~ Finding a Purpose…~

Finding your true purpose in life is certainly an arduous task. The mind being the culprit always is on the haywire and is in constant want for food for thought. Many a time you start asking about the value and the cause of your being here – you are not doing anything different which have not actually been done by your ancestors – may be they were more prudent that you are today nor you have that wisdom of the eternal which our early forefathers had.

Bereft of answers, you ask the void “What is the purpose of my life?”

The void answered “ What if I told you that you are truly proving your purpose when you sit with your old parents and give them a patient hearing, you walk the talk with them and answer their questions, even if it makes no sense to you.”

“Or you are fulfilling your purpose when you polish your father’s shoes or give your mother aching knees a nice massage! Or you make them a surprise lunch/ tea and place in front of them their favorite snack of the day!...

We don’t have to do great things during the day to make the grand design believe in us – we are surely being here for a greater purpose, the vastness of our achievements may look miniscule in front of small gestures of gratitude such as helping an ageing lady cross the road while you hold her hand or placing  a cup of milk in front of a street dog who never had thought this would happen in his nomadic life…

You achieve your purpose in acts of silos and not boasting about what you are doing in your daily living. Remember your every act of kindness or cruelty of thoughts or actions are being looked upon with great eagerness, someday, somewhere your might face same situations, so act with great thought as if you are giving to the world which might come back to you in same fold.

The main problem with us is that we are trying to equate our purpose with materialistic achievements which make our chest swell with honour, pride and false ego. Remember the universe is not very interested in your achievements, it has much more to give than to receive back!

Your life itself is sustainable due to its benevolence, the air , water, food is all a miracle happening in this universe, we didn’t created it! When you choose to align and act with compassion, kindness and gentleness of your thoughts and actions, you are giving back to the same universe so did you receive… you consciously achieve your true living and purpose for which you were being send, you need not look any further… your heart will give you enough signals of feedback from the universe!

~ A Sitting Confluence… ~

Passing through a nearby park in a prominent mart my eyes captured something extraordinaire which we all have seen or read in fancy stories but have probably not seen in practicality – my idea of a dream coming true came out today, when I could see an open school being run by the students themselves.

The arrangement and the sincerity of learning was palpable, and I could see an earnest discipline in running the classrooms which had some peculiar students. Almost all of them were form the unprivileged section of society, many of them were being given books and stationery to work upon.

Small tasks were assigned to the students who with all cherish got engrossed to accomplish, as if it was there final exam of life and death. The pulse was such that many of the passersby including myself could not ignore such a beautiful happening. The quest for learning was matching with the sincerity of teaching. Students were made to discipline and were being asked questions from the very books they were given, with everyone scrambling through the texts, trying to find the answers first and impress upon their teachers!

Many of them were toddlers barefoot whose parents might be fighting their own battles to exist , an affordable schooling for their kids is a far-off probability. The sheer excitement and resplendence of the atmosphere was making it as a cynosure of all eyes. The chirping of classrooms, the peeping in each other’s copies and the feeble whispers amongst their peers whilst the teachers were top of their voice gave the moment its uniqueness. Many of the students seems to be lost as if they had turned up just to have a sight of a classroom which was never to be seen – there were no walls, windows or blackboards to count on , no chairs or benches but plain floor – for them this became the definition of a classroom.

A sense of galore hit me with thoughts of a bright future for these souls. They are doing the best they could have done in the present predicament they are in, Kudos to some of them who have taken the initiative to setup open school such as these which exemplify that when there could be a cult in education if we all take the initiatives and ponder upon new ideas to exemplify such examples!

Who knows in times to come we hear a magnificent story about a budding entrepreneur or a engineering marvel being churned out by these very initiatives which today seems to be so miniscule at sight.

At least the foundations have been laid down, though the journey seems to be arduous full of impediments of time and circumstances that these students shall go through due to their deprivation, still many of them would become shinning stars in their journey of life, lets hope this happens and we read their achievements in newspapers in coming years… Amen.!

~ That's Life...~

 A recent visit to the hospice came out to be an eyeopener for me. For many it is a place which no one wants to visit in a lifetime as the scene of despondency amongst the caretakers waiting outside of their dear ones make you feel nervous and helpless.

