The travel,the traveller,the destination...

It was an usual twilight session in shravasti...
 Tathagat Buddha was completing the discourse for the day,the gathering was prepared to leave for their schedule ahead ...A man gets up from his place and says...."Oh God,the enlightened one, I have been coming to your abode since long time and attending each of your discourse and have observed that there have been many people who have truly been enlightened,liberated by coming here,by listening to your discourse, getting your blessings....But there are some like me who are still there where we had started... In spite of me attending each of your sessions with rapt attention I am still not enlightened,still not liberated,still don't know the truths,why do you not liberate us,why do you do partiality in blessing us to the liberated world?"... Buddha pays his complete attention to the man's confusion and smiles at him, the way he understood his fellow traveller's  dilemma,no one probably ever could do...
        Tathagat knew the hearts of people, could read the confusion everyday life poses at humanity,walked the path himself and healed humanity with his unparalleled art of kindness and wisdom ...That made him Buddha...The knower,the enlightened one..The liberated one...
       Gautama,the Buddha puts his kind hand over the shoulder of the confused traveller of life and asks.." Oh gentleman,Just tell me where do u stay ?" The businesses man replies back.."Oh Lord, I stay in Shravasti only"... Buddha, as always,in his kindest and wisest way of teaching knew how to give best of its wisdom to humanity... Asks him again, " No,gentleman,you don't seem to be belonging to Shravasti originally,tell me where u actually hail from"...He says, "OK then ,I actually hail from Rajgriha,but have been living in Shravasti and doing my business for very very long"...Buddha puts him through another simp let question " Do you go to Rajgriha sometimes? Do you know the road from Shravasti to Rajgriha well?".. Enthusiastically the man replies..
" Of course, I do often  travel to Rajgriha and the road is so very well known to me". Then in his beautiful and yet sublime smile, Tathsgat asks one more time " If someone travelling to Rajgriha from Shravasti asks you to help finding the directions,the difficulties they may find on the path and how to reach in the easiest and safest way there,do you tell them or you keep that information secret,?"...His enthusiasm doubles," how can this happen,my Lord? why should I keep the information secret and not give a fellow traveller who seeks my help and needs to reach Rajgriha? What am going to lose by helping him with the directions and is not it but natural to anyone who knows the path to help a fellow new traveller to guide?" Why the question at all?... Tathgat looks at him with his kindest gaze and asks further..."Then do I believe that all of  the fellow travellers seeking your help  reach Rajgriha being here in Shravasti itself !' and smiles again...The still confused man says
" Lord,those who have  traveled have reached and those who have followed my directions have reached safely and on time,but the how can the ones reach who are yet to take the journey? And baffles inside,why such a mundane question to me? He ponders.
         Tathagat pauses and explains further,
 " Dear gentleman,fellow traveller,life is exactly the same journey... We start somewhere, take it as Shravasti and need to travel to Rajgriha, the destination for example... Someone who has travelled it well,may guide us,help us, show the directions,even can walk with us, but my dearest soul,it is as simple as you already know," No one can travel for us"!!!...Your question has exactly same answer, I am not knower,the enlightened or the path breaker...I am just a truth seeker...truth of everyday life and nature,I am just an  eternal learner...There is no monopoly of Siddhartha,Gautama over any kind of enlightenment or knowledge...Each of you have that knowledge,the truth inside you. You just have to seek the truth from within,walk the path yourself to cover the distance from so called Shravasti to Rajgriha,may be someone who is your well-wisher, who knows the path, can help you with directions or troubleshooting , will guide you,stand by you,hold your hands and walk along...But the journey is yours and you and only you have to walk the path"...

     A pin drop silence encompassed the evening,the disciple had  tears rolling his cheeks and the simple yet magnanimous way of Tathagat's way of unraveling the vital truths of life did  wash away the dusts of doubt, jealousy,the immaturity and the sheer insensitivity from the mirror of his mind ! ...In a moment of silence and surrender he attained the sublimity of enlightenment,the veils were lifted ,the clouds were clear from the horizon of his misconception...And gratitude healed his soul and drenched his consciousness...In a moment he was at the gate of liberation knowing well the path has to be travelled by him alone and he realized how fortun ate he is  to be under the auspices of tender care of none other than the Buddha,the traveller,the seeker,the path finder,the eternal guide and teacher....The evening became the brightest of his life and the darkness of  his illusion were cleared by Buddha,the true healer  and he learned the eternal  truth awaiting each of us...
    "Life is a journey and we are the path,we are the traveller and the destination too"... We are here to walk the path,from aloneness to oneness ....And we have to walk here and itself...
     Spare a moment ! Spare a thought!
        

"Growing older is like going up in airplane". The higher you go, your vision of the things on the ground becomes smaller and smaller and becomes oblivious at one point. You can't see anything on the ground and only know you are on a journey to reach your destination...Life is exactly like that... The older we grow,nature keeps a balance and allows us to detach us from everything transitory and only concentrate on the eternal journey,but the pilot is as alert and as equanimous as he is on the ground... He does his job without  lapse of concentration even  for a moment and carries all of us,every passenger on board to the destination  without any discrimination... Nature does it all the time and teaches us vital lessons every single day... To detach ourselves from the transitory ,worldly bondages as we grow older and stay alert and equanimous in our everyday yet eternal journey...

