A flicker of divine light in dark and lonely moments...is all that we need...

Life looks like,it has become volatile,the dramas,the ever increasing greed for attention and appreciation, competition and business mannerisms...so flooding the so called expression paths of podiums to social media to media content... It looks like , as if we ,the best creation of the creator have continuously deviating from it's purpose of being to exhibiting ... But a small fact comes to my small little mind... When we fail, we lose,we are depressed,we are deserted,we are in tears,we have done mistakes, we are lonely,helpless...the reality in sometime, somewhere in most people's life...we certainly can't find  filling  these advertisement pages to express or find solace or support or peace... Perhaps we all need that time,in the most important and crucial moments,few people,few friends, family and for that matter may be  just one divine soul...to listen,to support,to suggest,to give a hand to hold,a shoulder to lean on or few quite moments of togetherness to share the pain or shed the tears...May  God bless each of us with such souls to be around who can be our "mirrors" to look exactly where we need to when we are strayed and our "shadows" ... who will never leave us...may whatever come...

Let's treat others as we expect for ourselves...

One thing I have closely observed, people always believe in, expect and use a different yardstick for themselves and for others! In my view we human beings are just a part of each other and need to be treated and judged alike, if done will solve lot of self created problems in the world! It reminds me of a story read years back! "An employee in a construction company was retiring and his boss requested him to build one more houses. Not being in a position to refuse he built the house. On the day of retirement his boss called him and handed over the key of the house as a parting gift and his reply came "sir, if you would have told this house u are going to gift me, I would have built it better" : moral of the story we don't treat others the way we want to be treated! But believe me it is a foolish shortcut, will be dangerous in long run! So, let's see others in the same light as we expect for ourselves, this will not only bring lasting happiness in others, it will bring eternal peace in our lives also.. 'yah Duniya nahin zagir kisi ka, raja ho rank yahan ho sab Hai chaukidar, kuchh to akar Chale gaye, kuchh Jane ko tayaar!' Let's have eternal values and principles in life and follow them till the end!
     Spare a moment ! Spare a thought !!!

Raja dharma.... Nature's way....

The world is existing because somewhere the natural justice is working, someone somewhere is respecting the eternal principles governing life. We may call it nature,God, unforeseen power or whatever.... And that power,the all protecting force has the minimum expectation from us to conduct ourselves as carefully as possible and it is and it is only for our betterment and it is mandatory even if we understand or not ,being biased by the illusory momentary glory of success, fame ,wealth or power and forget our basic purpose of life...In Mahabharat it is exemplified like this...When Duryodhan does unjustifiably unjustified actions, Vyasdev teaches Dhritarashtra Raj dharma.... He tells 'Rajan, u have to guard your country. It is expected by nature from all of us to conduct ourselves as per nature's justice. If someone fails to do so,counsel him,explain him....as this is your duty..if still fails..Order him...and still does not understand.... Punish him.  Even if he is your beloved son..'Because you are primarily a king,your duty is to protect the right ones...'This lesson applies equally today...If we do not understand nature will sooner or later counsel us,guide us,order us and ultimately punish....The sooner someone realizes the truth better his life becomes...

Ignoring Time... No one should afford to...

If someone is taking things,people or situations for granted and being complacent, careless or irresponsible, he/she probably is not understanding that such behavior is not only harmful and disrespectful for the person or situation,but it is an insult and negligence towards "TIME"....There is nothing more caring and powerful than TIME. If we ignore it ,certainly sooner or later it is going to hunt us with an exponential amount of punishment...

Surrender- the eternal way ahead!

All of us always love to have roses and roses ....on our path all through life. But life certainly can not gift us that  all the time. There will be thorns on our way also...So we need to accept and face the thorns as bravely and gracefully as possible as we have welcomed all the roses. We rather need to focus our entire energy in changing what we can and control our actions rather than concentrating on the numerous inevitable events of life and making futile and foolish efforts of changing the results which is squarely not in our control... As and when we really grow ,we understand and appreciate why there are unpredictable thorns on the ways amongst the lovely roses ,very carefully designed by the master craftsman ...none other than the eternal judge..The Almighty... Let's surrender and walk ahead...

Growing older is like going up in an aeroplane....

A feeling revisited again!!!
"Growing older is like going up in an 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....

Change inwards than outwards...

If we want change,we need to be the first people to be the face of change. We need to work more on inside and on our own mindset first. The world changes and will surely ,may be slowly  change with examples... Not by our advice or opinions.... People learn the most and in best from genuine examples,not by our free advice or random opinions.... At times our unsolicited advice or random opinions may cause more harm than help....So we need to set examples in silent hours , not in loud advices and irrelevant opinions.... This is what I understand... May be some others will have similar feelings...
    Spare a moment ! Spare a thought !!!

The foot prints.... Unnoticed often....

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...
     Spare a moment ! Spare a thought !!!

Nothing heals like faith.....

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...

       Spare a moment ! Spare a thought !!!