Suddenly your thoughts plunge to a degree of assumptions and lateral imagination about life – what goes out that we die and what are doctors struggling to rectify to keep the ‘Soul’ inside the body and not make it leave to another dimension. Just sitting in the calmness of situation, a sudden unfortunate panic struck the ambience and the aura turned frantic with nurses and doctors talking amongst themselves in hush-hush tones – seemingly, something urgent was warranted – the patient had posed a challenged to the medical science and doctors were trying their best to save a precious life.

I went inside the ICU where my near and dear one was admitted and I could see a flurry of doctors and nurses assembled near a bed, where laid an octogenarian who had almost giving up on his breath – he was being given experimented with all the latest scientific instruments to bring to life and set his parameters to normalcy. 

Just beside him was a child who was getting nervous whilst he saw all the scene first hand – there was no one trying to help him achieve the calmness – suddenly the nurse cajoled him and tried to divert his mind to other things – asking about his condition and that how he was feeling, but be whatever, the child was still reluctant as his mind and thoughts was still engrossed in the scene he had just witnessed.

The next bed was where my close relative was admitted, though of middle age, he was calm and composed and knew about what had happened – he said in all vivaciousness “ That’s Life, many of us would end here!” – the child noticed his statement and questioned both of us “ Uncle, we are born in a hospital and would die in a hospital” , now this line was unexpected from a young man who had just witnessed a live passing away of a life… We tried to cheer him up – “Lad, know that you have a limited time in life, enjoy your life to the fullest, be humble, be observant and live very moment with awareness of thought that you can be called back any time…”

He agreed amongst the calmness that had dawned upon the ICU, suddenly, the body of the old man was whisked away and a new bed was placed for the next patient to be admitted in ICU… that’s life reverted the young lad… no wonder, he had understood the deep meaning of our talk….

~ A Slippery Story...~

She sits in the middle of stack of slippers, many of them scattered all over a well-entrenched periphery – that is what she calls her ‘Shop’ – exuberating confidence and a knack to sell, she is talkative and a charming smile.

I happened to visit her place with an aim to buy bathroom slippers and suddenly the ‘Shopkeeper’ caught my eye out of confluence of people roaming around in our weekly flea mart. The zig-zag movement of people was causing a subtle hinderance in observing her from a distance – though I wanted to reach the little peddler – her comatose sitting stance and observing her customers and keeping a strict vigil on her sell was her key stroke – Apparently, she was well trained by her mother, who happened to be sitting next to another makeshift shop – selling artificial jewellery.

The only time she got up from shop was to give her earnings of her sell – which happened to be intermittent. It was my turn to select a set of slippers and I asked ‘him’ the price and which amongst the lot were best suited for me.

Her tomboyish looks gave her a cascading look of a ‘Boy’ – as I addressed him, she was quick to respond – “Uncle, I am Girl” – realizing my fault, I immediately corrected myself and said an apologetic ‘Sorry!”

I asked her name in all humility, she responded with a haughty laugh “ Uncle, Laxmi!” – a sheepish smile engulfed me to the point of a subtle embarrassment, I then started the conversation “ Beta, do you study?”, she responded “ Yes uncle, I study in class 4^th in a government school.” I can sense another coincidence, she was actually sitting in front of her school across the street to which she told me further “Uncle, that is my school!”

I was overtly impressed with her vividness , in between she was quick to respond to other customers queries – her multitasking skills were really impressive – How an almost toddler all about 8-10 years of age was single-handedly spearheading a small enterprise – dealing with biggies and answering their varied questions with an unequivocal confidence. She knew price list of every variety of chappas as if she had learnt it by rote, you ask her any set of slippers and the cost would come as a prompt reply!

Suddenly she looked at me and asked “Uncle, take these chappals, this would fit you and it is of good quality – the color green is good too!” I was rendered speechless, I checked the size and it exactly fit my foot – what a good Samaritan she was – almost perfect in her art and behavior, I could see a budding entrepreneur in a decade, who knows what she turns out to be, though many people will shun off my decree as of today – I know the journey would be tough but not at all unachievable!

