Farewell Father

I did not cry much the day my father passed away after a long struggle with Lewy Body Disease because I had witnessed papa dying every second for three years and I had mourned every moment and when the time came for his passing, God gave me the strength to let go of him gracefully. I tried in vain to impress upon others the fact that “Death is not the greatest loss. It is what our loved ones lose when they are still living that breaks our heart.” The day I found out about the fate that awaited my father was the most difficult day of my life.

It can be very lonesome when we are trying to share our sorrow and nobody really understands our heartache because they see no evidence of loss yet. It is in those dark moments that we find the strength that is within us, the presence of a living and Merciful God. He knows, He understands and He carries us through.

The temple priest

In the temple of my frame,

I am the sole temple priest.

I scrape and scrub

Every filth and scum

To fashion from the rough

A luminous empty space.

At this mysterious alcove,

I wait with bated breath

For the return of my Lord-

A promise made in Heaven.

I stand guard night and day,

Many an impostor I chase away.

Separated from my Beloved;

Years, I spend in mourning:

With a heart full of yearning,

I await His homecoming.

Neither sun nor moon can imitate

The splendor of His divine light.

At times, darkness comes upon me

When I forget and fall asleep.

Then I wake up in a fright,

Heartbroken from a sickening thought -

“Did He visit when I was asleep?

Or could it be that I failed to know

The many times He came into my sight?

Was I so smitten by the world

That I recognized neither His Face nor Word?”

In panic I set upon to cleanse,

The murkiness of my inner lens.

At last I raze the weedy fence

To let in some light and sense.

Then I stand guard yet again

Braving every storm and rain

To glance upon my Beloved’s face. 

The many reasons for picking Mr. Modi

Even as the truth about the Gujarat riots has unfolded with unmistakable clarity, some of us are willing to ignore it and are ready to embrace Mr. Modi by citing the following reasons:

1. Mr. Modi can provide decisive leadership.
2. Mr. Modi is a corporate darling, ready to promote development without corruption.

The first premise for acceptance of Mr. Modi is his dictatorial administrative style which promises uncompromising thoroughness in tackling issues of corruption and terrorism. Let us allow a single person and ideology take control of the whole nation thereby ensuring speedy deliverance of governance by torpedoing any thought-provoking debate and opposition. No more democratic dillydallying. We are in the mood for China-style autocratic efficiency.

We just want that national economic growth figure to keep on ascending at the cost of everything else. There is no reason for the middle or upper class to be concerned about those below the poverty line. Throw in that Modi mask and maybe a few glasses and earplugs, and we can even pretend that poverty does not exist by resigning ourselves to those little islands of prosperity within which we remain safe and secure.

And if the ‘little people’ ever get any semblance of awareness and start demanding their share of the growth pie and dignity, Modi’s Parivar can easily scramble such craziness out of their brains by singing lullabies of Ram temple, Islamic terrorism, vote bank politics and corruption. Yes, we have got it all planned out. We want Mr. Modi leading this great nation. On the matter of those few million Muslims, we are sure their population will continue to increase so let us not lose sleep over a little collateral damage.

The mystery of the dark house

A man entered a house and found it to be very dark. All efforts to switch on the lights were in vain. Soon he grew accustomed to the darkness and was even happy at times with the gloom. However, none of the work he did in the dark had any pleasant outcome. It always ended in disappointment. Finally he got fed up. Then he remembered that his wise friend had warned him against living in darkness and had offered to help him if he ever wanted to change his ways. Somehow he managed to phone his friend.

He said, “I can’t see a thing. It is so tiresome. Can you help me?”

Friend: “Are you sure u wanna walk in the light? Have you had enough of the darkness?”

Man: “Hell! I can’t stand it anymore. I am desperate.”

Then the friend uttered those magic words that changed the man’s life forever.

Friend: “Please open your eyes.” 

The beautiful rose

The Master appointed a gardener to tend to His rose plant. If at the end of his contract, the gardener succeeds in bringing Him a beautiful rose flower, he would be rewarded with a delightful garden to retire to peacefully.

Like the gardener, we are appointed on earth for a specific time to tend to our soul. If we fulfill our contract to grow a pure and blissful personality and submit it to our Master, our life’s journey would be rewarding.

Your will

God – The One Absolute Eternal Truth- alone has power over all things. He has also given us the power to choose. When we surrender to God and choose Him as our refuge, we are also making the choice of good – good thoughts, good deeds, good words. Thoughts being the precursor of action and thus the foundation of our future, positive thoughts build a positive future. Let us choose to have only encouraging happy thoughts. When we fill ourselves with God no negativity has any space left. This means filling ourselves with all the best thoughts for indeed God commands all that is best and pure. So ignore that little voice that says unhappy things and instead choose consciously to have uplifting joyful thoughts like “I am grateful to have so much goodness in my life,” so much so that slowly even your unconscious thinking will become totally positive. God is giving you all that is good but you are creating hurdles for yourself by not extending your hand to receive. If you want beautiful pictures on the screen of your life, you must first clean the screen and let the light through. Be assured that the projector has a wonderful movie to play. Trust God. Let go and enjoy.

Take a vacation from unhappy thoughts. Whenever you catch yourself saying negative things or complaining even if it is about the weather, stop, forgive yourself, and immediately change to the positive track. Please try this out, whats the harm in trying? 

A year of anger

2012 had been a year of uprising and anger. Whether it was against a defunct government, social injustice or violent men, there was always an undercurrent of animosity that defined the popular response.

Anger is the most visible symptom of a turbulent mind rendered impotent by irrational thoughts. When justice has been thwarted and legitimate protests suppressed, what has not been allowed to be articulated peacefully finds expression through violent means. As a society, we Indians are prone to repressing difficult emotions and need to be taught to communicate our grievances effectively without aggression. Scientifically, it has been proven beyond doubt that exposure to aggressive role models influences the behaviour of observers negatively. As such, the whole world is witness to the effects of a global gun culture that breeds young murderers. Even more baffling is the solution of fighting this, not with abolishing guns but with providing more ammunition. Our knee-jerk responses to rape betray the same insanity.

Complex issues like violence against women, corruption or terrorism obligate careful deliberation by a mind steeped in equanimity and purified by wisdom. These are essentially social problems that demand a social solution. As the building blocks of society, every family has a significant part to play in social transformation. What we require desperately are enlightened social reformers who can gently nudge us in the right direction. 

I fervently hope and pray that 2013 will usher in an era of peaceful and meaningful public involvement in politics that is worthy of a maturing democracy.