Time....Does it but in its own way...

Only 'time' has answers to all the questions in the world. But it is altogether a different ball game to have the answers and to give the answers.... There are certain answers on which only 'future' has right, so even if 'time' has the answers it can not hand them over to the 'present'.... So life has to go on and wait for the right time to get appropriate answers to its questions...

A 25 years journey... What I gathered from it...

A tribute to my 25 years journey... Relooking  through a year passed by !!!

      Today on 25th July 2018,on my departure from my Indian Railway Services I just recollect....On 25th July 1993, exactly 25 years back  I had left my home till then...my place,my state,my college,my family,my known world, the world outside which I knew nothing about ...and embarked on a journey unknown to me and came to a place completely unknown to me to pursue my future study,a career and a post graduate degree in Seth GS Medical College and KEM hospital and stayed back in Bombay  and joined Indian Railway Medical Services..... But it  was an immense blessing to come across innumerable lovely souls on the way of my journey most of them were completely unknown to me yet walked with me,by my side, helped me,loved me always and all the ways .... selflessly, with heart and soul, from deep within... .I certainly can't reason all of them...but I  know  all within...Divine works in innumerable ways...I  learnt so many things...learnt my best lessons of life...to be humane...to be myself...always to choose peace  and in  whatever way possible and happiness is an inner treasure. I learnt to do my best and give the best to anyone, anywhere, anytime without having any prejudice... whatsoever....and all that became my way of everyday living in turn... and I learnt  just to  keep walking... Thank you all for being there for me all through my journey and i have no doubt all of you will be there all along... thanks again...

Doctor's word....

It is almost 24 years now,when i was just married,my father in law ,a surgeon by profession had asked me  " I heard you love to read and write. Have you read Doctor's word? A legendary story by R. K. Narayan in Malgudi days? " I had not read it then. I answered " No,I have not read". Then he took me to show a big box of non medical books which my brother in law and he had read and told I can read from them whatever I like... Years passed,I rarely could visit that home and could hardly read any. But it had wonderful treasures. Even he had collected and kept there two of our Medical college Magazines where I used to write stories and had read them too. Because of my residency,followed by job, responsibility of the kids,home etc,I rarely visited that home and my intent to read those books remained unfulfilled. Many years later ,nature keeping it's law intact, "what is created ,will be destroyed"..Due to their deteriorating health and we not getting to visit the house and take care of the books, the box got infested by termites and they had to dispose of many valuable treasure of knowledge,but they didn't have any choice either ! I felt sad and at the same time realized "nature will take it's course always and however we think,many things will go back to the origin where it had come from... The Earth,the water,the fire,the wind ,the sky... The 5 fundamental ingredients of the universe...
    But I remember the short story,one of his experience of his doctor career ,he had narrated to me that evening as vividly as I had heard that day... He had narrated,"Once when I had visited to my native village Bhuban to see my old mother and new born child taking a day off from my job,a man came to see me in the evening. He came with excruciating pain, almost bent with it and not able to stand straight, catching his abdomen tightly with a futile effort to lessen it a bit... But alas!!! He literally fell down on my feet to relieve him of his pain. Knowing that  I being the first doctor from my village  and being a general surgeon in that era and knowing my nature,he hoped to get well soon. The best I could offer him then was a patient hearing of his complaint and thorough examination. He had a strangulated hernia ! I knew he needs immediate survey and I have no ways and means there to treat him  without any facility. I told him what he is suffering and advised to go to the nearest available hospital to get it operated immediately.... But in vain.. He didn't leave our varanda and lied down there and didn't show any sign to go off. He kept on saying  I ony can save him and cure him. Hours passed,he didn't leave. It was such a pitiful,yet difficult situation. "Every doctor must have realized the monumental agony we go through when we know,we can't help the patient in the given situation, expertise or  available facilities and it is nature's decision but yet the patient has so much faith ,not to think beyond us... He narrated again... When it was almost 10 pm and he didn't show any sign of leaving,I felt I must do something to relieve his pain knowing well that if he doesn't get operated ,in no time his bowel will be necrosed  and his death would be imminent.. but without any medicine, without any hospital, facility,what choices did I have.?... His continuous pressure to relieve his pain had also drained my patience... I thought for a moment,took out an one rupee coin from my pocket and handed over to him,to buy a little opium and take it ,so the pain becomes less knowing in my scientific knowledge that the strangulated hernia needs immediate surgery and not doing that death is hanging on his head,but it was not possible to tell him about that seeing his unflinching faith...with that one rupee coin he left our varanda with help of his attendant. Years had passed,and I forgot about that patient and moved on in life...After years one evening when I was visiting my village once more, someone came in and told that a man is at the door who wants to see me. I came out,saw a man standing with a pack in his hand and as I came out , could not recognize him and asked whom he wants to see, he touched my feet in gratitude and reminded me of that  evening years back when he had been here,the same varanda with excruciating abdominal pain and I had cured him... I tried to recollect. He told,the one rupee coin I had given him ,helped him to get a little opium,he had it,slept off and next morning he got up with no sign of pain...And got a new lease of life because of me ! Thereafter whatever he earned everyday,saved a little and after he could gather a little,he has bought a saree for "Maa",my wife to show his reverence and gratitude and wanted to meet us! " I stood frozen for a moment being flabbergasted. Thought what helped him, a word I had said ,he will get relieved of the pain when  he was desperately expecting me to treat him,I knew I had no power to heal him there in that circumstances and his death was imminent and his unflinching faith on a doctor !!! " He continued," may be scientifically,the opium provided much needed analgesia and the guarded muscles relaxed and the hernia got reduced,relieving his pain,but probably not only the science,the art of faith and hope,the desire for doing best for a suffering soul played the best part of it..." He concluded...
     After a quarter century I have remembered his words," A doctor's words are most valuable assets of his career,take care of it always"... A lesson learnt from him, R. K. Narayan's story from Malgudi days  comes alive with each such experience and somewhere a doctor Raman is reborn...
   I feel,even  the  lesson  is more relevant today than ever... Is not it???
     Spare a moment ! Spare a thought !!!

