing ensue from my heart for the Sea, as it
did for my father, being touched by his humility in
performing this act.

These ablutions at the feet made me feel that the

body of the sea was a huge liquid temple. It purified
you before you entered it.

Modesty
Days before this visit we had been to a gem factory.
Here they displayed gems of all sorts, procured from
the sea depths. Looking at the surface of the Sea, I
was simply awed by his modesty, how he did not feel
the need to adorn any of those gems to boast of his
grandeur. Its very form spoke for itself. The gems
and pearls we consider so rare and precious, lay
hidden in his depths. So non-exhibitive, so rich, yet
so modest! An entire world throbs within him, yet on
the surface he is only plain salt water.

Unimpressed and Majestic

Though humble and modest, the Sea stays
unimpressed and majestic. No matter how much you

51
walk over water, you never leave a foot-print! It
remains impression-less and unimpressed. Like a
detached ascetic in meditative mood, only
concerned with being there and letting all the
elements pour into it.

Acceptance
Looking at the Sea, a series of entities connected to
his existence flashed before my eyes. How melting
glaciers run through rock laden mountains, dusty
plains, dirty city waters flow into the rivers, emptying
themselves into his vast recycling- plant like body.
How humbly He accepts all that comes into it! An all-
inclusive acceptance that does not reject anything
flowing into it seems like a total surrender on the part
of the Sea to the universe.

Vast yet within limits

Covering seventy per cent of the planet, his
enormous body knows its limits well. It is amazing
how the land and water on Earth have a mutual
understanding and respect for each other’s freedom
of space. They hardly ever encroach upon each
other’s domain. Surprisingly, man-made divisions do
not divide this single big body of water, though each
piece of land names differently the face of the Sea
they view. Unlimited though by such divisions, He
knows His own limits, and stays within them. Can we
call this self-discipline?!

Falling No Further
It is amazing to note that every drop of water that
flows down to the Sea doesn’t go further down. It
has only two options, either it rises or it will stay
there being one with the Sea. So the Sea either
makes you one with its being or makes you rise, it
doesn’t let you fall further. Like a good friend, he will
keep you from falling, and even be your ground for
rising up. This important lesson for being a good
friend is one good reason to smile as one looks at
the Sea.

A great teacher
After all these lessons that I learnt, I found a great
teacher in the Sea. He teaches volumes without a
word! He made me reflect on the fact that life itself is
like a big sea. We can choose to simply wet our feet
in it, fish for food, or pick gems from its depths, or
swim across it.

~Om Samudraya Namah~

53
Om Agni Namah
(I Bow to the Element of Fire)

They had been married for over twenty years and in

all these years, Mr and Mrs Sharma visited the
temple as a daily ritual and lit an oil diya (lamp with a
wick) to invoke light into darkness. As a symbol of
the advent of wisdom, temples usually have diyas lit
in them. Mr Sharma believed there was a certain
mystical quality to the light of the flame of a diya that
cannot be substituted by electrical lights. The light of
the flame he believed, has a certain degree of
aliveness to it, which is absent in the electrical lights
trapped in a glass dome or tube. Perhaps, the
freedom of the flame and its direct facade of the Fire
element (Agni) in a well-behaved manner made it so
unique for this couple. They even took their wedding
vows with the sacred fire as a witness, which is a
common custom in India, and he worshiped Agni
ever since then.
His neighbour, Daya who lived in the house next to
theirs, was not a ritualistic person, but somehow was
enchanted whenever he saw Mr Sharma perform the
Agni yagya, (a worship of the sacred Fire). Seeing
his interest and eagerness to know more about this
ritual, Mr Sharma invited him over when he
performed the yagya. Daya looked on curiously
through the whole process; the setting up of the vedi
(the base of bricks and sand), and decorating it with
turmeric, vermilion, and wheat flour to make a
symbol of the planets and the sun and moon. Mr
Sharma explained that this was an invocation to
these heavenly bodies to seek their blessings and
propitiate them for peace of all.

Then Mr Sharma set up the dry mango-twigs for the

fire, preparing the offerings that would go into it. The
offerings were mainly ghee, milk, honey, sesame
seeds, and a herbal mixture, with nuts and coconut.
Camphor was used as a fire-starter and some
mango leaves tied to a twig were used as a spoon to
pour ghee into the sacred fire along with the
chanting of Vedic mantras. Some home-made
sweets, fruits and flowers were also offered. Agni the
sacred Fire, was the deity of the yagya and was
propitiated by this ritual and blessed by the sun,
moon, and planets for the well-being of all.

When the yagya was accomplished, Daya asked Mr

Sharma, what did all this signify? This seemed to be
so symbolic, and if it were really relevant in today’s
modern day life-style?

55
Mr Sharma, who was ardent devotee of Agni, told
Daya that this was indeed symbolic. He further
explained that Fire element, which is a tremendous
phenomenon of Nature, represented the digestive
fire here. This fire is lit up first and then the offering
is placed into it. The nature of offerings determined
the aroma emitted, as Agni/Fire has no odour of its
own. So whatever we consume through our digestive
fire also determines the odours that we emit, even to
the extent the thoughts that we generate have a
subtle odour. So just like we light the fire before
placing the offering, we should awaken the digestive
fire before placing the offering of foods into it. By this
he meant to awaken hunger and then eat, or eat only
when hungry.

He then mentioned that the funeral pyre too has

Agni, but that is much different, as in that case, the
offering is placed first and then the fire is lit. So if you
are eating first and awakening the fire afterwards, it
results in degradation of the body material. This was
also essential for the cleansing of the body tissues
where wastes accumulated over long periods of time
can be burnt and got rid off.

He further explained that we all need a balance of

these two types of yagyas, one for creative or
constructional purposes, and the degradation one for
cleansing purposes.
Daya then inquired about the flame of the diyas and
candles in sacred places. Mr Sharma got up from his
seat and came nearer to Daya; he touched the sides
of his forehead and said, “You call these as temples
in English. It is very rightly so, as these are the
gateways to the seat of the soul, that is the so called
third eye; in the middle of the eyebrows. When we
visit the temple outside we are actually looking for a
gateway, a passage to the soul. Lighting of the lamp
in the temples is symbolic of lighting the diya of
knowledge, to ultimately come the knowledge of our
own soul, which is the inherent, pure knowledge
from within, which is commonly referred to as atma-
gyaan among Indians.

Thus fire which is source of light and light brings

knowledge, which makes everything visible in the
outer world, is an inspiration for us to plunge into the
unknown realm of darkness or ignorance (gross
material existence) to find our way back from where
we originated.

Agni is associated with light as it is a unique element

it always raises itself up by a natural inborn tendency
to raise upwards, it is also an equaliser in its own

57
right as fire doesn't know what you think of as
precious or trash, it burns whatever is offered into it.
It makes you aware of the nature of things. It burns
your beliefs and ideas about things and uncovers the
true nature of a substance by the odours they emit.
For example some chemicals would give out smoke
and fumes, but incense lets out fragrance. It is so
much like suffering that does not distinguish between
the status and substance of man, it invariably inflicts,
but what type of emission happens in that state is a
matter of one's substance and constitution.”

As Daya listened with interest to Mr Sharma’s

explanation, he thought of the sacred fire of wedding
ceremonies and asked about the significance of that
Agni.

“As marriage is the union of two souls, and you know

nothing unites better than fire. Just as elements
come together and unite in the heat of the sun to
produce plants where none of the elements is seen
as separate, so a marital union is symbolically
blessed by the fire of desire that unites two souls
together in a mutually beneficial association.

Like water and rice coming together to be cooked

over the fire to unite and give a palatable meal! So
we are cooked in this fire of wedding and sometimes
feel the heat positively at other times negatively, but
cooking happens for sure. Well here the kids eat the
meal, ha-ha...” Mr Sharma laughed as he said.

~Om Agni Namah~

59
Om Vayu Namah
(I Bow to the Element of Air)

As I started with my kriya-yoga practice, the

pranayama exercise made me more aware of my
breath. The air that had always been around but
never asserted its presence was seen in a new light.
A heightened awareness of breath led me to
discover that we breathe not only with our respiratory
organs, but the entire body. The whole body was
enveloped by the Vayu or air element without which
life was impossible.

It was a two way action, breathing consciously was

helping raise awareness and increased awareness
was helping me improve upon my breathing. I
started realizing that the air within the body held as
much power as the air outside it. It was a movement
and energy catalyst!

The Breath is a wonderful phenomenon that keeps

us and our world alive. With each inhalation breath
brings you to life

With every exhalation it makes your world come

alive

Breath's coming and going is the first point where

live and let live happens

Breath is unique; it takes care of you and yours

equally
It gains nothing in the process nor does it lose
anything

It simply does its selfless service...

Breath, you take my breath away!

The breath also revealed to be linked with the

thought process. The rhythm of breath determined
the nature of thoughts and state of mind and vice-
versa. I read it somewhere and verified by my
personal experience that breathing in a certain way
could alter the thought process. Usually we find it is
the state of mind that affects our breathing; like in
moments of anxiety we tend to breathe heavily, and
over-eating or mindless eating can lead to blocking
of the nostrils, thus impeding the free-flow of air.
These observations have in the past led many to use
the breath as a tool to understand the mind and
befriend it.

If we read Indian mythology, the most popular text of

Ramayana mentions Hanuman as the son of Vayu
who eventually helps Lord Ram ( the symbol of good
and virtuous beings), in bringing back his wife Sita
(his Shakti or power) from the clutches of Ravana
the demon, symbolising the evil and vices. The son
of Vayu or Prana the breath, that is Hanuman, helps
the good to win over evil. This translates that one’s
breath has the power to make the good in oneself
win over the evil within. Rather, the awareness of
breath makes one more aware of what could be
good or bad for us in a given situation and thus

61
improve discrimination ability and sharpen the
intellect.

This amazing exercise helped me better appreciate

the air around me and feel its presence as a blessing
for life. I felt air as being extremely humble as an
element, as it hardly makes itself visible or asserts
its presence, despite being almost omnipresent and
a vital element for supporting life on earth.

This often makes me concerned about how human

activities are leading to the depleting quality of this
precious element. We need to awaken before it is
too late.

~Om Vayu Namah~

Om Akashaya Namah
(I Bow to the Element of Space)

“That void where all elements reside

Where universes, planets and stars abide

That infinite void

In absence of which Presence is devoid

That element of Nothingness has substantial might

Within which all Life plays shades of Dark and Light

To that element of Space let me introduce Thee

That which is representative of both Zero and

Infinity!”

A loud applause followed as Avinash recited these

lines to his students. Avinash taught mathematics in
the local high school and was teaching the concept of
infinity to the class when he came up with this
impromptu verse. He envisioned Space as infinite
and thus to better explain the concept of infinity he
chose this element to represent infinity.

“How do you represent infinity? Infinity isn’t a number

as any number can be defined; it isn’t a quantity either
that can be defined, so how do we understand it? It is
only when we feel that our capability to measure has
exhausted, that we encounter infinity. We may feel
that it is a very large number just the opposite of Zero,
but it is not so, as any number has a beginning and
63
will end up to Zero with its negative counterpart. But
infinity is something that is endless. An entity without
beginning is the only one that can never have an
end, and zero is the origin of our number line, which
has no beginning. Thus infinity is the zero with a
twist and we usually represent infinity by a zero
twisted upon itself. To understand Infinity you
have to understand Zero, and to understand Zero
you need to understand the element of Space.

Zero is just like Space, it has no beginning, and no

end but contains a void within it which
accommodates everything, all the elements and their
possible combinations and their innumerable
manifestations. The existence of this everything is
just not possible if the void to accommodate is not
there for it. Hence Zero holds the key to all numbers;
it is the succession meter for every number line. This
is the key to the growth of numbers. As the numbers
grow in value, they need more and more zeroes to
back them; they need more and more space!

Just like more number of people need to be

accommodated in a bigger space, as simple as that.

But can you tell what accommodates Space?