She wasted no time to pack the slippers in a newspaper and a polythene bag and quick she was to hand over to me with one hand and taking a Rs 50 note on the other. Suddenly she lost interest in further conversation and focused her sight on other customers who happened to be a lady carrying along with her a girl child as equal age as my little salesgirl… The lady seems to be proudly telling her daughter “See such a confident girl, at your age she is singlehandedly running a shop!”

These words made me feel proud but as well as a little stoic to the current scenario, her family situation made her work at this tender age, but she had taken this in her stride and had taken the challenge upon herself to help her family to bring comfort to them whilst she worked part time along with her studies.

Looking at the confluence of people around me , I could see so many “Laxmi’s” who had donned the hat of a part time salesgirl and unknowingly taken the entrepreneurial part, this came as a blessing in disguise, the confidence and experience she showed is a sparkle in her aura of life… Well done Laxmi, keep the spirits high, your choice of slippers for me are of utmost importance, for when I wear them, deep in my heart I bless you for giving me this gift,... I wish one day your balancing act of studies with your entrepreneurship might lead you to a unicorn… who knows... time is the best answer….

~ When the Path Crossed~

Living in our mental silos, we often brand and limit ourselves to precedents which make a mockery of our living. What makes good use of our commonsense is hardly followed and all the pre-historic notions are driven in our minds.

Doing my evening walk, I came across an unusual precedence when I observed a gesture of a young lady in her mid-20’s. She was brisk walking in all comfort but suddenly she stopped and turned back and start walking in complete opposite direction. Seeing her doing this, my eye caught the reason of her behavior and it came out to be a ‘Black Cat’ which had suddenly crossed her path – the poor creature seems to be anonymously talking a stroll in her ambience, oblivious to the ‘humans’ who could mind her crossing the aisle and going to the other side of the park.

Suddenly a gush of imaginary thoughts came to my fore. Why did she behave the way she did? What was she taught of such a beautiful animal which is petted with so much care in many parts of India and the world? Her conduct was synonymous with her knowledge about the kitty and quite obviously the legend stories she might have heard from her grandpa which would have put a deep fear on her psychology about a Black Cat’s sudden spurt of crossing the path – which according to legend bestows an ominous sign of miss happening coming our way.

Quite amazingly, I started to grimace on the situation to which I was a cool witness, I was the next one to cross the path and suddenly I became the first as she had backtracked! I did it with quite an ease and more of pride and brought to rest the mental turmoil which the situation had put me to 😊 – Today, I did it with all my honour and removed the shackles of my mind towards such a unparalleled moment.

What is the use of education and commonality when we can’t give due credit and an explicit living to animals around us – we categorize them into gloomy signs of miss happenings that force us to believe in the power of malevolent. When in night the dog’s howl, our minds are retracted to something unpleasant and we start to believe in a soon to happen misfortune.

Are we really living in 21^st century with such dogmas of our mind and percepts? The cat must have felt pride for a moment that humans didn’t make her run out of danger that they showcase and her crossing the path in an untimely fashion had actually made them turn away!

She made her style statement with ease and went into the bushes undeterred by human presence – but not before making me think about many of us  and  our reaction to such an incident, had this happened to us, do you still have crossed the path with no thoughts or you had taken this as a smooth gesture with a ‘benefit of doubt’ moment about the kitty as she has an equal right to take a night stroll as many of us… the eternal debate continues…

~ Be a Google Map…~

On the eve of Google’s 23^rd Birthday, I was just thinking about as to how time just passes, it was just the other day when for the first time I tried to make use of it for my searches – It had clearly mandated itself and had beaten Netscape Navigator or Yahoo search – the two prime search engines of their times.

Google has taught me many a thing in life via its crawlers and search engine optimization techniques of late. As it progresses keeping in pace with time and changing customer preferences – off late it had developed keynote products such as Google Maps – a tracking tool which we all use so very frequently as our travel guide – but Google map has a feature extraordinaire, which many have not thought it would be ingrained in its behavior and that is its robotics human tone, which is so very polite and accommodative in whatever way we behave – even if we don’t listen to its soft composure. 

Have you noticed how Google Maps never yells, condemns, or castigates you if you take the wrong turn?  It never raises its voice and says, “You were supposed to go LEFT at the last crossing, you idiot! Now you’re going to have to go the LONG way around and it’s going to take you SO much more time, and you’re going to be late for your meeting! 😊...

