Everyone in his or her life has to one-day answer the dreadful question one has been postponing all along. If one keeps escaping, one merely postpones the inevitable and prolongs one's agony. In the heart of hearts, one knows the correct answer. But one still wishes for an easier way out. But life neither gives an easy way out nor a hard way out. Life only gives a way. The wise one grabs an opportunity and is rewarded with a result that matches his or her own intuition. Truth never hurts however harmful it appears to be because of the illusory world. Only a lie or a partial truth hurts. To know the truth, one has to become true.

In my search for an answer, I went through basically 3 stages...

1. A Talisman. To me, it is Gandhi's Talisman.

"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?
Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."

- One of the last notes left behind by Gandhi in 1948, expressing his deepest social thought.

Source: Mahatma Gandhi [Last Phase, Vol. II (1958), P. 65].

 2. An Anchor i.e. someone whom one can trust completely. It is not necessary that the anchor must be able to help in a direct way. It is enough if the anchor can point the way to a source that can help. For me, the anchor is my mother.

3. A Source of Help. A source of help must be trustworthy AND capable of helping. It can be anything that the anchor points to. To me, it is Krishna.

I want to say a final thing.

It all depends on how the individual helps himself or herself with the talisman or the anchor or the source of help.

Maam Yekam Sharanam Vraja

Oppu Illadha Appan or Uppu Illadha Appan? ;-)

I'm going to start writing the novel again. In my solitude, that is the only outlet.