Nothing accommodates Space, it simply is.

Just like Nothingness accommodates the infinite

Space, so does Zero accommodate the ever-
growing infinity of numbers. Each number however
big in value will be zeroed to nothing by its negative
number”.
 “Amongst the five basic elements, it is Space that
represents this Zero, where the infinite universe of
positive and negative occurs. This is precisely what I
referred to as playing shades of dark and light in the
verse. Thus you see that Zero is not the opposite of
infinity, it is actually greater than infinity as it contains
it. We value things, but if we have no Space, where
will you place this value? Space is the element that
holds all this value. It is more valuable than even the
most valuable things, but then it is also true that
without anything to hold, this value of Space holds
no meaning. So it is a mutual co-existence of value
and Space that keeps the infinity of the universe
going.”

Such is the greatness of the nothingness of Zero and

the infinity of Space, I bow to both of them

~Om Shunyaya Namah~

~Om Akashaya Namah~

* Om Shunyaya Namah means I bow to nothingness

of Zero

**Om Akashaya Namah means I bow to the infinite

Space element.

65
The Path and the Traveller

She had travelled far and wide across the lands and
oceans in her successful career that took her to
places she had never been before.

She had stories to tell about the wonders she had

seen, the food she had ate and the people who she
met. Her Facebook was replete with new pictures
every now and then. Four Thousand Two Hundred
and Eighty One people followed her on Twitter till the
last evening and the number was ever growing with
comments on her travel adventures.

Yet, in the midst of all the fanfare there was a quiet

voice, something deep within, a longing that often
interrupted her thoughts and the euphoric burst of
happiness. She had been lonely in the crowd.
The only one that travelled with her was the Path
itself, her constant companion. Together they had
been through the unwinding Sky above and the
Earth below. The time through the dusk to the dawn
and back to dusk had seen them together through
years.

Whenever she stopped over a pool or a stream to

get refreshed, she saw her reflections, but the Path
was never reflected. The Path unfolded
unprecedented views to her and brought her an
experience to rave about.

When finally one day she reached home, she asked

the Path to come along in. But the Path refused, he
stayed out saying, “...It is not the nature of paths to
step into homes. They leave you at the door step.
Yet if you wish you can come to see me, and I’ll take
you on yet another exciting journey, we are forever
homeless wanderers at home with the outdoors”.

“Are you not keen to see my house or meet the

people with whom I stay?” she asked.

“I have seen you and known you, and that is enough

for me to envisage who lives inside the physical
house and how it would look like”, answered the
Path.

“The Path is for every soul, the co-traveller through

eons of time, who wishes to garner experience and
grow richer and matured. This companion is an
individualistic manifestation for every soul and is
unique to it. I do belong to you and inseparable from

67
you. We are not different from each other. The
Traveller and the Travelled are One”, the Path
continued.

“I shall always be outside your abode waiting for the

touch of your feet, to take you wherever you wish to
go and experience new worlds outside the comfort of
your home and beyond the rest times you seek to
recharge yourself.”

“The duality exists till we are grossly engrossed in

our earthly roles. So there is no need for me to come
into your house. I am already there, a part of you.
Perhaps you need to look inwards and see that I am
already there with you, inside you. I am your
company, I am You!”
True Self

Who am I? It’s not an easy question to answer.

Identity is something we seem to hold while staying

alive; it is like our passport to the world in which we
live. But does death mean loss of identity? Is it really
the case? Are our identities so perishable? We are
so accustomed to identifying ourselves with our
names and forms and take them to be our identity.
But are they not like the identity certificates issued to
us for social convenience? Absence of which we
suppose would be a chaos... perhaps that is what we
might assume, but is it the truth?

And is it the loss of this identity that most people

hold a fear of death? Is it really necessary to have an
identity? Imagine living in the world without a birth
certificate, a passport, or your country identification
cards; just imagine would you not be alive without

69
them? Were people not alive before all this was
introduced? Were these not introduced only for the
sake of a convenience and smooth running of
systems rather than defining life itself? Is it not that
name and form is for social convenience? What is
the meaning of identity or who is the True Self
beyond the name and form? Does it also end up with
the end of name and form?

This entire quest led me to the story of Space, how

she developed a false identity and then sheds it for
good to discover her true self.

Long, long ago the Creator made an element called

Space... it was the Creator's first creation and looked
so much like Him, vast and infinite! A wave sprang in
the heart of Space and moved about, thus Air came
into being. This child of Space was unbridled and
undirected, thus had no sense of direction and flew
randomly. It was dark all over and a sense of
direction was hard to develop. Having lived in
darkness for a long time, Space had started
identifying itself with darkness, so much so that she
believed she was Dark. Random movement of Air
started producing sparks that generated Light. Light
was met with resistance from Space who chided Air
for moving too fast so as to stop producing this
'Light'. But Air was untameable by Space. She kept
producing light. Light awakened a sense of direction
for Air, who excited by this phenomena moved faster
than ever to discover more directions.

As more light was produced, darkness was being

'eaten up'. Space got a feeling that Light would
destroy her. She was scared of losing her identity;
but however hard she tried to drive out Light; the
more it glowed and flooded her being.

When the last tiny portion of darkness was

destroyed, Space thought she was nearing her end.
When Light fully consumed the darkness and Space
was completely enlightened, she realized that she
was still alive! It was a tremendous realization! The
false identification with Darkness dropped and she
realized that she was neither Darkness nor Light, but
ever existent.

Air on the other hand was overwhelmed with the

illumination that Light brought! All directions were
visible now and Air was yet again at a loss as to
which way to go. Earlier in darkness, where nothing
was visible, even a small spark of Light would put Air
on its feet to move. She was highly unstable then.
But this loss of sense of direction was that in full
illumination where all directions were visible, all
seemed equally lit up. This state was such that
sense of direction seemed meaningless for Air, and
it stood still, as if auto-tamed by the omnipresence of
Light.

Space felt thankful for the arrival of Light, both for

freeing her from her false identity and making her
realize her true Self and also for lending stability to
Air who had taken light for her guide now. She
realized that Darkness had no identity of its own, and
was merely the absence of Light. It was only Light

71
who had its own identity and the ability to guide; that
made possible the realization of one’s true Self.
Life and Death

73
A Journey from Limited Self to
Infinite Self

There was once a beautiful tree laden with ripe fruits.

It enjoyed its own existence and the aroma of its
flowers and fruits. Some ripe fruits fell to the ground.
Some passer-by picked up and ate a fruit, throwing
the poor seed aside.

The seed till now protected and feeding on the

nourishing juice of the parent tree's fruit, felt too
insecure, lying all alone without a covering, on bare
sand. It looked around helplessly, turning its eyes
towards the parent tree for help. The parent tree did
not heed much for its asking gazes. It knew that this
was the only way to make the seed grow, to find its
own way into existence and come alive as a tree.

Dejected by the indifference of its own parent the

seed had hardly begun to mourn its fate that a young
boy came by. He picked the seed, dug up the soil,
made a slightly deep pit, and sowed the seed there.
This only added to the woes of the seed. It felt buried
alive. Into this deep dungeon, where it couldn't get
help from any corner, no light, no air, no water!! This
was too much for the poor little seed that was totally
unaware of its own potential. It felt almost dead. With
darkness all around, it saw no possibility to survive.
But somewhere within it, it had strength of trying to
live. A spirit of not to give up! Perhaps this was the
only blessing it had.

Under layers of soil, it struggled hard to breathe, to

get a glimpse of light again. In the process, it pushed
and pushed hard. The seed’s coat came off! Now
this covering too came off, it did not know whether
this was something to feel good about or be sad. It
had lost all sense of emotion and direction. But this
definitely was a change, and it was feeling lighter,
and it was easier to push now. So it was only action
and result now, with little place for emotions. The
shedding of coat made it easier to push and so it
pushed with greater force. It had no knowledge of
which direction to apply the force to, but it simply
went by instinct, trying all directions. Few days later
it became aware of a hair like thing coming out from
its lower portions and it could now sip water through
them. It had managed to grow its first roots!

Its body had split into two fleshy leaf-like things.

Wow this was all amazing! Too many changes, in its
own body form, made it marvel at the process of
trying to live by pushing hard. The fact that brought
most solace to its heart was that it was still alive!

75
And that too away from the world, where no one was
around to provide or help, it was still alive! Although
its body form had changed; it looked different, but it
was happy to be alive. It now directly tasted the soil,
about which it had only heard of from its parent tree.
Indeed the soil and the water that the soil held,
tasted like nectar from heaven, because this was
'hard-earned' food.

The seed knew now what survival really meant. It

could now appreciate the lives of its parents and
fore-fathers who had given it a rich lineage. It could
see now, how much hard work they had to undergo
in their own times and yet survive and live
gloriously. Slowly feeding on and pushing hard, it
grew a plumule which let out some secretions that
softened the soil above. One morning it woke up and
was dazzled by the light it saw. Yes, this was the
Sun! It had finally managed its way above soil!

Delighted by its own discovery, the little seed danced

with joy. It smiled at the world and the world seemed
to smile back to it. It took a deep breath to fill itself
with the fresh air above. The soil too looked beautiful
now, than it did when it was deep in it! It could now
appreciate the soil as its nourisher, a mother indeed!
The Air charmed it with its freedom and the Sun with
its light. This was a totally new world!! It spread out
its arms as it awoke to this new world. It was now
becoming aware of the strength it had, its own
potential. The potential to grow!

The seed had seen grown up trees, but had

never seen the process of growth. But now it
was seeing the process of growth as it was
constantly aware and consciously going through
it. It had witnessed growth in a unique yet very
simple and common manner.

The initial growth was in itself a catalyst to boost and

encourage further growth. As it grew further its vision
improved and it could see many flowering plants
around it. Hit with the desire to decorate itself with
beautiful flowers -it grew its roots still deeper, to
draw more nourishment, to look healthier and
prettier. This phase was marked by tough
competition, every tree around seemed to be trying
its best to get the best nutrients for its growth, after
all each one wanted to look the prettiest. It competed
at first, but the more it did to outdo others, the more
it lost on itself. It felt that it was showering most of its
energies in attending to what others did than on what
it should itself be doing. So it gave up on
competition, and simply worked on what seemed to
be best for itself. In a year's time its form was
studded with beautiful flowers, that smelled so sweet

77
that it itself was intoxicated by their aroma. It could
see admiration in the eyes of people who passed by
it. This brought pride and joy to its heart. It knew it
was hard work to make those flowers bloom, but the
scent they bore was a gifted bonus!
This success was as if not enough to satiate and the
hard work not enough to tire it out. Its ambitions
soared once again, when it saw a group of people
and some children gather around a neighbouring
tree laden with fruits. Human attention was too
tempting to be forgone. It was now living on a plane
where it felt that besides physical food, there was
something more that it needed to survive; perhaps,
mental food, or food for its ambitions! It wondered
what the neighbouring tree had in special, to attract
all those people. "Oh it’s the fruits!" it realized. It was
struck by desire again, the desire to bear fruit. By
this time it had made good friends with the bees and
butterflies who visited it regularly for the sweet
nectar of its flowers. It asked their help in pollination
so it could bear fruit.

Now, fruits needed lot more nourishment than

flowers, so it had to go deeper and deeper into the
soil and grow more leaves to make more food,
expand and strengthen its branches to support the
fruit to be borne. This was a tough exercise; sheer
hard work! It spent more hours at work, working till
late, sleeping only little bit, slogging hard to make it
happen. This was much more hard-work than it took
to bear flowers. It wasn't easy to be a parent tree.
And it wasn't easy to fulfil dreams either. But all
along it was sure it could do it! The zest to make its
dream a reality did not make work seem like work. It
did not feel tired even though the work was too
much! It was beginning to realize that work itself had
no properties to tire oneself; it was only the idea of
getting tired that made one feel tired.