Learn to pay attention and listen to my instructions, OK???”   IF it did that, chances are, a lot of us might stop using it. But Google simply Re-Routes and shows you the next best way to get there. Its primary interest is in getting you to reach your goal, not in making you feel bad for having made a mistake as it knows that you are at mercy of her intelligence and are mostly dependent on her instructions and guidance. 

So what we get out of such a behavior from an AI programmed human voice – It is humane!!! , It has that composure of not shouting or raising its voice on the mistakes we do – It shows us the value of patience and composure , should we don’t follow her repeated instructions.

That tends out to be a great lesson for all of us in real life -  It’s tempting to unload our frustration and anger on those who have made a mistake, especially those we are close to and we take them for granted as our family members, our fellow beings, knowingly fully well that the will mellow down to our anger . On the other hand , look at Google, it still absorbs all of your silly mistakes and makes a wisest choice  of not raising its voice and insists on helping to fix a problem and not to blame. – That is the key takeaway I got today whilst I drove to an unknown area knowingly fully well that I have a polite assistant by myside who will ignore my mistakes and still be polite in its talk towards me and keep on guiding me till I reach my destination. 

So next time if you go to uncharred territories and are expecting a  "Re-Routing" moments with yourself and your family and friends, be a Google Map to your children, spouse, teammate and all the people who matters and you care about, you will observe a Sea Change in life happening and many of their problems will converge towards you for your Google Map experience …Happy Mapping!!!

~ Talk to Him...~

When someone talks to you in the silence of the night, you need to pay heed to the sounds of silence, it is the real you, your conscience which is trying to tell you something, listen to its nudges, the voice always has something extraordinaire to tell you. All your life you have been roaming around in the aisle of lost world, looking for those invisible answers to questions which humanity has always been looking out for.

Your best friend has home inside you – it is your conscience which has always been with you but you have been making fictitious friends outside only to be jolted with the vicissitudes of time. Many a time your friends have left you once and for all and you have fallen prey to the silence of time, but the “Real” friend has always been with you, all you need is to sit idle in solitude and start observing the messages you get from deep inside your mind – these talking’s will settle a sea of uneasiness which has been making waves of uncertainty in your life – make yourself best friend with the conscience which resides in you- it is always truthful and does not lie for it is "Godly" – Start practicing this art of talking to your own self , to find comatose in your daily living. As it has always been said, you need to spend time in awareness in order to connect to the oneness of your own self, the peace that it brings would amaze you.

Far from the pulls and pressures of this frantic world, you will start to enjoy your living in tranquility. The anxiety will vanish and you will not need many friends to kill time as you have found one – Your inner self which has always been speaking to you since time immemorial, but you have always ignore the sounds within, thinking it to be a whimsy to be called a mere hallucination.

Start practicing this art of listening and responding to your inner self and you will feel the real difference in you thinking and behavior over a period of time, your perception about mega changes in life around you will be changed and you will act as a natural observer of changes which are happening around you.

All you need is to sit somewhere in complete silence and with a conscience mind, start being receptive to the words which flow, observe the talk that they do, they may come with any topics involved – of your like or dislike but you need to capture them and start a conversation with them by answering them in full throttle – as and when you develop such a habit, you will observe the change in the  dynamism of your personality – it will be a completely different you ! and believe me it is not that you will see for your own self but will certainly be commented upon by the people you will meet or make friends with in future – so at the end I again type “ be receptive to your inner voice” – there is certainly someone inside who wants to guide you and take you to the higher realms of your living !

~ Keep Walking...~

Today I write about a soul who is a father to another lovely soul who happens to be his only son. He dotes on the relationship he carries with him, more so as God has given him the responsibility and the resolve to nurture him well as he was born with serious medical condition “fickle mindedness” and will always behave like a child…

The bold father ("Maheshji" as I call him) took upon himself to raise him with whatever resources the family had at their disposal, as a gift of God, - his karma in this life.

The anguish which life offers when such instances happen in one’s life refutes the presence of God, “Why Me” is the only question which comes to one’s mind and unfortunately, the answers are not to be found. Maheshji had none of this torment when we were talking, his simple composure on the topic led me to believe the dignified approach he has meted out towards this happening, as if he has found the real meaning of life! 

