Live in finite to live infinite

Two friends in deep trouble in their worldly lives went to see a Guru at an Ashram in a forest to get a solution. The Guru gave a set of instructions to follow. One of the two asked how long it will take to have all their problems solved. The Guru took them underneath a mango tree outside the Ashram.

He said, "Look at all these mangoes. Your problems will be solved when all the mangoes fall-off from the tree".

The first friend said, "Guruji, I'm thankful for your guidance. I find it plausible and within my capacity. Though there are numerous mangoes, it is still not endless and so oneday they will all have to fall oneday. I also like the ambiance of the mangrove and I will be happy to spend my days here."

The second friend thought a bit. Will what the Guru said work? What if he is a cheat and expects something in return in future? What if I cannot practice as is expected? And there are too many mangoes to fall off...surely there must be an easier way. So he said, "Guruji, I appreciate your advice. But I have to go now."

So the first friend stayed at the ashram while the second friend went back.

Some time later, the Guru had a visitor to the Ashram. It was the second friend, now battered, shattered, covered in dirt and emaciated.

The Guru asked him, "What happened to you?".

"Guruji, after my meeting with you, I went to many places to get a quick-fix solution to my problems. The pressure of the world kept getting at me as I went from one place to another for a magical cure. Some of them worked for some time but they were mere addictions which brought some other problem to me and I slid further down. I have just come back from hell and I hope you can give me some cure. I don't even mind waiting now."

The Guru said, "Okay. But you are in a very poor condition. First have this mango to satisfy your hunger."

The second friend had it with great relish. He said, "Nice mango...by the way, I would like to see my good old friend."

The Guru said, "You have just eaten him."

The second friend looked at the mango tree outside and there were no more any mangoes left on the tree.

Arvy, the sperm

There was once a sperm called Arvy. He had a lot of friends and went to gymnasium daily to strengthen himself to be the one to mate when the moment of love-making arrives. So he practised with great enthusiasm, discipline and regularity the austerities that was laid out. There were a lot of folks who were also interested and they too took up exercising. There were alliances and there were also competitions. And then the the post man called hormone, brought the long-awaited message. There was indeed increased activity and there was going to be a mass evacuation. Arvy broke into walk, a run, a marathon and finally a sprint as the he reached the gate. By now, he had left the other sperms a long distance back. Suddenly he heard a woman shouting and screaming. He lost his momentum, zeal and then even started perspiring and took a U-Turn. As he came back, the others asked him why he was returning back. He shouted, "This is no love. This is a rape. I do not want to be born as an unwanted child and curse tomorrow my Father for the act and my Mother for sending me to an orphanage. If you heed my advice, you also don't go out." And all of them stopped one by one. The would-be Father then sadly wondered why the pen is limp.

The Truth Serum

For a brief time, I worked as a sales engineer selling pumps for a dealer of a multinational company. The dealer paid me only a little money but the nice thing was that he allowed me to work from the multinational company where I was given a desk.

Once I went to see a prospect to get a sales. I explained something and though this was during the beginning of severe depression and I worked terribly, I did manage to go and atleast give an explanation and quote for his requirement. I also had a lunch with my multinational company marketing manager at a nice hotel who started the lunch conversation by asking if I can tell a lie well. I was a very egoistic guy back then but still I was also principled and I was really not paying attention when he told me that I have to tell lies in sales. Anyway, after some time, I went back to the client and asked me if he wanted to order. He told me that he had already got the pumps from the head-office of the multinational company bypassing me and my company. So he had used my services without having to pay for it.

The above is not really a confession of my brave adventures in sales but rather to say something about the way God evaluates a person as well. A devotee can consciously try to explain to God his or her merit for his or her own satisfaction. God doesn't need any such proof because whether someone is a devotee or not, he or she is in the image of God. God is Bheejam Avyayam (Seed Imperishable).

When I was at my psychiatrist's clinic, he used an injection as I started talking. Okay...I knew that he was trying to get in to my sub-conscious but I let it be and I have no idea what all he got from what I said. But then he was a good doctor to whom I even entrusted my brain during ECT.