Finally when the first fruit appeared upon its branch,

it was overjoyed! And in its joy it spread out its
branches to hug the world. It smiled through its
flowers and bore many more fruits. Such is the effect
of inner joy, that within a month it was loaded with
fruits.

People started gazing at the tree, some appreciating

its beauty, some for the fruits, some for its shade
others for the wood, and still others simply being
happy for the tree to be around. The tree now stood
above ground like a proud tall tree, admiring its own-
self for the way it had utilized its years of life to make
a glorious living. While it was basking in the glory of
its accomplishments it looked up at the sky. The sky
seemed so near, it had never been so clear, so blue.
A Banyan tree nearby congratulated the tree for its
achievements and this tree only felt prouder thinking
‘oh even the banyan is congratulating me! Now that's
something!’ Little was it aware of what was next to
come.

Days passed by, the sun's heat increased at such a

high level, as it was closer to the skies, and more so
the hot air rose from the ground. The tree felt the
heat, but bore it silently as it knew this was the only
way the fruits would ripen. No sooner did the fruits

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ripen, children started pulling its branches, and some
of them even climbed them up. It hurt, and it was
painful. In the process, some of the branches broke
off. The worst part was that the tree could not
express its displeasure as trees especially fruit trees
were meant to serve people through their fruits. And
it had chosen to be a fruit tree. This came as a price
for the choice it had made. This choice had proven
to be too expensive. Some people even hurled
stones at the tree to get its fruits. It had nothing but
fruits to offer in return! Being nice was not a choice;
it was now a choice less reality!

While it was thinking all this, it saw a young boy eat

its fruit and throw the seed on the soil nearby. It once
again remembered its past. It remembered how this
had happened to it too. How it had looked up at the
parent tree for help and this seed too looked up to it.
Now it understood what the indifference of the parent
tree meant.

In those few hours it lived the whole of its life again,

down the memory lane. All of life seemed a mere
play of desire, hopping from one desire to another,
then another, till you end up yielding the seeds of
your own desires! The whole life cycle; a big circle
seemed a big Zero.

Then pulling itself up, it thought to have another look

at the entire process of growing up and found that as
a seed it had taken the soil on an upward journey
through space. Creating the tree-trunk, branches,
leaves, flowers and finally regained its form within
the fruit! It had been a journey of immense creativity;
in the process losing itself and then resurrecting
itself in the final produce. This was amazing! As a
seed it had contained within itself the entire tree and
many other seeds like itself!

It was not a journey from soil to fruits, but from

limited self to infinite self…and in the process
uplifting ‘Mother Earth’ to make her have a glimpse
of the world from top.
Though it stood in the same place over so many
years, it had travelled a long distance. A distance
that took it away from its origin, through its desires,
its passions, its ambitions, its emotions, and yet a
distance that brought it closer to its own true Self.

All this came with the promise of hope that even

if you lose yourself in creating a fruitful world,
you’re bound to create Your Self and many
others too in the process.

81
Twin Sisters – Life and Death

The universe began with the birth of these twin

sisters; Life and Death. Life was bubbling with
energy and action, loud, vibrant, and outgoing, while
Death was more of an introvert, silent, peaceful and
wise. They chose their own ways in the universe.
Death chose to stay at the place of their origin, while
the more adventurous Life chose to explore the
unknown.

If the universe was to be described as a circle,

Death chose to stay at the center of it, while Life
chose to travel along the radius, describing its
whole circumference.

Life; like light, ventured into the dark unknown

universe, illuminating every part of it, along her way.
On this journey, she left behind everything, yes,
everything including Death, and like an empty
vessel; silent when she began her journey, made a
sound as she gathered her first bits of experience.
As more and more bits kept pouring into this empty
vessel more sound was heard, and more of the path
was illuminated. She, like a thirsty explorer, went all
around to see the world from all angles, all different
perspectives and views. While Death passively stood
at the origin.

All this time, Life had been calling out to her, come
along, it’s so much fun! But Death never left her
stance. She stood still unmoved by almost anything.
Life on the other hand was movement incarnate. At
times Life would fall and get hurt, but would get up to
continue. She had an unfailing zest and courage.
And her creative instinct helped her create things out
of nothingness; she had amazing capabilities to heal
herself. Creation was her game and she played it
well, she would create hunger and thirst by running
around, and then she would create food and water to
satisfy them. But Death knew it wasn't in her innate
nature to move around and create things. It wasn’t
her natural calling. She was born to wait, to wait for
everything to come to her, she never approached
things, and as if she knew, that they were destined
to come to her. So she stood unmoved by any
beckoning of her twin.
When Life had journeyed quite a lot, full to the brim
with experience, she grew more and more
silent. She discovered that she had reached the
point where she started, and at all the points along

83
her path she had been looking and waiting for her
sister to join her. Though the journey was fun, and
explorations had their own joys, the immobility of
Death and her ability to resist the temptations of all
this adventure was even more intriguing than the
journey itself. Tired by the journey, Life headed
inwards into the circle of the universe, towards her
origin, to meet her sister.

Death greeted her in a 'welcome back home'

manner. The two sisters hugged each other, and the
tired Life, slept peacefully after a long time in her
sister's lap. In that deep sleep she recognized Death
as all knowing, resilient and strong. She had the
strength to hold the weight of the entirety of
experience that Life had brought with herself. She
realized that her twin had an immaculate ability to
wait! Her peacefulness surpassed all the hustle and
bustle created by Life. She held the key to
regeneration and rejuvenation.

Thus, Life and Death once again came together at

the point of their origin. The circle disappeared, the
origin stayed. Waiting for Life to wake....and take
up another journey!
Light and Darkness

The Universe had just manifested and was young.

The elements were still trying to identify themselves
and the others. They were created to live in harmony
and support each other. Where the one ended, the
other began. There was no clear distinction when
one changed to other.

Yet, when the manifestation was full, there was

difference for each of the elements and this was
clearly distinguishable.

The Universe kept growing from infancy to infinity

where the boundaries were meaningless. The
expansion continued unabated.

In one of the corners of the universe, Darkness was

fast asleep when Light came in. Darkness woke up
and was a bit agitated at this interruption of his

85
sleep. He saw the arrival of Light as an
encroachment, as he wanted the entire space to
himself. He told Light to go away and cursed him
never to rest in one place for having interrupted his
sleep.

Thus Light was cursed to wander around. He

nevertheless enjoyed this opportunity to explore new
places and had an enriching experience. Braving the
heights of mountains and depths of the ocean, Light
had a wonderful expedition on roll, while Darkness;
backfired by his own curse was at unrest.

Unable to put up with the trouble, Darkness called

upon God for justice, and Light too was summoned
to God's court. As it was Light against whom there
was an accusation.

God asked Darkness to speak, and Darkness who

seemed exhausted and breathed heavily, answered
that he was being harassed and bullied by Light
relentlessly. “I am forever being chased by Light and
have neither peace nor place to rest. Wherever I go,
he will enter and occupy that entire space and I have
to leave. It is most unbearable!”

“Light has not only disturbed me but is now

threatening my very existence. It has come to a point
where the two of us cannot co-exist. You now have
to decide who you want. You created both of us and
now there is no harmony. It is either him or me. You
decide. We have come to your court to get this
decision, else there shall be no peace”, said
Darkness, cunningly placing the blame on Light and
hiding the fact of his own curse.

God now asked Light to speak to which he said, “I

hear a voice, telling me to go away, but I do not see
anyone. How can I chase this so-called Darkness as
I have never ever seen him? I travel far and wide
and wherever I go—he is never there. Yes we do not
co-exist in the same space. But is it that I am
infringing onto his areas? I am not certain but sure
look for your guidance and decision, as I too am tired
of the accusations which I am not even aware of!”

Then God smiled and said to them “To be just to

both, the two of you shall always have equal share in
Space and Time. There is neither duality nor a
competition to exist for any of you. Since the
absence of one is the existence of the other, so at
one given time in a given space only one of you shall
be found”.

“You have various forms that you coexist even in the

souls that I created. The virtues and self-awareness
are your form, Light; and the absence of those, are
your manifestations, Darkness. There is no
competition, only the manifestation of one or the
other, across the evolving journeys of soul and the
Universe itself.”

“Yet, the very nature of both of you shall make you

dissolve and evolve into each other and unless both
of you lose your identities and merge in me”, said
God.

87
As long as the Universe exists they hold their
identities with night turning into day, and day turning
into night, and the Universe along with human
consciousness continues to evolve through time
from shades of Darkness into colours of Light and
from Light into Darkness of collapsing Universes.

The saga continues…..

Quest for Survival

We were growing up in the warm country of a

petridish on the smooth culture medium. Our culture
was helping us grow, and we kept growing in
booming colonies when suddenly we realized that
our culture medium was over populated. The
competition for space and medium grew stiff. Some
of my colony inhabitants started secreting inhibitors
to control the population growth, but there were
others who kept reproducing. The situation was
getting out of control and survival seemed difficult in
the wake of such dearth of resources. I along with a
few friends of mine started exploring outside the
petridish for a new medium, a new country outside

89
the parent petridish to propagate our culture. But
more importantly it was all about survival.

Once out of the petridish we met numerous other

strains of bacteria that looked so much like us but
had different food habits and survival requirements. I
was beginning to realize a form of life outside my
own country. Though we could do without food for
few days the search for it and a suitable environment
to grow had just begun. I infected a human host, with
my team of friends. Our host however didn't seem to
welcome us and we could feel the temperatures
rising around us. Since we had struggled a lot to find
this host we hung on and tolerated the heat. This
tolerance gave us strength to stay and we grew
more confident of our survival on the host's body.
Our confidence though was put to test by a chemical
attack with antibiotics. We faced the hardship,
though most of my friends could not survive more
than three days of the battle. I was left all alone in
the host's blood stream sipping my way to survival.
Though I had grown weak by all the attacks and felt
only minutes away from leaving my bacterial form, I
somehow continued to live. The White Blood Cells
(WBC) army of the host was patrolling the host's
blood stream and I feared they would spot me and
kill me right away.

“Life in the dead medium of our petridish had

been so peaceful, without struggles like this.
Here, the live medium was a challenge to survive
in and I was glad I lived till now.”
Taking some pride in this little triumph of mine I hid
myself from the WBC army. They would ruthlessly
crush any foreign intruders, so befriending them was
the only way for survival that I could think of. But this
pride didn’t last long, as way out of the host was
unknown to me. So I sneaked in the subcutaneous
alleys of the host to find my way out, while thinking
of other options to survive. But before I realized the
need to propagate my own culture there, my lifetime
as a bacterium was slowly coming to an end. I shed
my bacterial body form and became part of the
host's mainstream life. Wow! Things now changed
dramatically.

The struggle to hide and survive was no more. The

host's WBC army didn't consider me foreign
anymore. I was part of the host now. I realized that I
had been struggling to survive as I feared the
unknown, and this fear was bred by my focus on
what I would have to lose, rather than what I would
gain. I felt lucky to have shed my smaller identity
with all it’s struggling to become part of a bigger
reality where survival was no longer my concern. I
was free to think so much more. Do more and pick a
role of my choice in the host!

“The biggest realization with all this was: ‘I wasn't my

body, I wasn't my culture and survival was not a
question of protecting them, rather growing beyond
them.’”

91
The Diamond and the Coal

It was a wintry night. Some coal had been brought to

be burnt in the fireplace. The lady of the house
relaxed herself, took off her diamond ring and placed
it on a stool near the fireplace. A piece of coal looked
up from the heap and awed at the diamond's
beauty;"Ah! You look so sparkling and beautiful!"

The diamond looked at the coal and said "I am just

like one of you; it is just that I underwent some
transformations."

The coal could not believe what the diamond said

and in utter amazement replied, "Nay I am just a
humble coal and you are a precious diamond! Is it
really possible to have a form like you after this so
called transformation?!"

The diamond said, "Yes, but it isn't worth much."

This surprised the coal even more and it
asked, "Why do you say so? We all coals will perish
in this fire and turn to smoke while you will continue
to live longer and will be more cherished by men and
women all over the earth."

