A little story of selfless love

 

Here is an inspiring little story of a farmer in the locality.

A poor almost illiterate farmer with a little patch of land. A nice man but into alcohol. His son a very diligent, disciplined and hardworking boy. He did tapasya for medical studies in India. Sadly couldn’t get the admission. His father sold his little plot of land and sent him to Russia for medical studies. The boy is excelling in studies there. The father is slowly dying and fading away but he is peaceful for keeping the HOPE alive in his son’s life. There is a smile on his face even in the face of death.

That’s what life is. If we are lucky we get people who help us in keeping our hopes alive. But even if we are all alone, we have our own SELF to keep the HOPE alive.

Here is another story of Hope.

In the Himalayan villages there are some reports of some village elders willing to go into the forests so that they become prey to the tigers. These are very poor people. A tiger victim’s family gets one million rupees in compensation. But is it only about money? No. It’s about keeping the HOPE alive in their families even if they are no more. So dear friends, just imagine people are ready to even sacrifice their lives to keep the hope alive in their families. Hence, all the rest that one can do to keep the hope alive should be a mere cakewalk.

In celebration of life and living

 

Good day everyone! Brace up for a lovely day of Karma, learning and smiles. I find it suitable to share the story of Dr Joe Dispenza. I always wondered how come this medicine man turns out to be such a mystic! And here is the cause.

He met an accident at the age of twenty-three, breaking six vertebrae in the spine. Paralyzed. The doctors said the only chance at walking would come after inserting two 12-inch long steel rods along the spine. He said ‘no’ and asked to be discharged from the hospital. For three months he lay on his stomach at his friend's place and reconstructed his spine using creative visualization...step by step...with extreme focus, intention, awareness, being present in the body...and made a new reality using his mind power, by being open to the infinite mind that has all the solutions to all the problems. He got up after three months and simply walked away to glory. He hasn’t had back pain in the last three decades. He says it’s not just about the body; we can heal our life in the same way by recreating better careers, relationships, everything in fact.

Wish you all a happy refabrication of life!

A mason's dharma

 

He is a middle-aged man, stocky, solid, graying with wisdom of experience and hard work. His nicely curling moustache on his weather-worn face seems to justifiably boast a life well-lived with honesty, hard work, integrity and discipline. Equipped with this impression on me, Fauji mistri visits me.

When you are born in a so-called lower caste, it’s like beginning with a huge deficit, disadvantages piling up over the generations to hold your head low, grounded, non-assertive, humble, cringing. It’s like being born under the water. Right from the first instant you are aware that you have to at least come gasping onto the surface to survive and then struggle to reach the shore and then begin your journey from where most of the humans take their first steps after getting born in better caste hierarchy. You start with a big minus and even to reach zero takes the major part of one’s life, and if you achieve that, it would make you feel successful. All around you people are born with multiple of pluses, a launchpad for them to shoot out into the sky. You are meantime laboring on the ground, merely spading the dirt, while they go and grab the stars.

Fauji mistri started as a mason. He worked very hard, honestly raising his family. Then migrant Bihari bricklayers started to arrive, looking for better options among the endless private and public construction going on. Individually they don’t feel safe in working on the construction sites because many people would chuck out the wages of a migrant worker. So they tie-up with a local contractor who gets them work and ensures payment, keeping a commissioned amount for himself. So Fauji turned a contractor as well. All this while he has been working himself as well.

He visits me and appears to be seeking some solace. He looks disappointed, hurt, stressed and downcast. I don’t ask him the reasons for his feeling so low. They are bound to be the same old stories of hurt, complaints, anger, cheatings. I’m not interested in the repetition of these stories. All of us know them too well. I feel he seems to have lost faith in his mason dharma of hard work. There must have been reasons. But one’s faith ought to be restored.