From a doctor's soul...

From a doctor's soul...

Today I had been to our CST administrative office for some work. While entering the GM office corridor,someone came from back and greeted me with a "namaskar Madam" ... When he came to front,I looked at him ,tried my best to recognize,but could not , thought he must be one of our Railway man certainly ,may be  had come to opd/casualty/ with family or someone who may be knowing me. Then he told me, "Ma'am,I came to know from hospital,u took VR ,but I am glad to meet you here and just to let you know that u had delivered my elder daughter by a CS in the year 2000 when you must  be a DMO, and the most important  and happy part  I want to tell you that ,I named my daughter as "Swadhin"... She is in professional course now"... He and I left for our work, but it made me think, even after 19 years and never seeing me again,he didn't forget me and our job which I must have done as part of my duty,but it became a land mark for him and his family and he recognized me so well,I thought for a while, probably there we stand in someone's thought, someone's mind and heart... in spite of buckets of medicolegal threats, constantly deteriorating doctor-patient relationship and incidents of violence and lots of  unfriendly regulations for medical fraternity ... This truth stands even today...  A doctor even  without his/her knowledge or remembrance, influences so many lives of people and the psyche of society, may be just not through the sickness,but for whole life of a person or family and the society at large and thanked God for all the blessings and prayed to gift the society such doctors and healers on whom  the society can have unflinching faith and rely
 " he/she will do best and nothing but best for us and our patients and the medical fraternity to be blessed with patients, family and society to have the faith on us and gift us the most coveted award for any doctor in life ' someone's pain is less through our efforts and someone has  smiled through our dedications , services,efforts !" Nothing can be more satisfying than this. May the world, particularly my mother land India is blessed with revamped doctor-patient relationship,the faith is restored,the hope is  alive and new with each morning dawn..
May we receive the Almighty's blessings to serve the humanity with all our heart and soul,best of efforts and intentions...And always remember "we only treat,He cures"... May we never leave our dignity for a penny,may we never forgo our sense of duty for comfort... May we always be wise to look more within than out, may we have the compassion to heal than to feel proud...

     Spare a moment ! Spare a thought !!!

जीवन.... एक स्रोत ....

जीवन का  लक्ष है एकेलेपन से  एकान्त तक की  सफर तय करना ; जीतनी सचाई के साथ,जीतनी गहराई  के साथ यह सफर की जाए  उत्ना अच्छा है क्योंकी इस सफर में पथ भी हम ,पथिक भी हम  और मंज़िल भी हम ही हैं ....भले  कोई रस्ते में  मिले या नहीं ,कोई साथ दे या नहीं  ,भले कोई हमे समझ पाए या नहीं , भले कहीं कठिनाई आजाए........च ल ना तो हमें  नदी की तरह है ........कहीं भटक न जाए ....

Vipassana-the art and science of looking within...