The diamond replied, "You all will be liberated, while

I will be bound to this silver ring. Men and women
will cherish me but will fight with each other to
possess me. They will lose their peace of mind and I
shall be the cause, while you in your burning will
provide them some warmth and a good-night's sleep.
Brother, the fate of both of us is; ash. The only
difference there is, is our value in cash. The years
under pressure of layers of Earth have made me
glittery and that glitter yields more cash, which is no
use to me, but has made people fight and lose their
sleep. The happiness they find in possessing me
lasts few moments, which is not even a small
fraction of the years I have undergone to attain this
form.

Besides, this form has placed me in an entirely new

category, where those that were mine find me
inaccessible. You want to look like me; there are
many more who desire this form. This form breeds
jealousy and distances kin from kin. This is more of a
trap than a reward. I cannot give you a form like
myself, but we can look alike and be one in this
moment. Come give me a hug, give me your fire and
burn out my trap, at least in this moment I can look
like you and we can celebrate our likeness in the fire,
smoke and ash. Seeing you burn has made me

93
realize that fire was liberation then, and fire is
liberation now!"

At this the coal replied, "You say there is no

difference between you and us, but there is a world
of difference! All coals fear the fire, we all fear our
death. While you are so willing to die, as you know
that all is ash, but all of us will die wanting to be
diamonds and die with unfinished desire. We will die
in want of transformation while you; having attained
transformation will see true liberation as you are free
from the fear of death. Do not devalue your
transformation, see it from my eyes and stay where
you are to be an inspiration for all of us. Be an
example to aspire to.”

And the coals burnt brightly and the fire consumed

them before the diamond could fall upon them and
they looked alike.
The Art of Dying

Evening had just set in, the sun was dipping at the
horizon and its redness filled the sky. It was amazing
to see how it lit up the sky even in its last moments.
At that time a Zen monk was on his way through the
hills when he came across this man who was trying
to roll a large stone down a cliff.

He rushed towards the man and asked, "Why do you

want to roll down this rock? It could hurt someone
below."

The man answered, "I wanted to test how it would be

if I rolled down".

"But why at all do you want to!" exclaimed the monk,

unable to understand what the man was up to.

95
"I want to die, but you see I'm scared of falling, lest it
leaves me limbless rather than dying. I thought of
poison too, but these days everything is adulterated,
maybe the poison is not genuine and consuming it
too might just leave me with some gastric problem
rather than killing me. Do you know of some sure
shot way to die? It would be a bonus if it's without
pain or risk" the man said with a wry smile.

The monk was shocked as he heard this but

nevertheless kept calm and asked "Why at all are
you wanting to die?! Life is so..."

And before he could say any further the man

interrupted "...is so painful and miserable. My
parents died few months ago, my wife is
quarrelsome and disloyal, my kids are vagrant, and
all of them spend out whatever I earn by working
hard. There are so many problems at work place
also. My employer sacked me, to give my job to his
relative. There isn't any hope left to live. So just tell
me how to die." He folded his hands, knelt and
prayed to the monk "Please tell me", he cried and
sobbed as he said.

The monk overcome with compassion held his hand

and said, “I know of a man who can help you. Come
with me." And he took the man to meet his Master.
When they were in the Master's presence, the monk
said to his Master, "Revered Master, this man is here
to learn the art of dying".

The Master observed the man closely and said to

him, “This will take quite some time, hope you are
not in a hurry to die".

The man, now happy at the prospect of learning to

die, said "As long as it is certain that I will die and the
process is without pain, time will not matter".

"Now sit here with your eyes closed" said the

Master.
The man did as told. There was silence in the room,
but after a while the man started to feel restless. He
started thinking about his family. He remembered his
parents. He worried what his wife might be upto and
what all his children were doing to ruin his savings
and reputation. Though his eyes were closed and he
was silent on the outside his inside was a mess of
thoughts. He started feeling restless. This continued
for a while and he impatiently waited for the Master's
call to open his eyes. But the Master did not say
anything. One hour passed this way. Now his
restlessness was getting too much to control so he
opened his eyes and saw the Master sitting
peacefully before him. He said, "If I keep sitting idly
here who will look after my family." Master smiled,
and said "...and who would have after you died"?

The man immediately reminded himself of the

miserable household problems and resolved better
this time to die, sat with eyes closed again. Now a
different set of thoughts occurred to him. He thought,
'will I really die by just sitting here like this? I doubt.
Even falling from a cliff or consuming poison are
surer ways to die but only that they are painful. ‘All

97
that while he doubted if he would really die by this
technique of simply sitting with eyes closed and kept
struggling with his thoughts. Another hour passed
like this and his restlessness grew and he again
opened his eyes and saw the Master sitting
peacefully before him. He said, "I really doubt if I will
die this way. Two hours have passed and nothing
happened so far."

Master smiled and said, "You said you were not in a

hurry. Still if you doubt me you can try your own
methods."
The man recalled how his techniques had seemed
scary to him. So he decided to stay on. He sat again
with his eyes closed.

Then slowly he sat more peacefully with lesser

thoughts. Thus two weeks passed by and he did not
feel the need to open his eyes again.

Meanwhile his absence at his place had made his

family anxious. None of them knew where he was.
They searched but after few days of searching gave
up and assumed he was no more. His wife and sons
now became wary of the limited resources they had
to survive upon. So they started working hard for
survival. While at work they had to follow a more
disciplined life. Things were improving at the other
end of his life. His employer was finding his relative
to be inefficient and irresponsible and wanted him to
return.

After three months the Master asked him to open his

eyes. But now he didn't want to. Then the Master
said, "Now you are dead already, so you may go."

The man then opened his eyes. This opening of the

eyes was opening them in a true sense as he
realised that, by the techniques that he had been
thinking of applying to achieve death would have
only gotten rid of his body, but inside he would have
remained the same. So shedding of the body alone
was not quite like dying or rather liberating him from
his tribulations. While sitting here like this for few
months in meditation, he had lost his thoughts and
shed all his negativity. Though his body was still
there, he had died internally, a true and more
liberating death.

He had learnt the 'Art of dying'!

99
Body and Beyond

It was a summer evening; I was dancing upon the

Ocean with my sibling waves. Some of them were
older and stronger and leapt far and high. I saw them
and awed at the ripples and splashes they made.
They were the pride of the Ocean. I was growing and
gathering momentum, and aspiring to be like them.
My grandma wave would pump up my ambition by
showing me the high waves on the ocean and tell
me, “That’s what makes the Ocean proud! See their
heights!”

As all oldies have some wisdom to impart to the

younger generation, my old grandma wave always
warned me of getting too near to the shore. When I
asked her why I shouldn’t do so, she would just
chide me not to ask too many questions and just do
as told.
Papa wave trained all of us to glide, jump, splash,
twist and tide. We would spend hours doing this until
we got our chance to chart the Ocean waters on our
own. We usually trained at night, as Moon was
considered to boost our energies and make us rise.
New moon days were off days for us. The days
when we had all the night for fun! We were allowed
to have fun in the night but were advised never to
look at the Sun directly as he was seen as an
hypnotist by the Waves community.

One day when we were allowed our free time to

charter the ocean and go where we wanted, I felt like
venturing towards the shore. The call of the
forbidden land had gripped me. I was enjoying the
breeze running through me as I neared the sands
early that morning. It was in the faint light of dawn
that I saw the waves ahead of me crashing against
the shore. I was stunned by what I saw. We were
surrounded by the shore on all sides and if by any
chance any of us falls out over to the shore, death
was certain! It made me sad and set me thinking
deeply that death was inevitable.

In that moment I saw the Sun at the horizon. I had

never waked up so early to have a look at this form
of him. As if just bathed in the Ocean he sat there in
his orange robes and looked magically pristine and
captivating. Enamoured by his beauty I kept looking
at him; forgetting all that I had been thinking about
death so far. Then a thought flashed my mind, that if
the shore surrounding us from all over meant death,
the way up, in the Sun’s direction could be an option
for life beyond the limited Ocean perhaps.
101
The Sun smiled at me and seemed to beckon me,
but I dismissed the thought reminding myself of what
the community said. They saw him as a hypnotist,
but how could such a bright innocent being
hypnotise anyone for evil sake? I tried to reason with
my budding infatuation for him.

I found myself lost in the labyrinth of thoughts from

the morning. Ah! Why did I have to go near the shore
and mess up with all these thoughts! Life was so
much simpler in obedience and non-exploration. The
Sun’s beautiful face crossed my thoughts every now
and then and I felt the strong need to look up to him.
The kicking around on the Ocean waters and having
fun with my siblings no longer attracted me.

Soon each dawn I would wait for the Sun to rise at

the horizon to sneak a peek at his lovely face, and
kept looking at it for hours. He was indeed a
hypnotist, he had hypnotised me and stolen my
heart!

One day the Sun saw me looking at him, and I

blushed. He asked me if I wanted to come along for
a date with him, and I wanted to say yes when one
of my siblings saw this and warned me not to go.
“Oh don’t go, you’ll lose all you have! Don’t go, don’t
go” she repeated.

But as if it was destined, in a seizure of blind

attraction I raised to the unknown, leaving behind my
play-ground, my home and all that was known. She
rushed to gather my family and they all saw me go.
 I looked down and saw they were crying and saying
“Oh she is no more!” I felt sorry for them, and wanted
to let them know that I was still alive, so I called from
above, “I am, I am” until I realised I had indeed lost
my form. My fluid body was no more with me and
this realisation was shocking. However, I decided not
give up and told myself that fluidity is not a material
thing; I can be fluid even without the body. And yes! I
flowed like a wave even without my body, as it was
my innate nature to be a wave. All this while I did not
recognise the new subtle vapour body that I had
entered, all I was aware of was my loss, that which
belonged to the past, I was unaware of my present
body.

Then I recalled that my purpose of coming up was to

meet the Sun. I kept moving towards the Sun, but
the distance between us was ever there. Even after
days and days of moving, I found myself very-very

103
far from him. Months and years of travelling had tired
me out. I was going to give up on my hope to meet
the Sun, when I felt the fiery heat coming from him.
This heat jolted me to a sudden awakening from my
blind attraction towards the Sun. I realised that I had
been madly moving towards him, but he had not
made the slightest effort to move towards me. I had
already lost my body, but didn’t want to lose on my
spirit, so I traced my footsteps back.

I was going to merge into the Sun and that would

have been a point of no return. I would have
remained stuck there in one place forever, had I not
returned then.

The Sun laughed mocking at me, calling me a

coward who feared his heat. He told me that if I
would merge into him I would be ruling the Sky. This
kingdom of the Sky was not enough for me to give
up my innate nature and freedom. His mocking laugh
made me realise that even when my body was lost
and I was still alive, then what was the need to go
after another body (the Sun’s body), which though
long lasting was also perishable?

In that moment I felt content with my spirit, with my

own being that I had never ever closely observed
and admired enough. The loss of liquid body had
made me so much lighter and more fluid than my
earlier form. The views from the Sky too were
amazing; they gave me so many stories to share
with my siblings when I got back to the Ocean. The
limited Ocean, surrounded by the shore of death
now seemed a place to long for; as it was the place I
grew up in and learned the things I knew. It was
always reflecting this unlimited Sky; the Sky was so
pure, so abundant with no training sessions, no
competitions, and complete rest. But no one here
understood the things I knew of, and I felt a total lack
of communication. I started to find my way back
home.

Moving up towards the hills, I met cold waves of air.

They seemed so much like my brothers, and for a
moment I felt it were them standing there with their
hair slightly ruffled up. Their forms made me aware
of the reality of my vapour body. Soon I found a
similarity between air and water waves. They flowed
like water waves, but there was no competition as to
who leapt higher, splashed more, or had a better gait
or a whiter foamy body. They seemed to be at ease
with their fluidity and simply knew where to go to for
achieving different results. I saw them go to colder
places to settle as icicles and go to warmer places
when they wished to glide around. Some of them
simply played around with the branches of trees
while others loved to blow near the Ocean and tickle
the water waves. I had never seen life from so many
different perspectives as an air wave could. I loved
my role as an air wave now. I could now travel long
distances at greater speed in lesser time!