‘It’s a reverse world. What appears solid is a shadow. Those whom you feel are prosperous are maybe unlucky because the majority of them are earning money through unjustified means. And following a fake path can never take one to truth. So maybe they are unlucky and have been penalized for their past sins to be born among circumstances where there is a lot of unjustified prosperity. And those who look struggling maybe are the lucky ones, blessed by God to be given a path that requires them to an honest, hard-worked life, every penny earned through blood and sweat. As Jesus said those who seem standing last here will be standing first there. Since you dig a well daily to see through the day, you have to believe that you are very dear to God. He has put you on a path that will see your soul marching nearer and nearer to truth. You will realize and feel it at the end of this journey. You don’t need pilgrimages, rituals, fasting, meditations, charity to pursue your will to be dearer to God. You already are. You worship Him with each brick that you lay with your hardworking soul. You already follow all the rituals in spreading cement to make solid walls. You light up incense in erecting roof over people’s heads. You have your own dharma of sweat and blood, your temple, your own priest, your own scripture. You don’t need any guru to be guided to a nobler path. You already are all that it requires to be a human being dear to God. Just remember your dharma with each brick that you lay to erect a wall. Don’t forget it. And it will always maintain a smile on your face,’ I told him.

Fauji mistri smiled and looked vastly comforted. Well, at least that much you can do. You can help people in retaining their faith.

The monkeys of Delhi

 

The rest of the species have meekly caved in under the human pressure. But the rhesus macaque monkey holds the baton of rebellion with its red face and pink bottom. It’s now classified as an urban animal by the Delhi Forest and Wildlife Department. It’s now the MCD’s duty to manage the simian problem just like they handle cats and dogs problems. As urban animals the rhesus monkeys can no longer hide under the protective umbrella of the Wildlife Protection Act.

However, they continue to enjoy respect under the mythological laws for being part of Lord Rama’s army in his fight against Ravan. The MCD (municipal corporation of Delhi) is sprucing up its monkey-catching drive by recruiting more monkey catchers. Despite paying an impressive INR 2500/monkey catch, the national capital has only ten monkey catchers.

The already smart monkey is even smarter now, shrewd and clever in fact. They know better than grabbing bananas from the trap cages. This much brain they possess. In any case there are millions of devout Hanuman followers who have enough bananas for them to avoid visiting the trap cages.

It was in 2007 when angry monkeys claimed a VIP casualty. The deputy mayor was attacked on his terrace. He fell from the roof and died of injuries.

Presently the MCD captures them and dumps them in Asola Bhatti region. But the Tughlakabad forest area hasn’t any boundaries. The rhesus loves its genetic look-alike and returns within a short span of time. The resident welfare associations demand sterilization to check their population. But who is to ordain human sterilization to checkmate our ever-increasing population?

The mother

 

She is a widow pensioner in her late sixties. Her husband who was in police expired long ago. She successfully raised two boys and a girl. It was challenging as usually it is. She lost her daughter to dowry sharks. It was a huge trauma. Both her boys are settled with their families now. She stays with the younger one. There was a time when he was struggling with his small business. During those times her pension was handy for the family budget. Economic dependence fetches its fair share of loyalty and obedience on part of the dependent to the benefactor. So he was a sweet boy, caring with his tongue when it came to dealing with his mother. Then his small business picked up and he turned moderately well off. Now he was no longer dependent upon the contribution of her small pension in running the household.

What can a mother expect from a self-sustaining boy? He wasn’t directly insulting but due to his newfound economic independence she felt him to be dismissive of her. It pained her. She shares this sadly with me. Now she has to be reminded that it hasn’t gone waste, her struggle and support.

‘Sweet, sugar-coted, flattering words of an economically dependent boy are far lower than the practical, matter-of-fact, official sounding, formal words of an independent self-sustaining boy. As a mother what would you choose? A boy who speaks sweetly just because he is dependent on your pension to run his affairs. Or a boy who sounds dismissive of you but is respectfully earning his bread.

‘The latter,’ she replies.

‘As a mother what was your duty? It was to help him grow up. His speaking over you is a sign of his growing up to be independent. Which mother would want a cringing dependent son? So sister, feel happy and proud that you have raised a man who is standing on his own now. Growing old is being transparent, mellow, adjusting and understanding. Most of the unwanted stuff ought to pass through you without getting stuck up and create pain inside. Listen and smile and keep blessing your children,’ I try to assure her of the wisdom of old age.

A smile comes on her face. She now feels the joy of raising independent sons.