Yashodhara asked Siddhartha Gautam..." Dear,if u worry about everyone's sorrow in life,you will drown,life is like that,you can't worry for the world"... The heart broken Siddhartha replied..." yes dear,I know I will drown,but where will I go alone even if I swim and cross the life?" The very thought of life going through disease, depression,old age and death and the misery felt by the humanity accompanying each of these put him in deep thoughts...
     He didn't want to temporarily swim and somehow cross the life, again to get entangled with the pain and pleasure of life's cycle ,but to know the cause of human misery, suffering and to overcome that...
   In search of a lasting remedy for the human suffering,he left the palace,his home and painstakingly his loving family too,not that he didn't love them dearly,not that he was not capable of reigning his kingdom,but for a larger cause,for a larger family,for an eternal goal for the humanity...
   He practiced painfully various meditation methods, neglected his health but finally discovered the reason of human suffering and the art and science of looking within for achieving eternal remedies for life's fall outs. The blessed peepal tree saw his enlightenment,the awakening of him and tirelessly sharing his wisdom and knowledge and helping inumerable souls to look within and find the remedies inside..
   That transformed, Siddhartha Gautam,to Gautam the"Buddha"- the knower!
  Buddha never claimed to be God neither messanger of God. He just observed the nature and it's eternal laws of life. He realised anybody can be a Buddha, an awakened soul, whoever walks the path,and he never claimed any monopoly over enlightenment. He taught the world,misery comes from undue attachment to everything which are changeable, perishable... What we cling today as ours,will be tomorrow someone else's... But we normally don't want to realise that. What we feel extremely delighted today to have t,losing that tomorrow causes excruciating agony... He taught the same principle of life as Krishna taught the world through Geeta. Arjuna was a medium for the world to get  enlightenment on Kurukshetra's  battle field and for ages and ages to come. Buddha through his art and science of understanding life and true living gifted the world Vipassana... A technique,an attitude to look within.
  All through life we look only outside,how to achieve success,wealth,compare with others and in the bargain we fall prey to greed,lust, addition,lie, wrong means of livelihood... And we suffer more from our reaction to the inevitable which happens to us,than by what actually happens to us. Buddha taught the world the finest art of doing ones best,practicing purest of actions and stay composed and surrendered for the happenings which are beyond our control... He amply demonstrated the root cause of misery is desire... The deeper the root of desire for achieving the mortal gains,the farther we are from a divine life,a grateful living,a surrendered attitude and we bring on ourselves endless misery...
   May Lord Buddha help the world to look within,than out, practice compassion than achieving material goals,find success in living a life rightly than  leading a life richly... May Vipassana...the art and science of looking within becomes an eternal practice for the humanity...
     May we be blessed within, look inwards and March to self enlightenment through everyday practice of leading a life of right thinking and right living... The contemporary world needs  Buddha,a divine path finder more than anything else !
   Spare a moment ! Spare a thought !!!

When fear takes over faith,doubt takes over hope....

What keeps the world going? A spontaneous question comes to my mind in the wee hours of the day. The answer comes from within, it's not wealth,it is not facilities,not even fame or name... Probably it is faith,it is reliability,it is hope... Of  humanity,for humanity, from humanity...
   Had read a story long back. An ascetic ( in true sense of soul) was living in the end of a village. He was liked by one and all for his noble nature. His only belonging was a white horse whom he had reared with utmost love and care and with his help he used to travel and help people. One evening when he was going to some place riding the horse,he saw a man lying on the road side, wrapped with a blanket , groaning with pain and tossing from one side to other. The scene was so very pitiable and the man was alone ! The ascetic got down from the horse back, spoke to the groaning man and he told he is having severe pain in stomach. Without a second thought,he lifted the man on his shoulder and put him back on his horse back and drove to reach the nearest medical help centre. After few minutes,as the darkness descended thicker,in a lonely place,the pillion rider got down, removed his dramatic attire and in no time the ascetic realised he is no ordinary patient,but the most wanted dacoit of the area. He threw the ascetic down from the horse back and in a fraction of second drove away with the horse... Ascetic realised the situation and walked back to his hermitage alone. His wound didn't bother him as much as the loss of faith. He entered the hut quietly and went to sleep.
           Divine works in miraculous ways ! In the dead of the night the dacoit got up with a weird feeling, felt how different is the ascetic. When he threw him down and drove away with his most loving companion he didn't even utter a single word of displeasure! How great that soul could be and how did he ,one of the same human race stoop so low to wound him,steal his horse and ran away and all this for greed to have the horse and in disguise of a patient! His conscience arose and he could not sleep the whole night. Before the dawn,he took the horse back and tied him in the Ascetic's stable,he thought no one can see him. But the ascetic was awake and came out and saw him return. He stood frozen for a moment. Touched the feet of the noble ascetic and asked him to punish whatever way he thinks right for his wrong doing last night. The ascetic's divine nature guided him as usual and he prayed God to pardon him and had only one request! " Please don't tell anyone this incident, otherwise, people will lose faith and hope and no one will ever help a poor,needy,sick person lying on the roadside and that will be curse for the society where people will not believe a needy one!!!" The dacoit left with a sigh of relief and a strong sense of change in his heart...