With all this traveling I had been away from home for
quite long. I grew nostalgic for my siblings and
decided to go over to the Ocean to meet them. I saw
them playing around and having fun, kicking about in
the Ocean. They had grown up so much, I could see
them but they couldn’t see me. I talked to them but
105
they couldn’t hear me. I felt like a ghost, but then I
reminded myself that they had never been out of the
Ocean so I will need to speak to them in their
language and will need to go down to the Ocean in
the liquid body form to tell them of all that I had
experienced out of the body.

So I moved up towards the glaciers where I saw

frozen snowflakes queued to pass the heating test.
The closest to water would pass over to serve the
vast plains. I told them that I had been water once,
and knew all the nature of water. But I was turned
back saying that I need to look like water and feel
like water to serve the plains. Knowing how it is to be
water is of no use and won’t help me pass the test.

So it was a long process. I had to settle overnight

into the glacier to freeze and become an icicle, then
wait for the Sun to come and gather enough warmth
from him to turn into water again. When I finally went
through that freezing night, it felt like the longest
night of my life. My body was stiff, I couldn’t move an
inch. Frozen; I shut my eyes and waited for the Sun
to come. Thus, a year passed by in that frozen
meditative state. The funny thing was; when you just
got comfortable in one state it was time to move to
another state! They finally approved my visa for the
plains and I got my liquid body once again!

Falling speedily through mountains, I wanted to rush

back to the Ocean as soon as possible. On my way
through the mountains I saw splendid rocks. Some
were so huge that one could use it is as a bed! The
glide down the waterfall slide was superb! By the
time I reached the plains I was tired like anything
and badly needed rest which seemed distant still as
it was time to flow into the fields through the canals
and distribute my resources.

I was wondering how much of me would be left till I

go back home. The banks on either side of my river
body flourished with green fields and tall trees. I felt
happy and proud to have contributed to their growth.
Some of our companions had lost track in the plains
and settled there perhaps. Not all who started from
the glacial heights made to the plains and fewer still
made their way to the Delta Forests. Some even
perished while serving the plains. But I knew they
were alive in some other form, maybe as a tree or
grass or some other unknown plant. As I was sure
now that one remains alive even when a body
dropped off and a new body was put on.

When we reached the Delta Forests I knew we were

very close to our home now. I had made new friends
on my way and wanted them to meet my old ones. I
was imagining a grand reunion. By next morning we
saw the Ocean. It was after eighteen years later now
that I was returning home in my same liquid body. I
was excited and hoping to see my family and tell
them that I was alive.

This was the first time I saw the shore closely

enough and touched it without crashing dead on it.
All the while in the Ocean I had been thinking of
going out from inside, and death was the only thing
associated with the shore for the Ocean residents.
This was the first time I was going in from outside,

107
perhaps this made all the difference! The shore
instead of being the gate to death, became my gate
to go back home.

Then I looked at the Ocean as I had never seen it

before. Everything was the same, but seemed so
different. I saw the Ocean as one huge being, who
breathed waves in and out. We as waves had
constantly been rising and falling, thinking it was we
who went high or low. We had constantly been
taking up new forms in the same body without ever
realising it. We had been attributing all the credits
and discredits of our rise and fall to our own efforts.
Reality incorporated a much bigger scene than we
as waves in the Ocean could see. We had always
seen ourselves as waves, but that day I saw we
were the Ocean!

This return after eighteen years was perhaps too

late. My whole family had perished. To my
disappointment my old grandma, my parents and my
siblings, no one was there. The whole place was
now inhabited by the third generation descendants of
my siblings; they greeted me but never recognised
me.

Ah I felt so sad! Even when you know they are alive

in some other form yet the form that you knew, you
wish to see again. Who do I tell my stories to? Who
do I share my experiences with?

This momentary sadness was overcome by the

expanded vision when I saw them all again in the
water of the Ocean, in the new waves that rocked
the Ocean now, in the shore, and even in the
invisible breeze. They were all around me. In the
way that I had existed as the same spirit in different
bodies, I felt my whole family as one big spirit
distributed into different bodies. A feeling of a much
greater reunion took over me and I danced with joy,
jumped to my feet and soared high and crashed
back without fear. It was the happiest feeling ever, a
blissful joy springing from within. A feeling that I was
home! Not in terms of a place, but I felt at home in
the vast Ocean of existence. As all around I was
surrounded by those who I could call mine. No one,
nothing was alien now. We were all one big family,
the Universe!

Then I looked up at the Sun, and thought if I had

known that we were the same spirit in different
bodies, when I met him, I would have even stayed
up there. But in the form of the Sun the spirit had a
different role to play and it was placed appropriately
in the entire sequence of events which seemed to
fall so much in place now.

Later I took up the job of a wave trainer and

encouraged my student waves to explore the areas
near the shore and look at the Sun. I did not want
the new waves to feel inhibited. I wanted them to
explore and enrich themselves with experience and
be fearless. For I knew they too would discover that
even if the body perishes, you continue to live on…

109
Values
The Banyan Tree

It was a hot summer afternoon. The roads all roasted

by the sun, exuded heat and the sky seemed no
more pleasing. Not a bird dared to fly out of its shady
nest. Water lost its cool and air even lost its weight!
The wrath of the Sun was unbearable as I walked
back home, that afternoon.

In the distance I saw a Banyan tree, and gave a sigh

of relief. The shade of the Banyan tree seemed to
me like heaven on earth. My steps quickened, as I
headed towards this oasis and felt lucky. Feeling
thankful, as I sat in the shade of the great Banyan, I
looked up, wiping the sweat off my forehead. I saw
birds resting upon its branches, peacefully perched
in the shade of their 'Big Daddy'. I felt grateful for the
Banyan to be holding such a treasure of life in its
being. Supporting numerous birds in its body and
offering shade to weary travellers like me.

111
Overwhelmed with gratitude I started talking to the
Banyan.

"How long have you been here?" Up came an

obvious yet unexpected answer, "Ever since I came
out of mother Earth's womb"...It had more to say, so
I kept quiet and listened, "....but my
roots..." Suddenly the Banyan stopped as if taken in
by some deep thought. I chose not to interrupt. We
sat in silence, for some time. The Banyan had not
spoken in many years, but that was not unusual for
it. For me however, silence was unusual. This
silence took me into the space of my mind that now
wanted to know more about the Banyan, and sent
forth another question.

"Why do you send down roots from your

branches?" The Banyan grinned and answered,
“You know I just got a creative knack and thought if
roots could make branches, then branches could
also make roots! See it worked...I just hit the right
formulations and there it is!"
This amazing answer made me even more curious
about the Banyan. Forgetting the heat of the
afternoon, I got into this interesting conversation with
the Banyan.

"But you could have chosen to grow upwards, given

the huge potential of growth that you have. Why did
you choose to come downwards? People always like
moving up, ahead in life, why did you choose this
regression?"
"Hmmm .... (A deep pause) ...Do you want me to
answer this or would you like to find out for yourself?
Ha-ha, I believe discoveries are fun!" It laughed. I
thought for a while, and then said, "Indeed
discoveries are fun, but I have got to get this one
from you".

There was another long pause before the Banyan

started telling me more about itself. "Like all trees, I
had learned to grow towards the light, and so I did. I
was digging the ground with my roots, while I was
rising. I felt like a candle burning at both ends. I was
as much below the ground as I was above it. Rising
to the light is not an easy task, but what most people
fail to see is that it's not easy to dig through the
ground either!

I was taught by my genes to go deep for a greater

stability, and also to reach a height that was
respectable. I was trying my best to achieve both.
But knowing what height was actually respectable
was a big question. I really did not know how high I

113
should be going, for once out of the ground, I moved
up with the momentum of reaching the sky. But the
more I grew upwards, the more I found the distance
between me and the sky increasing as I mapped my
way up. I had a self-set challenge for life, which was
to be in ‘the light' always. Having risen to a point in
light, above the ground, I started feeling that the
heights above were becoming more and more
unknown, and hence it was a sort of 'darkness in
light'. The journey towards 'light' had actually been a
venture into the unknown, to know more. But the
more I knew, the more there was to know. Thus
increasing my knowledge was increasing my
ignorance at the same time.

While when I looked at the path I had travelled,

though it now lay in my shade and even in the
darkness under the ground, it had a sort of ‘light in
darkness’ as I knew that path.

I realised that knowledge itself was light and

ignorance itself was darkness. This was existence
in a different plane, very different yet very similar to
the physical reality of existence. I started moving
towards the light of this dimension of life, which
brings about, what you see as 'regression'. But for
me it's progress all along. And the height where I
hit this realization was the respectable height; I
had always wanted to know about. I gained
respect in my own eyes, for I had discovered this
new dimension of 'light'."

This was amazing! The Banyan had laid open a

totally new dimension of life for me. I realised a
ceaseless growth and an unending existence in light.
The Banyan had been able to live up to its self-
promised goal, and attained not only light, but lateral
growth, that covered both the sky above and the
earth below in equal measure!

115
Desire and Renunciation

Desire, the son of a rich businessman and

Renunciation the daughter of a minimalistic Brahmin
were young neighbours in their late teens. Desire
had anything and everything one could think of.

A Casanova at heart he flaunted his red Ferrari,

romanced the best looking girls in town and had
countless friends, most of whom were only there to
enjoy his wealth and all that it could buy.

His most attractive girl-friend was Problem. She was

almost always seen with him. Lady Problem had a
huge wardrobe; as she always appeared in new
attire. Desire’s sister Reputation, who was a year
younger than him, was spoiled by her
companionship.

She pestered her father to buy her new clothes

every week to match the standards of
Problem. Desire and Reputation were the pride of
their family and always got what they wanted.
Desire’s friends praised them for their possessions,
but there wasn’t a single person from either his
friends or girl-friends whom he could rely on without
his wealth. His parents had raised him in a lavishly
pampering manner such that he came to believe that
money was the sole basis of survival. Whenever he
imagined a life without money, he would simply
dismiss the thought. It made him feel heavily
insecure!

Renunciation on the other hand was used to a

minimalistic life-style and was raised by her parents
to make do with bare minimum needs for survival.
She was proud of her strength to live without luxuries
and an extravagant life-style, and scorned people
who flaunted their wealth meaninglessly. Though
kind to others, Renunciation was sort of unkind to
herself, as she would often force herself into forgoing
simple pleasures like enjoying a cake even when
lovingly offered by her friends. She would see
birthday celebrations as an extravaganza and waste
of money. The sight of her neighbour, Desire, would
just flare her up, as she despised him from the
bottom of her heart.

Desire too held no great views about Renunciation.

He thought of her as a girl just proud for nothing.
Though secretly it pinched his heart as to why this
unattractive, plain looking female did not care two
hoots for the most handsome, rich and eligible
bachelor in town. It seemed almost unnatural to him
for any girl not to fall for him.

117
However, Renunciation’s father, the wise Brahmin,
was a good friend of Desire’s dad. He neither
approved nor disapproved of Desire’s ways. This
was even more disheartening for Renunciation. One
day Renunciation decided to ask her father why he
had brought her up to live in a minimalistic lifestyle
and yet be friends with people who live a lavish
lifestyle. He looked at her eyes and saw a pain of
deprivation, but replied shortly, “Everyone has a
choice to live according to the way they want to. I
don’t interfere with people’s choices.”

“You won’t mind even if it is not in the best interests

of humanity? Will you not preach to them what you
have taught me?” Renunciation retorted.