Even me landing up in the old forum looks like it was routed.

I told some time back that a parent doesn't really get impressed when his or her son or daughter makes a statement of love because it is twittered or facebooked. A parent knows it better in one of the most spontaneous moments of the child. This doesn't mean that the son or daughter shouldn't make gestures of love. This will bring the intentions into reality better.

So one can allow oneself to be as one is without any artificiality at any time one really feels like letting go.

Anbe Sivam

I posted a meaning of Anbe Sivam that 'Love alone is God'. This is the most obvious meaning. I can think of 2 other meanings. 'Siva is Love Personified' is related to the personal deity Siva which will appeal to those who are practising Ananya Bhakthi on Siva. 'Love alone is Good' is another meaning from the Sanskrit root 'Siva' equating to 'Good'. This will appeal from a moral perspective. There may be other meanings other than these. In every religion, there is a very powerful fundamental blessed phrase or mantra which is like a seed from which everything else can be derived. This is one of them.

On trust

There is a scene in the movie climax of 'Minsara Kanavu' where Kajol is in a dilemma and wants to forsake love for Prabhudeva when Aravindhswamy proposes to her. A typical love triangle. Incidentally, Prabhudeva helps Aravindhswamy since he is supposed to know romance better but he himself starts loving Kajol. Kajol also has a wish from her childhood to enter the life of the nun. So when there is a lot of disappointments, she decides to take up the austere life. Eventually it turns out that Aravindhswamy becomes a father while Kajol and Prabhudeva get married.

In another movie, called 'Anbe Sivam' (Love alone is God), Madhavan feels revolted at the sight of blood and when there is a train accident, Kamalhassan asks him to give blood. But madhavan is concerned about what will happen to him when he gives it. The Christian sister then tells him that God doesn't take the life of one to save the life of another. What Madhavan could do was little but it could still save someone's life.

I cannot personally accept a God who asks one to sacrifice without giving a reason that is rational and acceptable to oneself. No one can know who God is because God is beyond the reach of the senses. If anything, I take small steps with whatever reasoning I get but I never make any foolish sacrifice in the name of God. But then, I also understand that if there is anything that can loves and protects me 100%, it is God. I know that this body of mine will oneday definitely get destroyed but then I also make the transition easy. Since I have nothing to lose, I live day by day with whatever is adviced and with every day, I do keep losing a bits of fear which gets filled in by grace. My counselor adviced me this...when you are in unfamiliar territory, walk like how you would in unfamiliar waters. Lift one step and place it forward and when you are sure that it is stable, bring the another and go on like this. If it is unstable, go back and try in another direction. This is like walking safely in a land mine using some prod.

But do we have to walk? Why not just stay where we are? I saw a National Geographic video on the Wilderbeast migration in Serengity. They are too large in numbers running into thousands and thousands. And they have to migrate because the grass will run out and maybe for other reasons like mating in a safe place etc. So they come to cross a huge river. Initially a few come and they are hesitant to cross because there is the swift current and the crocodiles waiting there. So they just stop but then, as the pressure starts building up from behind, they realize that it is do or die. Today I have nothing to complain materially and I have no diseases (maybe not even depression). But then I'm well aware that whatever safety and comforts I enjoy is there only as long as the situation warrants. Okay...it's not as if I'm standing on the banks since I have taken the plunge a long time back. The other side, whatever one calls it..heaven or afterlife or rebirth or reincarnation or liberation etc. is partly chosen and partly forced. The effect of someone dying of hunger or whatever in the streets may not be obvious to someone far removed away in a land of wealth but then like a tidal wave, it gets transmitted because everything and everyone is connected. I trust God because I trust my mother. I had thought when I had grown that even my parents were not to be trusted because they couldn't do anything in my time of need. But then, now I realize that when I had grown up, I was too big for them to take care of even though they still loved me the same way. And so my trust in God is not so much a trust in God as it is on my mother. It's because I trust my mother that I can trust God.

And let me tell you one more important thing...you don't need to always go on trusting God. Trust is needed only in the beginning and as time goes by, one gets evidences to support the plunge one had taken which makes things easier and after a point, all the fear is gone.