    In recent times of corroded doctor-patient relationship,the story came to my mind often. This has made me think so often about society,an ailing society which has lost its hope because someone somewhere has behaved like the dacoit and with rapidly changing world of informatics, the fire of fear and faithlessness have taken over the eternal values of hope and faith and doctors and hospitals have started becoming defensive beyond comprehension... Very pathetic and dangerous situation. Doctor, patient relationship is nothing different than a parent child one or a teacher student one!
       Today even hospitals and doctors are so sceptical they don't even allow a doctor to have a glimpse of his/her ailing parents in the name of providing security to treating doctors and health care institutions! May be some dacoit relatives chose to beat the doctor and vandalise health care institutions in the event of any unsuccessful outcome or mishap. But impact has gone deep down in society and entire health care industry has become doubtful about patient and relatives imposing unflinching faith on the doctors anymore. Similarly general public has developed a fear, doubt and apathy towards the noblest profession available on Earth because some black sheep  are there on every profession. But as a matter of fact the situation is so delicate now, students are preferring not to become doctors or health care professionals and they can be something else,but what is the choice for society! No one would love to visit a doctor,fall sick or be in hospital,but it is a reality. As long as human race will exist,there will be diseases,old age,deaths... All the more now. Society needs a compassionate,robust, loving and supportive,so also competent doctor fraternity and health care system. It was ,it is and will be the primary need for any society... We as a society are slipping our  feet in the tricky sand of the vast sea every moment and probably not realising the damage being caused to us , unfortunately by us...

    If the child loses its faith on its father or mother to hold it back when it falls and doing so only with love and loses the security,if the students lose the hope to be taught,guided and made finest human beings by their teachers,and patients lose faith that their treating doctor will treat,care them best...then who  will save such a society ???? Vice versa... If there are no loving children,no budding students,no patients waiting to be treated and cared, imposing their unflinching faith and belief... Then what's the meaning of a parent,a teacher or a doctor...
    We as a healthy society and medical professionals need to introspect and search deep within.. let's not allow fear to take over faith,doubt to take over hope...and do everything needed to narrow down,if not possible delete or erase  the gap which is  increasing every morning between the most faithful relationship on Earth... Doctor-patient...

     I wish both sides walk through the gap and seal it with divine love and care,faith and hope...may be difficult but possible... I am sure!
    Spare a moment ! Spare a thought !!!

Integrity...the soul's eternal virtue...here to stay !!!

Does integrity matter and if at all to whom does it matter?

At the outset I will say integrity is the highest and best virtue of one's character. It can start with an individual and can encompass a nation or the world...
  I had read a story in my 2nd standard " for whom do we plant trees? " After decades and decades the story is printed in my mind and today when I am writing on this topic it makes more sense than ever. It said a simple truth,the person who plants the trees probably hardly ever sits under it's shade or enjoys it's fruits. But he leaves it for the world, for the generations to come and may be someone, sometime will take rest under it's shade and quench his thirst and hunger by eating a ripe fruit and remember the soul in gratitude.... That's the rewards the man gets for spending his life's sweat and blood and planting trees....He may not be living,but his intention and integrity certainly makes the world a better place....

   Another story goes like this...Actually these are not imaginary stories, these are hard life lessons,great values, deep thoughts and divine philosophies put by authors for common understanding and following....
    There lived a Brahmin( the one who knew bramah,not by title or birth) long ago,who with his family  lived only on the alms which they get before sunset and worked in Kings court and didn't charge. That's a principles he followed.
   One day the Prime Minister heard he lives a very hard life and seeing his work,knowledge and integrity he was pained and requested king to offer him some handsome salary because he deserves. King knew his integrity and resolve,went to his home in disguise in the evening and was hungry. They didn't recognize the king,offered him the little food they had collected for the family and after the guest ate all of them had only water as there was no food. Then King revealed his identity and requested him to accept a handsome amount of wealth. But he politely refused and explained...He saud, in each time and place there are few people who are following principles and integrity and that is everything for them and a blessing for the world and the entire world exists and maintains balance because of some such people.... So how can i leave that for my comfort ???

The king stood still and learnt the greatest lesson of his life ....

Moral is....never weigh or judge the value of doing good... it can never be measured in any finite terms...who knows who is destined to get the fruit of the tree you plant and prays God to bless u and the world....

     Do good, the good will come back....

    Spare a moment ! Spare a thought !!!

The rough book

You were born new and beautiful
Like all other books with you...
But your purpose was different;

You never denied your lap
For a difficult Maths problem
To a boring geography map,

You never minded burden of
Coding and decoding of
 thousands of vocabulary,
May it be from
Sanskrit to economics
Or astrophysics to statistics;


You are witness to many afternoon
Sketches to nostalgic memories,

You are torn at some pages
Even dirty or folded in others,
But you don't mind
You don't complain not even once;

You are the backbone
Of your family of books,
You are the brain of subjects
You nourished and nurtured
All others in your bag;
To help them to be neat
Proficient,organised and worthy,
You spared them from all the burden
All the trouble and helped them to flourish
unflinchingly carrying your legacy;

You never looked back, never
Looked at your torn image
Not even at the dirt on your edge'
You are happy with giving
A life to all others in your bag;

A beautiful life,
A meaningful one to their existence
And loved to  see them
Flourish in their own ways!


Torn pages didn't bother you
Immature handwriting didn't
Deter you, your look didn't
Matter you, because you
Have a beautiful soul within!