“How am I to decide what is good for others? I feel

that there is a universal guiding principle in each of
us that prompts us to do what we perform. It could
prompt me to preach, but so far it hasn’t. Even if you
preach, people only choose to follow their
interpretation of what you say. You understand they
choose to follow! I have not imposed anything upon
you; you have chosen to follow your interpretation of
my teaching. Ask yourself why is it that you choose
what you choose. The way we live is our teaching to
the world, what is said in words is always less. That
universal guiding principle takes care of the universal
good, though its results may not be immediately
evident, but I have found it to be a fool proof
mechanism that works through to maintain
equilibrium. As I trust that the force that could bring
forth such a vast and magnificent universe won’t be
a fool to design it without looking into possible errors
and their remedies. There must be something inbuilt
to set it right, if it ever goes wrong”.

Her father’s words echoed in her ears, “Ask yourself,

why is it that you choose what you choose.” Her
thoughts were dotted with different kinds of people,
people with different lifestyles. Accustomed as she
was to her minimalistic lifestyle, she thought of the
pros and cons of her life-style. Discovering finally for
herself, that it made her more independent, life was
less cluttered and she could be called more
adaptable. The cons were that she was not able to
taste all aspects of life and live it so called ‘fully’.

On the other hand the so called ‘living fully’ kind of

lifestyle had its pros of getting to taste all the aspects
of life, while always with a lurking danger of getting
dependant and/ or addicted to the ‘tastes’ and
indulgent life-style and become a slave of it slogging
continuously to maintain that. Somewhere a need
for moderation was required.

“These two lifestyles could be considered polar, and

a balance would be somewhere in the middle of
these two poles. What if one could enjoy all tastes
without getting addicted or dependant on them! That
would be incredible!” she thought to herself.

While taking a walk in the garden that evening, she

saw a cat that was chasing a mouse and finally
managed to grab it. After feasting on its prey, it

119
simply sat with eyes closed as if enjoying the
satisfaction of a full stomach. Then a stouter field rat
ran across the cat, but the cat made no attempt to
chase or catch it. There didn’t seem any need to do
so. No one had taught this cat not to be lazy in the
first instance to hunt its prey, or not to be greedy
when full. It just took in the amount of food that was
sufficient to satisfy its hunger. No forced austerity
existed here. No unnecessary preaching, just an
inner guidance and a wonderful balance and
equilibrium were so visible in Nature. She realised
then, what her father meant by the force that
maintains equilibrium in the universe. The
equilibrium and the guiding principle were so evident
in this incident!

Slowly with passing time she came to accept the

reality of different lifestyles, and the different forms of
reality. She no longer felt the need to scorn at
Desire, and sometimes even greeted him with a
smile. Desire welcomed this change in Renunciation,
and they got friendlier. Desire found the friendship
with Renunciation a meaningful one. A relationship
that was much deeper than any other friendship he
had had so far. In her, he could see how one could
be happy with simple things in life. He discovered
that kindness brought more joy than a loud party,
and a simple walk on grass laden with dew-drops
was much healthier and fulfilling than turning heads
with a Ferrari.
Problem was distanced from Desire by his growing
friendliness with Renunciation and Reputation
gained positively from this association.

This friendship also worked well for Renunciation.

She was able to see that there was no harm in
enjoying simple ‘luxuries’ like a cake, or celebrating
a birthday, if it made a friend smile. It was something
similar to being kind, though in a different language.

121
Aloneness and Loneliness

“Alone we all come and alone we all shall go”

He was out on a business tour, and when he

returned he saw huge flames enveloped his house.
He shouted for help, and was about to rush inside to
save his family when a neighbour stopped him. It
was too late now. The firemen tried putting out the
fire but were unable to rescue the family members.
Right before his eyes, his house and family crumbled
to ashes. He was smashed by the burden of this
tragedy and sat there on the street, sobbing his fate.
His neighbours consoled him but he kept crying
frantically.

Just then a Zen Master happened to pass by. The

Master kneeled down and comforted him by placing
his hands on his shoulders.
The man then spoke to the master, “I have lost
everything, Master I have lost everything, my whole
family and my house has been destroyed in this fire.
This is too much to bear. What am I to do now, what
for should I live?”

The Master hugged the man, and wiped his tears.

Took him to his monastery and offered some water
to comfort the distressed soul. He understood that
the loss was tremendous and too much for him to
bear and any consolation would be less. So he
asked the man to sit in meditation for a while.

The man composed himself somehow and while

meditating visualised the scene of the fire before his
eyes. Bursting into tears he opened and closed his
eyes times and again until he finally settled with
closed eyes.

After few days at the Master’s place he asked if he

could stay there until his house was restored. The
Master told him he could stay as long as he wished.
Few months later he moved back to his house and
began to catch up with life as usual. Lots had
changed and he often missed his wife and children,
cooking and eating alone seemed drab routine.

He would often go to the Master’s place to visit him,

as he had been his portal of support during his worst
times. He asked the Master if he too felt lonely living
all by himself.

The Master looked at him with his peaceful eyes and

gently replied, “There is a difference in being alone

123
and feeling lonely. Loneliness is a feeling
accompanied with sadness because you have
assigned your happiness to something outside of
yourself. Take charge of your own happiness; let it
come from within you so you don’t have to look for it
outside.”

“How do I do that?” asked the man.

“Feel the peace in your aloneness. Being alone is to

get in touch with your Self in solitude. As you will
become more aware of this peace that your
aloneness brings, it will make you aware of your
individual nature, where you will be able to see the
whole world within yourself, and your own self in the
whole world. It will bring you to the knowledge of
Oneness” replied the Master.

The man then started the practice of meditation and

learnt to feel the peace of his aloneness. Though
occasionally the scenes of fire would flash before his
eyes, his being was gradually being drifted to the
realms of peace by meditation. He eventually
realised the truth of Oneness that the Master had
mentioned.

One day the Master asked him, “Do you still miss
your family?” and he replied “I believed fire united
us; until Fire ripped us apart, but you made me
aware of a Oneness, the Oneness beyond union and
fire; of which Fire is only one fifth part!”
Story of a Kingdom

King is not one who is served by many: The ever needy

beggar of Want is also served by majority.

The true king requires not to be served by many; just

like the ever peaceful Contentment”

Want, the beggar had been in a very bad shape

when Contentment ruled the state. However, he was
shown mercy by few, and received their attention in
uplifting of his status. But he used their kindness to
his advantage and continued begging. He then
became a perpetual and rich beggar. Soon he
captured all the markets and towns and sent
Contentment into exile by a treacherous conspiracy
with his friend Temptation. He made all inhabitants
of the state a slave of his tyrannical demands. His
wives Indulgence, Greed and Lust were losing the
resources of the country to their sons Anger, Chaos
125
and Laziness. Anger was a spoilt brat who would
even threaten his parents for life. Chaos was a
totally confused personality and Laziness was a born
sycophant who promised to take the legacy of Want
to great heights! However, all of them were
incapable of maintaining and undeserving of the
resources they had acquired. The ruler of the
enemy state, Discipline was a sheer threat to Want
and his family. He was always looking for ways to
win over Want and rid the Earth of Want’s incapable
sons.

Discipline was not a kind hearted ruler either. He

was harsh and demanding in his own way. Though
the infrastructure and running of government went
smooth in his kingdom, his terror of taxing people
beyond their paying capacity made him an unpopular
ruler. With his persistent attacks on Want, he
overtook his kingdom, and imprisoned Want and all
his sons for life. The anarchy of Want was ended,
but people were still not happy. They had to
constantly slog to pay the huge tax amounts without
which survival seemed difficult. It became a never
ending sort of struggle for them, until Love came to
live there with his wife Peace and daughter Bliss.

King Discipline happened to see the beautiful Bliss

once and longed to marry her, but felt too proud to
marry the daughter of a commoner, so he dismissed
the thought. But day in and day out, Bliss’s face
would float before his eyes and he kept struggling
hard with the thought if he should approach her.
Love on the other hand was gaining popularity
among the masses with his friendly nature. He met
people, talked to them about their problems and
helped them. Soon he was ruling their hearts. He
approached Discipline to place before him the
request to lower the taxes and relieve people from
their pain. Discipline respected Love’s courage to
approach him for that, and said he would agree to it
on the condition that he gave his daughter to him in
marriage. Love could make no sense in such an
agreement, and said “The choice of a groom is her
prerogative; I cannot take that from her.” Hearing
this, Discipline imprisoned Love and sent a message
to Peace that Love could only be released if Bliss
married him.

Bliss wanted the freedom of her father and agreed

to marry Discipline, if he lowered the taxes that
people had to pay. Discipline agreed. Love was
released, the taxes lowered, and Bliss was married
to Discipline. This was the point of a big change in
the life of Discipline. He had believed he would make
Bliss the queen, teach her royal etiquette, but simple
and beautiful Bliss changed Discipline from within.
She transformed him to love simplicity, and made
him more congenial. They gave birth to a son and
named him Compassion.

Compassion was crowned king when he was 18

years of age. He ruled well both the kingdom and the
hearts of people. He also brought back the exiled
Contentment to stay in the kingdom. Contentment
became the chief adviser to king, guiding him in all
matters. Later Compassion married his daughter
Wisdom. The kingdom was thus safe and secure in
their care.
127
The Balloon of Ego and the
Stream of Breath

From the marital union of Consciousness and

Energy was born a beautiful and bright off-spring.
They named the child as Mind. Mind was a quiet
child, but mother Energy, wanted the child to play
around, have some fun, and explore the world. So
she gave Mind a balloon of Ego and a stream of
Breath to play. Whenever Mind blew the stream of
Breath into the balloon of Ego, it would inflate and
start rolling about. This was great fun for Mind, who
would delight as the balloon inflated into a ball and
rolled, but became sad when the stream of breath
slowly passed out of Ego, deflating it. Then Mamma
Energy would coax Mind to refill it with Breath and
keep the ball rolling. It was a nice game to keep
Mind occupied. Mind would follow the ball wherever
it rolled and thus explore new areas of the Space
around. One day the balloon of Ego burst and Mind
was only left with the stream of Breath to play. Mind
blew breath into the entire Space around, but no
inflation took place. Mind blew it again, harder this
time, and kept trying to replace the entire Space with
Ego. It occurred to Mind that if a small space within
the balloon could inflate then this whole Space
should also do the same, but didn’t realize that then
he was bigger than the balloon and outside it and
now he stood inside the Space and was smaller than
it.

Consciousness watched the entire activity and was

amused. He asked Mind to blow the breath inside
and not outside. Mind did it with full force, and kept
doing it for quite some time. Slowly something
magical happened and Mind took the shape of a
Being, a breathing Being! This activity gradually
made Mind more cognizant of himself and he
recognized the immensity of Space. He realized how
the Ego was only a small balloon and there was so
much beyond it to learn and explore. He saw the
difference between breathing out and breathing in;
how breathing out caused him to run after the rolling
balloon of Ego to have some short-lived fun, but
made him lose awareness of self and reality and
breathing in on the other hand made him quieter,
and more aware of the reality around him. Ever since
Mind religiously did the ritual of breathing in and
breathing out to strike a balance, however; his cycle
of being happy and sad by the inflation and deflation
of Ego disappeared. He felt thanked his mother,
Energy for the blessing of Breath and his father
Consciousness for making him aware of how to use
it.

129
Contentment

Summer vacations had started and Siya was visiting

her grandparents. Siya loved to eat laddoos made by
grandma and hear stories from grandpa. One
evening while everyone savoured snacks made by
grandma, Siya requested grandpa to tell her a story
she had never heard before.

Old grandpa scratched his head, chuckled and

said, “Many years ago, on the open piece of land
outside this village, near the river bank, lay many
small and big rocks. The rocks varied in colour from
brown and green to grey and black and white. There
was one rock as white as snow, its name was
Rocky. And there was another one named Granito
who was pitch-black. The two of them were good
friends. Granito was the bigger one, like the ones
that humans can sit on, and Rocky was smaller, the
size that you can easily kick around.”