      Another 15th August passed,a year passed by and I grew older a year, a year closer to the divine destination... Family, friends, students,staff, patients... Everyone blessed me immensely from their heart and soul... I always consider myself fortunate one to get so much of love and affection all the while and my gratitude to each of u knew no bounds!!! Words are not enough to thank you all to walk with me,walk beside me,hold my hands in difficult times and share my simple everyday joys of life ....
    The year passed by brought many  changes in my life, going through lots of difficult times of sickness  of self to family...to uncertainty, difficult times to  deal with number of issues and a death of loved one in the family and ....leaving a 20 years old job... But at the end I believe
 " who knows better than Him"?... The creator of all of us, the divine power that send us to an unknown world every single night and the force that wakes us up in the dawn... So I just follow His directions,the path laid by Him with unflinching faith...Not possible to understand why and how all the time... But I firmly believe He is there for us to lead... So let me walk the path as  unmistakably  as humanly possible and leave the rest in His hand!!!

   My prayer as always remains same..." Oh Supreme Lord,give me the serenity to change what I can, to accept what I can't and the wisdom to know the difference"...
     Again my heartfelt gratitude to everyone around me and my prayer to  Almighty to give  each of you a life that matters and lots peace and Divine blessings....

Aina aur waqt

आइना और वक्त कभी झूठ नहीं बोलते....काश यह  हमें  कभी टूटे हुए शिशे और बीते हुए लमहों से सिखना न पडे...

The morning drizzle...

The morning Drizzle…

  It was 7.30 in the morning. I just came out of kitchen to have a usual look through the living room window and it was beautifully drizzling outside! The tiny droplets were mesmerised in their own beauty and were lovingly splashing  over the lush green garden around the walking track and the majestic Gulmohar and Peepal trees alike!!! It was a lovely feast to view a beautifully landscaped skyscraper laden yet earthly painted green hue as far as my vision could extend…Silence was at its best…But nature was whispering its lesson nonetheless wisely and calmly… I stood beside the window pane for a while to listen to the silence while observing the wise tiny droplets…

              The droplets of water, the morning drizzle, the mesmerised rain were giving a lesson to mankind… What were they teaching? I observed keenly… Each of them were so tiny but yet so special, so unique in their own way! Each of them travelled an unknown distance but with no fear or fervour… Each one contributed in their own way not even thinking once whom they are competing with ! Each tiny drop had all the secrets of the mighty ocean hidden inside it but was neither bothered for pride nor to prove its importance… Each one followed  their own designated path and place, not replacing, not demanding someone else’s corridor or corner… Each one contributed to the Earth’s beauty and grace yet remained humble to forget their existence the moment they touched the destination… Each one travelled the uncertain path but was sure to touch each and anyone’s life coming their way..

         God made mankind the most developed species of the universe but I was just wondering when can mankind imbibe the lessons taught by nature each moment? Why we don’t understand we are all companions of each other on this Earth and not competitors? Why we don’t follow the simple secret the tiny droplet holds? We all are here for our purpose and have to travel our own path in our own time and designed space and direction … Universe has already designed everything else, we just need to walk our path… Each of us holds eternal possibilities if only we focus on our inner strength and journey and not waste our energy in proving our existence or supremacy to others….Life will truly be a sublime experience the moment we change our focus from completion to contribution and look more to the inside world than to the outside world…

                               Spare a moment! Spare a thought!!!

Foot prints....

The foot prints....Had read a write up in this title in a school while waiting outside when my son Shashwat was writing his exam...May be some 14 - 15 yrs back...But the essence and gist got printed in my mind and on numerous occasions when I quietly recollect or realize the life events... I felt how true it is even if normally we don't look at our experinces...Will try and recollect the write up to put it in my own way as don't remember the words... It said this in nutshell...A man who was devout believer of God...Just asked God.."Oh supreme Lord, please don't leave me anytime"...He was such a honest and principled soul...God promised He won't leave him ever...Then he asked.." Oh Almighty,but how will I know u r there with me?" God replied... There is a stretch of sand here,look on that everyday...U will see your and mine footprints... Then a long time passed and the man looked on the sand and found 2 pairs of footprints...He knew one pair is his and other pair is God's, walking along ... As life went ahead,he faced lots of difficulties and debacles...Hard times and trouble on all fronts...He looked on the sand ...But could only see one pair of footprints...He became sad but never compromised on his honesty and principles...Time changed and good things started coming on his way and he started noticing 2 pairs of footprints coming on the sand stretch...Tears on his eyes...He asked God..."Oh Lord...I have only one question my mind...Why did u leave me on my most difficult days?Did I not live up to your expectations?" God smiled and asked"my dear child, I never left u,why do u think I ever deserted u ?"  He said " As u had advised I looked over the sand stretch everyday to see your footprints to know u r with me,but on the most difficult days of my journey of life I only could see only one pair of footprints,so u were not there"...God blessed and explained..." My child, those one pair of footprints were mine,not yours".  Surprised with the answer he asked" then where was mine?" God answered my child,on those difficult days I carried u on my shoulder....So there was no footprints of yours..." I was there all the way..
The man could not feel he could have ever get a greater blessing than this...
We all are on same journey...

He is there to take care....

Often in life's rough road we loose our faith and composure, ....We tend to loose our firm faith on God and doubt His existence... It's but humane to do so...But when we realize deep inside He was,He is and He will do the best and nothing but the best even when the world looks torn apart.... And our own life times are  so tiny and even our  toughest battles are so trivial in the vast eternity and God's world,life becomes a sublime experience....Time and Almighty are not only omnipresent,they are omnipotent and impartial to each of their creation.
We as tiny and mortal beings are not even equiped to understand His creation... Leave aside judging Him...Even we in everyday life do not do whatever we must and do many times many things knowing they are against cosmic laws...If at all we need to judge anyone that is us only and if we need to safeguard anything that is our "karma" only....Our thoughts,speeches and actions all inclusive...May God grant us that serenity in this life time at least...