Because you had  all the wisdom and memory,
Abundance of love and care,
A heart  full of  nostalgia and
Always ready to share;

The world around you
Is beautiful, worthy and amazing
Because you and only you are there...








There  is always a rough book
In and around our lives
Spare a moment ! Spare a thought !!
To feel,to realise,to appreciate
And to be grateful for it before it is over!!!

Gratitude... The best way to live life....

Buddha said,"our greatest defeat is in the inability to face the possibilities of life"...we actually don't have any idea what all we can endure till we go through it. '
      He again said " the best way to live life is to live a life of gratitude' and demonstrated amply. He says, the sky we have over our head,the Earth which gives us home and food,the air we breath and the water we drink, the seasons and flowers which bring divine consciousness to our soul are all the gifts from Nature and God...Have we created them? It's such a fundamental truth... everyone will agree. So every morning when we open our eyes ,we must be thankful for this. If not anything, for having this knowledge and consciousness to realize... Even if we didn't learn anything, still we should be grateful... because atleast we are healthy.... Even if we are sick...still we must be grateful.... because still we are alive and that's the most wonderful blessing on Earth.....
       May the world get drenched with conscious living and gratefulness...

      Spare a moment ! Spare a thought !!!

Understanding our limitations and possibilities...

I understand often our limitations  on various spheres and issues in life and look at various practical views. But at the end will say 'if we try we may fail and that probability may reach 100%.'But if we don't start ever ,then the failure is nothing but 100% 100%.  I think it's just logic. Another thing,we may not be able to control the outside world but two things we are in absolute control.... our intent and our effort' ...that choice is ours and completely ours... and all of us know well every decision we undertake,every action we take will result in some effect... whether i follow my heart or stomach...My need or my greed,my inner calling or worldly pressure.... that's upto me and another story.... If i choose to think it may bring paradise on Earth,if don't... sooner or later the paradise will not hesitate to turn itself to a desert...
      Spare a moment ! Spare a thought !!!

Truth vs absolute truth...

Truth vs absolute truth...
  Truth has many views and facets... Someone's sunrise could be someone else's sunset... Both are true on the surface... But absolute truth can only be known by standing out of the Earth's field and knowing that it is only the Earth that moves,never the Sun...
    So in life many contradictory facts are true,but when we travel inside from the feeling of  being the doer,to the the realization of just being a mere observer by the creator... The absolute truth comes to our view and all relative truths and biases vanish...
     Spare a moment ! Spare a thought !!!

Problem is here to be solved...

If it is a problem,it has a solution and best way to get over it is to go through it and solve it! If it doesn't have a solution,it is no more a problem,it is a truth... To be accepted !!!
    A disease is a problem,needs to be diagnosed and treated,so it has a solution but a death is a truth to be accepted as it doesn't have a solution !
     Spare a moment ! Spare a thought !!!

Nature - the best judge!!!

Nature has framed an amazing law: The very act of thinking good, doing good and keeping life and matter simple gives the first reward to us in terms of peace, happiness and satisfaction... same way it punishes us with resentment, guilt or dissatisfaction the moment we think troubling someone,make matters unnecessarily complicated or feed our ego.... Nature has  defined eternal laws.." when we lighten someone's path, our paths  also gets illuminated.."... it's just a matter of realisation...
      Spare a thought...Spare a moment!!!

Your soul knows it,be loyal!

When you are loyal to your integrity universe will be loyal to you. If you compromise on that, u may win the world, but can never win yourself..... When you cheat someone, harm someone, betray someone's trust, no one may know it ever, but certainly you know... And to live with that disloyal entity becomes your best punishment and however you try no one can ever save you from that....That's nature's law and divine justice... That's the greatest test...to prove your loyalty and innocence to your soul... Spare a moment, spare a thought....

Illusion of attachment....

At the end of Mahabharat, when the greatest personality of all times, Pitamah Bhishm was about to leave his mortal frame,five pandavs with Shrikrishna stood before him to get his final blessings...All the Gods were seeing the never seen before scene of a mortal being transcending to immortality in front,....As a final blessing, Krishna requested Pitamah to give some lessons to Yudhishthir to follow in life while performing duty as a king. Bhishm smiled and said..."O Madhusudan, when u r there with them what kind of advice can I give them? You are ultimate friend,philosopher and guide to them'.... Krishna explained..."I am there,but I don't have the experience you have, please teach them something from your vast experience"... Bhishm said..."Hai Keshav, on this bed of arrows I realized the flaw of my life,now I realized the life I lived as an unmistakable principle to follow was a terrific attachment to my oath and my attachment to make my father happy...I sacrificed but didn't realize it's actually not doing good to Hastinapur innocent people and I was illusions to adore the king whoever sat on the throne... Thinking that I am keeping my oath and the promise I made to my father.... Even when I saw Hastinapur disintegrating and numerous wrong doings were happening in front of me"....It was only sheer attachment to myself....My oath...Vidur was only one who though utmost respectfully but firmly  pointed that to me...But I didn't  listen.
I was blinded by my illusions...So Hai Putra Yudhishthir...Never get attached to such illusions...Your praja are everything...The king,the kingdom and the throne are mere symbols.." while making decisions in life if needed,change strategy as long as you are caring basic principle of your duty.... And he closed his eyes... Leaving a legacy which was neither existent in past...Nor can be repeated in future... Humility unparalleled...