“Granito often remarked to Rocky, ‘You are the

fairest rock I have ever come across.’ At this Rocky
would feel elated, little aware that Granito had not
travelled much to see fairer rocks than it. Pumped
and bloated by such compliments, Rocky’s false ego
could not see that it was Granito’s goodness to
shower such compliments, instead, interpreted these
compliments as statements describing him to be in
possession of a rare quality of fairness. Instead of
thanking Granito for them, Rocky started to rate
himself superior than its friend. What a fallacy!
“Grandpa quipped.

“Rocky grew egoistic as days went by. When boys

from the village came to play they used to kick about
these rocks, most of the rocks had fun being kicked,
and rolled around in joy. But Rocky detested this. It
hated being kicked around. It often said, ‘What kind
of life is this! Sit in the mud, only to be kicked around
so that these little rascals can have fun! I just hate
this. Have I no self-esteem! Anyone steps on me in
the middle of my naps to wake me up, throws me
wherever and whenever they please to, or simply sit
upon me to have rest… as if rocks don’t need a
break from all these boring routine!’ At this Granito
used to say, “Hey we are rocks after all. We are
supposed to be living like this only. What else can
we do?”

131
This set Rocky into thinking mode and it thought
what else it could do. ‘I shall avenge the
mistreatment I am given. I shall fall back on the boys
that hit me. Yes! I must teach them a lesson’ Rocky
almost jumped as it said this.”

“The next day Rocky waited for the boys to come.

They came and a little boy hit Rocky so hard that it
flew high up above the ground. It was the first time
someone had hit Rocky so hard that it could almost
see the entire village from up there. Although it
enjoyed the scene, Rocky was determined to hit the
boy’s head. Revenge overtook the feelings of
appreciation and down it went with anger fuelling its
pace. Just as it was about to reach the boy, the boy
just ran away, and bound by the law of gravity,
Rocky fell to the earth with a great thud. It hurt like
never before. This hurt brewed more bitterness in
Rocky’s mind. Although the boys played their own
games, and had no conscious intention of hitting
Rocky, Rocky felt that the boys came to the field only
to hit it.

Since Rocky’s thoughts were centred on being hit,

the boys somehow chose to kick Rocky amongst all
other rocks. This made Rocky feel like a victim. It
thought that the boys had something especially
against it, as they chose to kick it every day while
other rocks were kicked only occasionally. Rocky
lacked the awareness that its own thoughts were
bringing the kicks to it. Its thoughts had become
so big in magnitude that they had the gravity to
pull the boys from whatever they were doing,
and be at the field only to kick Rocky around. It
was all in Rocky’s mind, and yet Rocky was
oblivious of it.”

“Day after day the same scene repeated, Rocky

was kicked up and it enjoyed the scene from above,
yet revenge and anger made it fall to the ground
making it feel miserable than ever. One day while
brooding over its miseries Rocky thought it would run
away, far away never to come back to this land
where life was all about kicking, hitting and falling. It
had no idea where to go, but it was determined not
to fall back or take revenge. It decided firmly that it
never wanted to come back. It thought that falling
somewhere else would also mean the same thing,
except that the people who hit you would change. So
it made up its mind never to return. ‘Today whatever
happens I am not going to fall back, I don’t care
about gravity or its laws. I think gravity too exists
because things fall. I want to defy it and make my
way to the sky.’ It was determined.

133
Evening came by, and so did the boys. The little boy,
who kicked the hardest, kicked Rocky and up it
went… ‘No looking down, I’ll look up’ Rocky told
itself as it held onto itself in flying posture, and
sublimated its anger and feeling of revenge and
used the power therefrom to fuel its pace.

Up and up it soared, until it heard someone say

‘Welcome Rocky’. Rocky was greeted by the
Sky. Astounded by its effort Rocky was unable to
speak, and muttered ‘…Ummm…amm…am I really
here!’ ‘

Yes! You are’, Sky smiled as it said. Rocky was

feeling too hot.

‘Mr Sky, you got a river close by? I feel hot and
thirsty’.

‘What are you talking of Rocky, there are no rivers

up here. And you feel hot because you’re a ‘Star’
now. You sped so fast that your whole form is
burning. You’re emitting light now. Want to have a
look at your earth? Just look at those boys who
kicked you around.’

Rocky looked down. It saw the boys admiring its

shining armour of light. Rocky felt proud of itself. The
boys, who had been kicking and hitting it, now
looked up to it in awe and amazement.

It was a wonderful feeling, a feeling of triumph. Then

the Sky asked Rocky, ‘Won’t you thank those little
rascals’?
‘Why, what for’? Questioned Rocky confused.
‘They have been the reason you are up here, defying
the law of gravity, shining up here, millions of miles
away from where you were. They have been the
reason that you are able to rise above the dirt and
mud you used to be in. Oh, what an elevation they
have brought about in you’!

Rocky was surprised to hear all this. This was a

totally new perspective for it. It never thought on
those lines. And silently nodded in agreement, still
finding this part of the truth hard to digest.”

“There was more and much more to a star’s life than

Rocky had ever imagined. A star’s life was not easy.
It saw bright stars shining in the otherwise dark
sky. They looked beautiful! Admiration was
something that would naturally come upon seeing
them. They had been bringing light to so many
planets for millions of years now. Their life was a
constant battle between gravity of the matter
absorbed and the energy they emitted out. For being
a star it needed to have a perfect balance of these
two opposing forces, an imbalance of either would
lead to death. If gravity won, it would mean a black-
hole death, and if energy emissions out-did gravity it
would be a supernova death. Death stood staring in
the face on either sides of their identity. But the stars
believed that the struggle was worth the benefit they
were bringing to so many planets and the life that
sustained upon them.”

135
“They inspired upcoming young stars and were
looked upon as role models. Just like DNA has all
the essential information coded in it for the
development, functioning and reproduction of any
living organisms, an existing star had all the
necessary energy wavelength pattern codes to
inspire and grow new budding stars. Inspiration is a
key ingredient to keep one buoyant in life”
Grandpa emphasised.

“There was a lot that Rocky had to learn yet.

Struggling to survive as a star was proving to be
even more difficult than it was to survive as a rock.
No one kicked you around, stamped on you, or sat
on you, but this life had its own challenges. No one
dared to come near you, as you were too hot. So it
was all lonely up there. It even missed Granito, its
favourite friend. Here no two stars could come
together and had to maintain a certain distance from
each other to avoid explosions. It could not gather
much mass as it would increase gravity and lead to
death eventually, and if it did accumulate the mass it
had to burn it to emit light, in order to balance it.

It could not overwork to finish two days’ work in one,

as over emission of energy would lead to an
explosion that they called a supernova. So it had to
be a much disciplined life with the right amount of
intake and just the right output.

Slowly Rocky got to learn the skill of this life, but

often missed its life as a rock and said to itself
‘Those were the days!’ and sighed.

Its discontentment was with it as ever! But as it

contemplated in its discontented state it found that it
did not want to go back either. It did not want to go
back to the ground near the river, to be kicked
around, nor did it like its life as a star. What could it
do? Why was it unable to enjoy either being a rock
or a star? While life made no such misery to other
rocks or stars who seemed fairly happy with their
own lot.

Rocky looked down towards the ground where other

rocks lay. A sculptor had transformed Granito into a
beautiful sculpture! Granito was happy before and
happier now. Other rocks looked at it in awe and
wonder waiting for their chance to get transformed.
Rocky felt only if it had waited back on earth this
chance would not have been missed. Instead of
feeling happy for its friend’s lot Rocky made things
miserable for itself.”

137
“Discontentment is something that can never
make you feel happy, no matter you may have
touched the sky, and contentment is something
that will make you feel happy even if you lay in
the dust”, concluded grandpa, as he got up to go for
his evening walk.
Nobody Wins!

“You can at the most be equal to someone, but you

can never be anyone other than your own self!”

The two neighbours though living close to each other

had pulled up the wall of competition between their
existences to such a level that neither of them could
bear to see the other. Yet they would peep over
each other’s house to get the latest news on what
was going on and argue on unnecessary trifles
whenever they felt the need to talk.

If one got a new pair of shoes the other too wanted

the same set. If one brought home a white car the
other would bring in the same coloured, same model
vehicle. They copied each other like crazy. So much
so, that they forgot the actual purposes of their lives
and were busy spending their time filling up their
lives with the belongings the other had!

One day both entered into a heated argument and

the way out of the debate could not be seen to be
resolved at the level of talks alone. So they decided
to mark the victory by jumping into the nearby river.
Whoever jumped farther would win. And they
appointed the sweeper of the lane as the judge of
their competition.

The sweeper looked on as both of them jumped into

the river. One of them jumped five inches farther
than the other and raised his hand to proclaim

139
victory. The other then pleaded the sweeper to
announce the judgement, still hoping for victory.

As both of them stood there in wet clothes, and the

poor sweeper seeing their hopelessness said, that
they both lost sorely. He said it did not matter if one
jumped five or six inches ahead of the other, as both
fell into the water and were equally wet. What
difference did five inches make if the outcome was
the same?

The two neighbours stood dazed by this lesson

taught to them by the sweeper who having seen their
foolishness silently walked away.
A Matter of Time

It was Saturday afternoon; she was sorting out the

clothes in the closet; putting aside those that got
shorter to be donated and torn ones to be used as
dusters. When clothes got old or torn, she used them
as dusters. She felt environment-conscious in this
type of reuse and even found it economical as it
saved her money for the dusters. One of her son's
vests had a hole in it so she decided to replace it as
her dusting cloth. After it was used for the intended
job, it turned from white to grey, with all the muck on
it.

Even after washing the stains didn’t go off, and she

did not even try scrubbing it too hard, as it was only
a duster. This duster was washed alongside with
other clothes which included some new vests for her
son. After washing when she put up the clothes to
dry on the line, her son accompanied her.

141
Placing the new vests and the 'duster' side by side
on the line, she casually remarked to her son “Look
at the difference!" trying to point out the difference in
cleanliness and whiteness of the two clothes. But
her son who saw it differently, said, "What is the
difference Ma, that one was a vest few days ago,
and this one would be a 'duster' some days later. It is
only a matter of time.”

She felt deeply how looks affected the position and

utility of things, and imagined what her position and
utility would be once she grew old. Her son as if read
her mind and placing his hands on her shoulders
said, “Just like when you would get old, you will
cleanse us with your wisdom and not require much
cleaning yourself!”
Differences Don’t Create Conflict

Nandu worked in the kitchen garden when his

daughter Lila playfully came about and asked, “Baba
why are all the people in the world so different, why
were they not made alike for avoiding disparity.
There is so much conflict in people over issues of
their differences in nature, religion, nationality and so
many other things.”

Nandu smiled and took little Lila in his lap and said;
“See this soil, I sow different seeds here, some get
the face of a tomato, some take shape as
cucumbers and others as melons. But the soil, water
and sunlight are same in all.”

Lila listened intently as her father went on “You see

here in my farm the same soil takes so many
different forms by the seeds that are sown. Some
turn sweet like mangoes and hang up their fruits in
the air, while the water-melon takes in too much
water and its fruits are sweet yet heavy so lie on the
ground. So many times it is infected by worms. The
tomatoes have a not so high ambition and just make

143
a small shrub of tangy fruits, and lemons are sour
with a thorny bush as if guarding their sourness. The
oranges choose to be both sweet and sour while the
spineless bitter-gourd creeps in the dust. The Neem
though bitter is tall as it heals, while this humble basil
is quite a healer too! The mint and coriander are
short and soft but their aroma makes them the
topping of most foods.

Corn, wheat and rice yield many nutritious grains

and hide them in the sheath, lest they be eaten by
pests. Some are shy and hide beneath the soil, like
potatoes, carrots and turnips. And some like this
chilly are small, but have a fiery temper! Look at the
cactus, it hoards water and bears thorns to keep the
water to itself.”

“But Baba, how come different seeds produce

different manifestations of the same soil?” Lila
curiously inquired.

“It is a matter of recipe dear, the thought or the idea

behind the final product. Like we can cook bread, roti
or poori with a variation in recipe of the same wheat
flour, oil and water, so do different seeds have
different recipes for their fruits.”