Pankaj, his paraplegic son does not remain with him, as he has grown up now and cannot be taken care of by him, touching retirement, Maheshji is not in the best of his physical health to give a proper care and comfort to his ailing son. The alternative has been sending him to a far off home care center for such kids – Pankaj has been a resident of his surrogate home for more than a decade now , he has made friends and plays with them and shares his pains and pleasure with his lifelong inmates.

On special occasions such as Diwali and New Year, Maheshji brings his son back and makes him enjoy the family’s presence – the house is lightened up with utmost brightness and sparkle, not by lights but with the giggling and loudness of talk the family does when he is back – no wonder the mood gets ecstatic on such occasions but all the happiness gets short lived once the new dawn arrives, the mood gets somber and Pankaj has to be driven back to his dwelling where his caretakers are eagerly waiting for him. The parents can’t afford to keep him for long as there is a high risk of a fit happening which needs medical care.

Just the other day during my general conversation, the topic erupted and Maheshji was quick to address it with no qualms. “ I am not the only one God has done this to, there are many such parents who are doing their duty and have got such children, Its life sanjeev, this happens!, just keep walking till you reach the end…”

These words became a bedrock of my motivation – you sometime feel deprived of your aim and the zeal to perform and keep walking in the solitude of nothingness, with all the bad stories and mayhem that you have observed in life, suddenly you confront a man who has been raising a ‘differently abled” child with responsibility and no absolute vices towards the almighty.

At the end of life what really matters is not what we have built, but what we have shared, I guess you have found your man whom you can always look forward to at times of disgust – Thanks Maheshji for telling me the true meaning of our living… Just keep walking till you reach the end…

~ Calling it a day…~

 He came and quietly sat down near the space which he thought would be fit for him to rest and also to hide himself from other roaming street canines. His dark color and sublime nature were not noticeable to me first but as his eyes shine when he looked at me, I was able to see a glimpse of him hiding in a corner!

His persona was meek and as he sat rolling his eyes, I could sense the pain that he must be going through, the freak little dog could not stand on his own feet and my “Pooches” had no takers. Giving him a biscuit would not comply as he had turned around his face in uniqueness, he was just not interested to have it , Gosh – I could have leant the language to communicate with animals with such misery. Suddenly he thought of turning his face and tried his best to see me, I caressed him and tried my best to make him comfortable, but the weakness of his body severely restricted his movement.

What made me grow in anger was to know that the mutt was tamed and was somebody’s pet and was having a strap around his neck. He had been abandoned seeing his frail health, the poor dog had to feed for himself not to forget that he has to take on the hostile environment of the outer world – the vengeance and superiority and power struggle of street kingship of other canines, the insensitivity of humans was all remarkable!

As the time passed he tried to slept and just lay ‘as Dead’, as I tried to touch him, there laid no sign of life for once and this made me believe that the poor fellow has called it a day, but suddenly there was a movement and he started to wag his tail , though slowly, giving me his acceptance of our new found friendship!

I didn’t wanted to disturb him more left him with some eatables, though I knew that he was not in a condition to have them, as my short lived experience with the pooch had shown, night had fallen to its full darkness and it was time to sleep but the canine was all over my mind.

Just thinking how it would be to wait for death in loneliness and where you are incommunicable to others. For our old generation, who have been just been ‘Abandoned’ by their children for greener pastures, they leave behind their legacy to unchartered waters, the oldies remain at the mercy of their destiny sometimes awaiting that last day of their life when suddenly a moment would come and they would rest lifeless.. This dog episode had a great learning for us humans, we are grown insensitive to others, be it plants, animals and of course our peers, forgetting our own end…as they say time is a big healer, today it is this unfortunate dog, tomorrow would be any of us… the end would remain the same…

~ GOD…Where is HE? ...~

A thought as an expression of your mindfulness begets several questions which your inner self asks to the outer world...observe if. Listen to it...there lies the answers to most of the intricate questions you have ever asked yourself.... one such question which we might often ask is “Is there any GOD?”

Everyone of us have different notion of him, for some, there is no actual God or Satan, for me God is a symbol for a higher realization of the self and Satan is your bondages to Ego, Anger and other perils of human consciousness.