Spare a moment! Spare a thought !!!

Symbolism in Indian philosophy!

May be more than 2000 years ago,there was a period in Indian philosophy to create lot of symbols,we see,we adore,we celebrate and at times we do our interpretation and misinterpretation too. We have not been educated,taught,we have not given thoughts to the symbolism to understand them too. What we know lots of superstitious beliefs,misinformed values and the shallow way of our interpretation.
    Today on the auspicious occasion of Maha Shivratri,let's look at the symbols objectively,logically,scientifically and in they true spiritul intent as well.
    We all have the image of "Shiva"...The Mahakal means who is eternal...And His image of sitting in deep meditation,Ganga flowing from head,moon is blessed to decorate His head,snake around His neck... And his throat is blue with the poison He drank but His face,His soul remain unfazed by the poisonous effect.... He is as composed as Time itself,as powerful as nature as well... What message does  the creator of the symbol,such an  image tried to convey... Few eternal truths and some precious lessons for us... And that remains unchanged. It says Shiva,the all powerful is also a responsible father figure for the creation and when it came to the poison discovered from the churning of seas or "Sagar manthan" He happily drank that to save the world from its I'll effect,to make everything and everyone of the creation safe. Such is the intent and goodness of a father for the creation. The poison is so strong it has made His throat visibly blue,we can imagine what could have been it's deleterious effect,but His face remains eternally poised,He remains composed and doesn't show any reaction to that pain... Such is the tolerance power of a father as He is for the universe. He has given place to a snake around His neck,a river on His hair and the moon on His head... The snake symbolises He is capable to take anything bad on His stride to save the universe and stay unfazed,the river Ganga's flow from His hair symbolises how painstakingly He has taken the burden of the flow of the mighty river which gives live saving water to the Indian subcontinent and the moon never fails to lighten the world even after Sun sets and It too has taken it's place on Shiva's head...
     Shiva is the symbol of tolerance, goodness,peace,love, responsibility and least we as human beings can try to do our best to symbolise these values if we really worship Shiva... He must be expecting this from us,the human race, the finest of the creation may not be the gallons of milk pouring on His symbolism...


   Spare a thought ! Spare a moment!!!

The three eternal truths !

I had read Leo Tolstoy's story " What men live by" in the year 1983-84 in my curriculum. It had left an everlasting effect on my mind,so I have not forgotten it till date and probably it will not fade from my.memory in future either... He had narrated 3 incidents in the story gifting mankind the realisation of 3 eternal truths... I am retelling them in my words as don't remember the exact wording but the essence remains unchanged...

1) Man is intrinsically a loving creature and love is the force binding the knowns or unknowns and it makes the world beautiful and life worth living..
2) No one knows what is going to happen next moment,that is a divine treasure to be aware of future and not handed over to human beings by God for a well designed and logical reason...

3) Whoever is born in the world of God has come with it's provisions...we may or may not be aware or use or don't use it appropriately,but the provision is already made by God...

Spare a moment...spare a thought...

Everything happens for a reason....May be beyond human ability to comprehend...Why and how?

Many a times in life we don't understand why something happened....When everything goes  alright or more than right( as we apparently believe) or we get many things unexpectedly or what we humanly actually didn't deserve....we normally take things for granted and don't question "why me?" Or how or why  did I get this?" But usually are busy taking either things for granted or we think it is our right to get everything right on the way...many a times  even if we don't express,but that's how life goes for most of us...but the moment something goes wrong or we have failure,pain, rejection, fall or a disease...our mind starts asking from " why me?,I didn't deserve,I am so good, how can this happen,why on earth such things can happen to me?".. The list can go on.....and day in and out brood on that... vitiating our own loss of peace, tranquility, balance and present time... Ultimately bringing more misery  and self made displeasure with far more deleterious effect than what was caused by the actual event ....

     A point to ponder...is our limited and fixed life time enough to analyse and judge the great creator's decision in handing over good or bad whatever we think to get in life? Time is eternal stretch, even the longest living human life is not even a fraction of second in comparison to eternity...Then comes,why me??? Does this question even relevant? Who are we? We are only a tiny part of universe and may be getting what we deserve in time's eternal judgement..best of our so called knowledge can not even comprehend how the universe keeps its balance, leave aside thinking why and how everything happens...
 
    With time I am realising, everything happens for a reason whether we understand or not " the why "...We probably get  what we deserve...may be the manner,the time and the appearance is beyond our limited capacity to comprehend...and have firm faith...the eternity and the Almighty will only do best and nothing but best for all of us...
May be we at times will need several life times to know the " why's" and " how's"...