“One can make oneself into a totally different

product by changing one’s own recipe or
thoughts and ideas in the mind!”

“This world is also like a big farm where people

adopt a form and behaviour according to their innate
nature and environment. But it is not the differences
that create conflict, differences only bring variety.
Conflict arises when we don’t know how to deal with
the variety available.”

“Take this cactus for example, it may feel repulsive

to have it in a farm, but I can use it as a protective
fence for the farm. When you know how and where
to place individual characteristics in life, there is no
conflict. You can then enjoy the variety.”

145
The Way Up

Long long ago from Space originated Air, Fire, Water

and Earth. Of all Fire was the only one who could
stand upright and knew the way upwards. So the
other elements sought after Fire to teach them the
way up. Fire agreed and said you all must become
part of me then. Earth, Water and Air found this to be
quite an adventure and hopped into Fire’s being. But
soon they realised they were losing their identities
and would soon vanish out of existence if they
continued to be a part of Fire’s being. Impelled by
their insecurity, they enhanced their forms in
magnitude, so as to overcome being consumed by
Fire and losing their identities altogether. In the
process their upward movement slowed down as
Fire was reduced in proportion to them. This alarmed
Fire, who too was feeling a threat to its identity and
increased the magnitude of its form. This struggle
kept going on for quite some time and they couldn’t
resolve it. Then Fire looked up to Space for help,
and said, “I genuinely wish to help my friends to
come up, but you see we are struggling hard with
our identities which is preventing either of us to bring
about a positive change in the situation.”

Space replied, “Raise yourself first, only then can

you uplift others.”

Fire then took a point at its center, focused on it,

rolled itself into a ball all around that point in Space
and moved up, to become the self-gravitated Sun
standing high up. The Earth, Water and Air looked
up at the Sun and teamed up to roll into a ball like
planet. Ever since that planet though having its own
gravity is pulled by a greater gravity of the Sun and
looks upto it as its guide. The Sun inspires all
elements on this planet to rise.

147
Rendezvous with a Saint

The Sanskrit professor, Mr Tripathy, had arranged a

meeting with a saint; who was to visit their small
town, for students who would be interested in
knowing more about ‘spiritual lifestyle’. He had been
teaching the students about the ancient language
and its origin through a meditative lifestyle and
expected the students to gain from this visit.

This was a hot topic for discussion among the

students. While the students discussed their views,
they shared that most people took to a
reclusive/meditative life-style either because they
were not so educated to find a job, or didn’t want to
work hard for a living, or had probably been thrown
out of their family for being a useless bunch, or had
lost the love of their lives, and heartbroken, to seek
love of God...and laughed over the matter. None of
them was of the view that one could voluntarily opt
for this type of life or probably they couldn’t find
reason enough to go for it. Their minds were
occupied with their day to day activities, and perhaps
never having interacted with a saint before they had
no idea of what it meant to be one. Dhruv sat silently
through the discussion. He neither listened to his
classmates nor was thinking about the visit. His mind
was elsewhere. He was thinking of the girl who he
had deeply loved and she had left him recently with
a broken heart. When his friends mentioned the view
that people took to reclusive lifestyle after a heart-
break he paid some attention to what they said and
thought about it.

The saint was not so well known, perhaps no one

had ever heard of him as he had been living in
seclusion for a long time. He was staying at an
ashram adjacent to the temple on the outskirts of the
town. This temple too wasn’t much visited by people
as it was far off from the habitation area, and as
such wore a deserted look. The students along with
Mr Tripathy bicycled their way to the ashram. Some
had brought some offerings for the saint and his
disciples. They started off around 8 in the morning
and reached there by 9:30. The sun was already up
and it was getting hot.

The students were made to sit on floor mats in a

semi-circle around the paved tree and on the
pavement sat the saint in lotus posture welcoming all
of them with a beaming smile. They sat in silence for
some time, and then Mr Tripathy asked the students
to ask questions from ‘Baba’ (as he referred to the
saint). Various questions poured in, “Why do we
149
close eyes for meditation, can we meditate with open
eyes?” To this Baba replied, “Yes it is possible to
meditate with open eyes, but that is a very advanced
stage of meditation. We close eyes as it helps focus
the mind and train it for being focused.”

“Yes it is possible to meditate with open eyes, but

that is a very advanced stage of meditation”

Another question came, “Is it necessary to live the

life of a recluse, away from family, in order to
meditate?” “No it is not necessary. But just as I
explained that closing eyes helps focus the mind, a
life of seclusion too helps the same, though not
necessarily. Family life is like an open-eyed
meditation if you live it with awareness.” said Baba

Riya asked, “How does meditation help us in our

daily lives? How are you useful while sitting in the
forest away from everyone else?”

Baba talked about how we are so accustomed to

measuring the value of things and people by their
usefulness, and replied “How is a mother taking care
of an infant at home useful? The mind like the infant
is very delicate, and needs to be trained. If you leave
a delicate infant on the road and expect it to walk
and cross the road safely you will be foolish to think
so. Similarly an untrained mind if left in the world and
expecting it to cross over the ocean of the world
safely will be foolishness. There are bound to be
accidents and these in turn bring their sorrows. An
accidental cross over may make one happy, but
such happiness is not long lasting, as it has not
learnt to cross over. There is always chance of the
untrained child to get hit over. Hence to make the
mind less ‘accident prone’ to the hits of miseries one
needs to train it by meditation. Meditation improves
awareness of mind.

And just like some teaching of the child has to take

at home away from the world and then gradually
launch the child into the world, so a meditative life
has to first go through training the mind in seclusion
before launching into the worldly life for a blissful
cross over.”

After Riya, it was Mukul’s turn to ask. He asked,

“When did you choose this life, what age?”

Baba’s eyes filled with old memories as they looked

far into the sky when he said, “My parents were a
devout couple. Holy men frequented our house. My
mother had a deep-seated desire in her heart that I
should take up this kind of life. She prayed every day
that God call me in His service. And I was studying
engineering in college when I decided that as soon
as I finish my course I will work towards realising my
mother’s dream and dedicate myself to love of God.”

The students were amazed to hear that a mother

could wish such a life for her son! However, more
than that, they were puzzled by the fact of loving an
unknown and invisible entity.

There was a discussion amongst them about this

and Vyas asked on their behalf “How can one love

151
God, I mean you don’t know him, you can’t see him?
How can one love someone who cannot be seen?”

“You cannot see a tree in a seed, but you sow it,

water it daily and it grows. So is love of God. You
just sow the seed, and water it daily with devotion,
it’s that simple.” replied Baba

Now Dhruv spoke, “No it is not that simple. Love

breaks your heart. It is not a good thing. I will never
love anyone again.”

Baba smiled, and spoke in a compassionate voice,

“Dear it isn’t love that breaks the heart, love is like
water, and it simply knows how to flow. Dryness or
lack of love causes the cracks. When you seek love,
you declare that there is deficit of it in your heart.
Grow your own love, and share with all. Love others,
rather than seek love from them. Those who truly
love, seek it not in return as they have enough of it
flowing out to feed the world.”

Dhruv still not getting Baba’s point asks again, “Does

one’s heart need to break for the love in it to flow to
the world? As most poet saints who keep yearning
for God and end up loving the world, when their
heart is broken by God not returning love to them.”
At this Baba asks him to get some tea from his
disciple in the kitchen. The disciple hands over a
kettle and some cups in a tray to Dhruv, who brings
it to the saint. Baba took an empty cup, and to
Dhruv’s surprise smashed it by banging it on the
floor. Then asked him, “Son, now the cup is broken
has any tea flowed out of it?” “It had no tea in it to
flow out!” exclaimed Dhruv. Then Baba took another
cup and filled it to the brim with tea and poured some
more, then said, “See it flows out!”

“The heart doesn’t need to be broken for its love to

flow to the world. It just needs to have enough love
in it to flow out. A broken heart with no love cannot
pour out anything to the world.” said the saint.

“The heart doesn’t need to be broken for its love to

flow to the world. It just needs to have enough love
in it to flow out. A broken heart with no love, cannot
pour out anything to the world”

These words resonated in Dhruv’s ears as he looked

into Baba’s eyes with a smile that showed how
relieved he was, of the remorse of heart-break. He
then resolved to grow his own love in his heart so
much that it poured to the world.

All students and their teacher paid their respects to

the saint and left the ashram, but Dhruv stayed back
with Baba and went on to be his disciple.

153
Duty and Love

Life brings us to some difficult crossroads at times,

some difficult choices to make, when what seems
right in one plane seems not so in another, but then
we all find the way. This is a story of two friends who
were soldiers in opposing armies. They once had to
fight in war against each other. As each of them
fought for his country, it was not known to them that
it was their last battle together.

While looking through the objective lens of the rifle-

scope as he shot the enemy soldier, who now
stumbled after he was shot in the chest, Kay
suddenly felt that the face of the soldier on the other
side was familiar. He looked again through the rifle-
scope to have a closer look at his face. It was his
dear friend, Bill. He had shot a bullet at his dear
friend! He knew if he would cross over to the other
side to save him, he would be showered with bullets.
Nevertheless, he rushed to save his friend, amidst
the bullets raining from either side. There was a
strong impulse to save Bill, despite him being on 'the
other side'. Kay knew that as a soldier it was not the
right thing to do, but to stay back didn't seem the
right thing to do as a friend. He reasoned with
himself, what am I? A soldier, a friend, a human? In
that moment his life's choices ran in a chaotic film
before the lens of his inner eye. He had Bill as a
friend for over twenty years now, he recalled their
moments together and then he came face to face
with the fact that he had committed to fight for a
country that was supposed to be bigger than either
he or his friend on an individual scale. Yet this
impulse to save Bill proved bigger than his
commitment to his country. He could make no
reason with this love for a friend, and rushed over to
him. As he leaned over Bill's body, the dying soldier
said, “If you have come to save your friend, go back,
but if you have come to save a soldier from your
enemy camp then save all people from my army and
call cease fire.”

His friend replied “I have come neither as your friend

nor as your enemy soldier but as a fellow human.”

“Oh great!” said the dying friend, “it cannot be true.

In that case you would not be standing here and let
my soldiers shoot your army. Go back man. Fight!
Save your army”

Saying this, the wounded soldier died. Kay, cried for

his lost friend, but was glad to be with him in his last

155
moments. He could see the love behind Bill's last
words. He was not in a position to call cease fire,
and returned to follow the last words of his friend.

As he was returning, he recollected his friend's

devotion to his country when he told him to call
cease fire and save all of his fellowmen, and when
he asked him to go back and save his army, he was
a loving friend. He realized that, it wasn't that his
friend, who too was a soldier, was not patriotic, he
fought well for his country and did his part, but he
never wanted his friend to lose face because of their
friendship. How well Bill had played both his roles as
a soldier and a friend! He realized how love knew no
borders and the role of a soldier was merely an act
that needed full performance and then departure to
behind the scenes and be one once again beyond
the role boundaries in a land that was not divided,
where there were no two rulers to fight for, where
only Oneness abides! All this and one great truth
that Duty brings one to the highest ideals, but love
takes one beyond high and low.

“Duty brings one to the highest. Love takes one

beyond high and low.”
Image Courtesy
1. The Awakening Times
http://awakeningtimes.com/
2. Creative Commons
https://creativecommons.org/
3. https://meganritaroberts.com/2014/03/18/ev
eryday-evaluation-mindfulness-every-day-part-
2-clients-the-ego-and-balloons/
4. Quest for survival; image credits-‘Visible
Human Bodies’ by biological artist Peta Clancy
5. Cover Image https://pixabay.com/en/india-
figures-hinduism-hindu-1028621/

157
Other Publications
Song of the Being

https://www.amazon.com/Song-Being-Jyoti-
Prateek/dp/1482845792/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477446585&sr=8-
1&keywords=song+of+the+being+jyoti+prateek
159