Narasimham series Part 1: Woke up from slumber, Woke up to disaster

He woke up from slumber, a deep sleep he had entered. When he'd intended to just sit and meditate. But when he opened his eyes, all he saw around him was death and destruction. The tree he had sat under was in ashes, people groaning, eyeing him..was that a look seeking help or mercy.

He did not get it. He was just this bearded, ochre-robed young sadhu. A sanyasi who'd lost interest in the mundane rat-race and fallen in love with the eternal joy, pure bliss he felt within. He'd seen through the mist and risen above it.

But one look at his hands, and even he shuddered. Drenched in blood were they, and so too his feet. There was smoke and fire around, but still the calm within. What happened, what just happened here... | Part 2

Nidhi

Your body such beautiful treasure
Your name would right be Nidhi

Our union solemned altar fire
Seven stepped, garland blessed

I have loved you cushy tender
And miss those warm tight hugs

I not know if this dream or real
I do not see you now
I not know if this past or future
I do not see you now

The Youngest and the Oldest are the Closest to God

...And the younger ones, closer than the older ones. The innocence of the young reminds us of what a blissful, wishful life one could have. With no responsibilities, and be as you feel like. Express love and anger in full earnest. Cry out loud, and laugh away merrily so. The merriness in their ways is what makes them appealing to one and all.

Youth is wasted on the young, is a sane saying. For as we grow from childhood, and start "learning" to be "civilized" is when we lose touch of our true selves. Society shapes us to be what they want us to be, not what we want us to be. But the maturity to join laughter clubs comes late! That is, to laugh at oneself, to take it easy a little. To strike balance in life, and not be dogmatic about, well, really anything.

Glittery are the toothless smiles, of young and old alike.

Can we really imbibe this attitude. Can we be at peace with ourselves and the world around. Then only, verily, will toothy smiles be just as joyful to laugh along with!

Connect the Dots...

I'd once heard this remarkable speech by Steve Jobs whose basic intent was that we cannot really Connect the Dots looking forward, or know really how what we learn or experience currently will be of value in the future. We will only be able to do so looking backward, and so trust that all that experience today will make sense sometime in the future. He talks about how unplanned calligraphy classes later made their way into the first Macintosh computer. That was the first time I learnt of the philosophical side of Steve Jobs...

And it's not something we don't hear about also. Be it from religious texts or sermons or from elders when we are going through a bad phase, that it will all fall in place. Or all that happens, happens for the best. I learnt about my friend Niketan who'd unexpectedly returned from the US after quitting his job, had flown back. He and I know that it was indeed good he was here at this crucial time in India. Was it by design, Yes; but his design, No. But there is for sure someone or better put, an intelligent force above, which seems to have control over this. Across even the time and space limitations.

Albeit we get a few instances in this life to experience and trust this, we really might not find it justified or proven when we look at other peoples lives. Some people we think are suffering more than they ought too, and some people living a most privileged life without deserving it, or so we think. What we, and the people in context need to realize, that it's all been and will be accounted for. Across births. And it's not that we live an indulgent life and just take it away with a shot in the head like Hitler, and think we'll get away with it. The soul has always been the silent witness. And it'll go through the effects of our wilful actions for sure.

Putting that context to our lives, don't really think, even at the end of the life, that I didn't get my due, or I got an unfair part of it. Just lead a good life, till the very end. Like Jagadguru says, the summary of all of Adi Sankaracharya's teachings is: Do Dharmic activities; Do not do Adharmic activities.
Just repeat to yourself when you feel low: It's all been Accounted for!

And they just sat and talked

While time was running, and the days and nights flying
It seemed stood still, from where we watched the sky

And I saw through it, and ran off from which
But they, my dear friends, they just stayed and talked

And days went to months, and months into years
But whenever I passed by, they just sat and talked

I don't know if and when, they got up from those seats
If they knew that they had aged, that this life a privilege

I never asked them that, I never judged on that
For when I had to see them, I at least knew where to find them!