We are in a hurry to find him but the universe is not in a hurry, it took its own sweet time to develop and is still evolving, but we are always the contrary , in a hurry and in constant rush to beat time, don’t know what we are running after?

Many of the things and the situations in this world are simple, it is our own limited intelligence that makes it complicated, we as humans have set our life paths that are comforting to our needs, fully knowing about our uncertainties of future, we have thus created a notion of GOD, a higher intelligence on whom we can fall back on at times of adversities. 

Many of us regularly ‘talk’ to that higher intelligence, consciously when we pray or subconsciously when we are asleep. He is our sole refuge for any purposes whom we can seek anytime of the day or night when we feel distressed or when we don’t fit the bill in our philosophy of living.  We all follow different paths in our pursuit of that unknown force and internally we are at perils of any situation we might encounter to which we have no answer.

I know certain souls who have call it quits after chasing their dreams and have thus realized that anything and everything you achieve here stands meaningless after a certain age or point of time, I have also made friends with oldies who shover their life’s experiences and quite stoically tell their story of hard work and toil to realise at this fag end of their life and they still don’t find answer to the most confounding question of life “ Why we came here and what was our objective?”. Still there are those who done the hat of a mendicant and leave everything to destiny and start to chase and find that elusive power whom many believe is running the show of this universe – don’t know if they find HIM ever?

We have different subjectivities of GOD and we pursue different paths according to our own thinking to pursue that supreme soul whom we have been taught is our creator though this logic creates a sea of questions in cerebral mind as to why we are not able to meet or see him ever in life. Many souls have come to this planet and have tried to chase the intangibility of thought called “GOD” but he remains elusive, they read mega mythological parables, chant numerous mantras and other hymns but still remain the same as they are.  such is the power of his creation, everyone is engrossed in achieving his / her higher self but how? – that chimera still remains and will continue to remain ever till we first find ourselves… the rest will surely follow suit.. till then continue the chase to dig out answers to the most intriguing questions life offers us…..happy hunting…!!!

~ The Body...~

Just recently when you start feeling feverish and things are not good as it seems to be, you start to admire the agility of the body. The idiom “Health is wealth” stands the test of time and it is during these thought provoking times that you consider to upskill your way of living once you get back in your vigorous best – considering your body to be an asset and certainly not a liability, you will do your best to take good care of this God’s gift. Many of us have neglected this piece of marvel and have almost abused it many a time.

When I just had a bout of fever due to a recent throat infection (My age-old tonsils got aggravated due to intake of ice cold water), I meekly summoned myself to what my Body was demanding as a need of the hour. As if I had no force or energy left in myself to take care of my general needs, the fever quickly climbed to 103 degrees and there was no respite from an SOS paracetamol tabs – our first line of defense was rendered ineffective. 

As I lay like a lifeless object, varied thoughts captivated my mind and one particular sensibility took over from rest of them – that once I get back to my usual self, I need to be much more careful about the best creation of God – My Body!

How many of us have talked to our own selves, looking in the mirror and on close observation, you will feel the slightest of changes your body is giving indications of – it may be greying of your hair, or little wrinkles on your face and skin or may be the loss of strength which you usually had, all these indications are the ‘Silent Talks’ which your erstwhile body does to you – but are we listening? 

A day comes when your body call it quits and it shudders you from within as its defense mechanism surrenders to the zillion infectious agents it silently fights through its aggressive immune system. Once the veil gets blown, you get compromised and as a finality become a victim of some disease.

The Body is exclusively yours to take care of, it took time to be build and become what it is today. You can enjoy your being if you have a hale and hearty body, at the same time this can quickly turn into a liability and make your less agile and in worst cases being bed-ridden. Taking good care of it can make you cozy in life , it gives you pleasure if it stays fit, else there is no respite. It is complex from within, every vein, artery, organ is intertwined but still function as an independent piece of machinery, though rigid, many of them are equally fragile.

So the next time you stand in front of the mirror, observe yourself and see to it what your ‘Body’ wants to talk to you – may be it is giving you an indication of how tough it is fighting to keep you fit from within – respect its being, for that is the best ‘Asset’ which you can always have till you exist, as once it becomes a liability, it will be tough for us to come back to our usual best…Stay healthy , stay happy!!!