As I was rewinding the day’s activities with closed eyes, I got the answers for the two predominant questions that were constricting my thought processes.
1) Why is the innocent taken for granted?
Because innocent doesn’t know how to manipulate. Understand that innocence is a reward of living sublime thoughts.
2) How can I trust a person when I clearly know that he/she is talking nothing but lies?
Bother only about your truth and the words of truth that you speak.
Words that we pronounce speak volumes of our upbringing, attitudes and thought processes. They reflect how we maintain the inner sanctum of our being. Sadly we mutilate the rings of positive energy that surround us by our own words.
This trivial incident happened during our March trip to India.
I had to reach platform no.1 from 12 of New Delhi railway station to board Amritsar bound train with my fractured foot. My husband fixed a help for Rs.250/- to take me in a wheel chair and walked along with me throughout the round about journey. At the beginning of platform no.1, a child of around 2-3 years old in rags & dirt was seen walking casually with her mother in front of us. In fact, the child was totally unaware of us approaching her from behind. I expected the helper man to slow down upon seeing the girl but he didn’t. Instead, he scolded her loudly with such words that I got a cruel jolt. He had no patience to slow down or warn the girl gently. It is a rude behaviour on the part of man for it is also the girl’s right to use the platform. This incident may seem trivial to many. Probably the man and the girl would have forgotten about it in the next 5 minutes. But to this day, I feel guilty as I was the reason for the child to bear those words.
That brings a series of questions again –
* Is poverty a crime?
* Is abusing the weak a victory of power?
* What is power by the way?
Unfortunately, power is a factor that everyone dreads to face. The history has seen pages on men of power becoming so ruthless to the extent of annihilating lives for their own pleasure and thought. But, let us honestly dissect, how much of God given positive power do we abuse in a moment to moment life journey as liars & opportunists?
Thankfully, our world has always produced great visionaries, scientists, mathematicians, freedom fighters, erudite scholars, gifted orators, fine artists, writers, thinkers, social workers, spiritual giants etc from time to time to supply us with enough motivation and encouragement. With a vision so grand and mission too sublime, with truth as their base personality, they have lived only to say that power is one of internal.
The moment a person starts to build his inner power only on truth, he slowly gets transformed into a saint. His vision all encompassing, he accepts wholeheartedly all categories of people even when he is attacked brutally.
But does that guarantee that all truth speaking people become saints?
I happened to watch the reality show ‘Sach ka samna’ only once and felt so shocked that I vouched never to watch again. The contestants who are very well aware of the format are ready to gamble their past life for the sake of money so publicly. What are we to gain from this truth based show where truth has become a business strategy to pocket some quick money?
The inner power that we are talking about is one of selflessness. Such an inner power manifests more and more in a man of self control who extends his hands so long to hug the whole Earth with all beings intact. However, Avadhuta adds,
“Further a spiritual aspirant should learn from the mountains of the earth and the trees on them to strive unselfishly for the good of others and find the meaning of his existence in such striving. Becoming a disciple of trees, he should live for others.”
Now, as I read it for the second time, I find that the second part of the first lesson has become more intense to follow.
In my rendezvous with mountains, I had marveled at their meditative poise and beauty. As a nature admirer, I had always felt that mountains & trees have a mysterious aura and attraction of their own. Now I know why.
‘I cannot thank you enough for my Life travel so far. Give me a mountain of power to live selflessly. Good Night, God!’
I closed my eyes with an innocent belief that God would grant my wish happily.
P.S. The extracts are taken from the translation works of Srimad Bhagavata of Swami Tapasyananda, Ramakrisha Math.
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These lines, "how much of God given positive power do we abuse in a moment to moment life journey as liars & opportunists?" talk very well about what is power and how we are wasting that power and instead we strive in powerless things for power. Brilliant.
ReplyDeleteTrue...we have to learn the unselfishness from the trees. I know that we all expect in return for our help or donation, at least thanks or some sort of propaganda. However these trees, they are only givers. I don't think any part of Banana Tree or coconut tree or Palm tree is left without being used. And they don't get anything in return. What a great teacher!
Dear Padmaja
ReplyDeleteLovely! I am running short of words to truly comment on this great awe-inspiring article. You won't believe if I say that tears got accumulated into my eyes soon after reading your article.
As Solaikannan has pointed out, "how much of God given positive power do we abuse in a moment to moment life journey as liars & opportunists?" are really powerful words that shook me for a moment. It made me take a deep tour within.
"With a vision so grand and mission too sublime, with truth as their base personality, they have lived only to say that power is one of internal" - Lovely coinage of words, Padmaja! Yes, in the absence of great saints sent as messengers by God, we would have surely believed that might is right.
Padmaja, I am impressed with this article and its essence. Every seed is capable of teaching us a lesson. Thanks for this wonderful blog.
@Solai - We are powerless without the power. Yet we abuse the power on powerless things. Very rightly pointed out by you. Trees are indeed are great teachers.
ReplyDelete@Latha - I am glad that this article inspired you. Well, Latha... as you said, every seed is capable of teaching us a lesson. The only sad part is, we don't realise the power of seed most of the times.
Dear Padmaja,
ReplyDeleteHow should we react when others speak lies to us? Or even talk to us rudely for no reason at all? For instance, if we were in the place of the little girl who was shouted at for no reason at all, what would be a correct reaction?
Dear Anitha,
ReplyDelete1) How should we react when others speak lies to us?
I prefer not to react or at least over react at those times.
2) Or even talk to us rudely for no reason at all? For instance, if we were in the place of the little girl who was shouted at for no reason at all, what would be a correct reaction?
Anitha, that's the beauty of innocence. The child is innocent enough not to remember or grasp the full import of it. But the mother might have felt bad or even cursed me as well. The only worry is, the young child should not get moulded in the wrong way over a period of time out of such repeated experiences and start thinking that usage of abusive language to get our things done is right.