     Spare a moment...spare a thought...

The travel and the traveler

We all have our paths in life we are supposed to follow to find who we are supposed to be, but it's not always a straight path. There is something inside of us that guides us, and if you are quiet and listen to it, you'll be all right.

We are all travellers, let's travel well!

Life is a journey meant to be travelled.You may or may not reach a destination,but  if u have travelled a right path u r successful no matter what it appears to others. If you well begin your journey it really does not matter how far you r from your destination,but if you never start or on a wrong path,it itself is a failure no matter how successful u r in convincing some people who themselves have never walked their own path!

   Spare a moment ! Spare a thought !!!

Love,the eternal magic....Is only the answer to sustainable peace on Earth!

Where did the magic word of love vanish in the jungle of hatred,cruelty, gruesome killing of innocent jawans/journos/pilots /people, rapes and rubbery on the streets... ? Disturbing news of killings,beheading of fellow  humans in the morning overshadowing achievements of drones delivering things ,supersonic jet planes,high speed trains,universal connectivity,Olympic medals and chandrayan success story to name a few ! Khalil Gibran wrote
   
  The king,the ass and I
   Tomorrow we all will die
    The king for power,the ass for hunger
      And I for love !
Amidst the negativities in the soaring human mind,my heart was longing for a peaceful, loving humanity around, a dream I wish to be planted in every soul..

Jesus Christ died smiling on the cross forgiving the perpetrators and living for ages for love for mankind,Buddha left the cozi kingdom to search the remedy for human misery and lit the candle for kindness forever,so also prophet Mohd,Nanak,Mahavir and Krishna the ultimate power on earth.In recent world history not long ago humanity witnessed the power of love exercised by Gandhiji defeating the mighty Britishers without a single arm/ammunition not even ever using harsh words and died for the love for peace..So it's a point to ponder?Why so much of unrest ? I know nature rewards and punishes immediately when we even have good and bad thoughts. To my mind it comes, there might be issues beyond our comprehension ,beyond imagination and while trying to carry out hasty reactions the world powers,the thinkers and intellectual mass should find the root of such barbaric act by fellow humans and with Patience and love try to address the issue.Hatred only will bring more hatred and more heads will be down this side or that..and that's a jolt to peace and trauma to mother earth.But at the end if the perpetrators are reasonably found to be unreasonable , the formula for Rajdharma  depicted by the great sage Vyasdev of counselling-ordering and punishing can be used to bring peace and safety on the world... A timely step may prevent the earth from suffering a self inflicted tragedy which can never be compensated in millenniums to come...ohm Shanti...ohm shanti...

     Spare a moment ! Spare a thought !!!

At the Sunset....

Neither it goes,nor it comes...
Neither it is in the East,nor in the West...
Just standing on its place...
Who knows how many millions and millions years have passed...
Neither it is excited,nor it is tired...
"The Sun"...burns it's soul every single day...to spread the light,to dispel the despair... To convey the message of " Hope and Care"...
It says it has neither end,nor beginning...
It's the follower of eternity...to come with each passing day...
To gift the universe..with some dream,some realisation...some enigma,some illusion...to sip from it's soul...

Let's move with time....the ultimate force !!!

kuchh to log kahenge,logon ka kam hai kehna,chhodo bekar ki baten,kahin bit na jaye raina.... Time is precious.The life is short.Let's pick up each moment and do something good in thought and action and leave the speculation part for those who are paid to that 24x7... Moral of the story,we any way learn from any situation and people,if we want to.Some teach us what to do and take some more importantly teach us what not to take,ignore and leave and move ahead...
      Spare a moment! Spare a thought!!!

Let's not give our minds' control to others...

Someone else's way of behavior should not determine how we treat him/her or others. A person who is arrogant/ ill mannered or immature or think they are too clever or over smart  to behave well or do good...Are actually not wise and need kindness the most to change them... They should never be given the opportunity to control our behavior...At the most they better be taught by example of kindness or left alone to be taught by Time.... It's unwise to waste time and energy on them...There are enough wonderful souls in the world who matter...Concentrating on that will be far rewarding than wasting time on the opposites....

Trust... The ultimate bond

The history relating to the great Chinese wall teaches a very important lesson. Chinese ruler had built it in view of never to be invaded,but ironically there have been number of invasions after that...The reason was... Neither the wall was not strong enough to protect nor the enemies were stronger...But because the people guarding the entrance did allow the enemies... Either the rulers didn't pay attention to take care of the guards or they lacked loyalty... Interpretation can be varied...But the truth was ...A strong wall like Chinese great wall could not prevent invasions because there was trust deficit in human behavior... History of India and world if looked closely are not different...And in every day life...
The glass will be always half full...We can only control whether we take it half empty or half full or accept the half empty and try to put some water to fill as little as we can contribute... Outside control is actually an illusion...It is only working on self... Which is the ultimate possibility...