Calling God to the witness box - III

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To re-connect to the subject of this series of posts, please have a look at the previous two posts on the subject at:

• Calling God to the witness box - I
• Calling God to the witness box - II

Also recommended are some very thoughtful reader comments on the first post listed above.

We grow, physically and mentally. As we live on, our perceptions of people, beliefs, society, life and ourselves also evolve based on what we have been through and observed around us. This concept of evolving thought captivates me to lead me to believe that as if 'some one' is always working on us into making us what we are. A reflection of this can be seen here as well and has been mentioned here and there in this blog as well time and again. Be it how airplanes fly, or be it how luck and prayer works our perception of everything goes through this evolutionary process!

Switching to the context of this post after that prelude and citing from conclusion of Calling God to the witness box - II

"Since childhood onwards, like everyone else, my understanding of God has been changing based on my own experiences and observations. I hope someone will relate to those when I discuss the same later..."

As long as I remember, it was never my aim to follow my religion to-the-letter. Although it was an expectation from me that was stated with a certain subtlety every now and then both at home, school and while venturing about in the civil society. I still keep getting these lessons sometimes a bit strictly too. My upbringing and schooling in somewhat conservative environment also imbibed the basic tenets of my religion pretty deeply during those young years. Pretty early on, I was, without any doubt, able to comprehend that those tenets actually are a reflection of what a humane living should be. To be, support, defend and follow the 'true'. That was my childhood God. A true power that always supports the righteousness and the right. Becoming the 'right' became an underlying agenda. The definition of 'right' however was guided by what was expected from me. Those expectations being dictated by my own actions that brought be good words from people I cared for and respect. Parents, Grandparents, Teachers, and some neighbors. That agenda, I pursued as per my capability and patience.

Being right in all doings was so important that it became almost a continuous thought always reigning my mind. Trying to put my actions in a rationality guided by this theme as much as possible. Being right here does not mean to force my own opinions and expect unconditional acceptance thereof but being true to your inner self in all your actions and deeds. In that I thought, I will have support of the ultimate 'right' power and this rationale gave me courage to pursue that 'theme'.


That faith in the right stayed with me for a long time until some people close to me got hurt. There was no logical path that led to the incidents that my puny understanding of spirituality was able to comprehend. The silence of intellect underlined by a constant beep of doubt akin to the sound of silence that we hear when there is absolute no noise around us. I reasoned that the ultimate enables also befalls this pain when He could have saved us all of it. I could not agree with the hypothesis of 'God testing our faith' because I was told over and over that He knows all. All means all, including the strength of our resolve towards His will.

The reasoning offered by some that 'there is some hidden betterment for all in this' just did not work for me. These events brought in a law of pre-ordained-destiny as an explanation to the happenings. No matter how much right you do. Whatever is your destiny must befall you. Or honor you if it is so destined. No matter how much you pray, worship, wear symbols around your neck or apply sacred colors on your forehead (the pun is not intended).

Does that mean that there is no need to be right or true? That one will ultimately obtain what they deserve? Or instead of deserve, which makes it sound like we are the judges, lets say 'what is destined for them/us'? Those questions arose and remained unanswered by n number of religious speeches and books. It became a belief that destiny is a constant and it leads you to itself. Whenever I follow that school of belief, I am the happiest person. There are no regrets and no obligations towards any religious or spiritual duty. All the need for being a 'believer' in context of popular meaning of that term, is diminished beyond any significance or abolished altogether. The only belief is in doing the right with all your courage and capability and see the destiny slowly unfold in front of you. Amazing!

Does that means that we can turn into a villain without any moral obligations? Not really. There is no place where our deeds and actions are not going unaccountable for. We are constantly sending into the cosmos, a positive of negative energy by our actions and deeds. The pain inflicted on another being causes your 'cosmic vibes' to play against your tune. This energy dominates our inner self and shapes our future by acting as a driver of luck and chance opening up new doors to success or bringing upon failure and doom in otherwise.

The shine in your eyes and assertiveness in your statements comes from the positive or negative 'credits' you collected that way. The 'light (or darkness) within' shows and has its effect on the world outside. Good happens. Bad stays away (or the other way round). The creature gets his share of destiny. The believer credits it to God. The Atheist connects it to randomness of possibilities.

...and the thinker keeps wondering...!

[concluded]

A relationship unlike the rest

A few strands of trust, promises of a lifetime!

We are born surrounded with people that some cosmic artist had chosen for us to paint our spotless minds with memories and experiences. Siblings, parents, neighbors, relatives, are all decided by destiny even before we are born.

On the way of life, as we move on to find our successes and failures, joys and sorrows, we come across others who are also on the same path. Unconsciously, we judge them based on our own values and perceptions of human life and build an impression about that person in our mind.

If we are lucky, and it has been so ordained, we instantly find a channel of trust build up with someone who was a stranger just a few days ago. It is so natural that we never find ourselves making an effort to maintain that trust and bonding. It just gets stronger and stronger as we interact more.

It is then that we, again unconsciously, choose that person to share our joys, sorrows, ups and downs; unlike the destiny's choice to let us be surrounded by people not of our choosing, we choose that person to share the deepest thoughts about ourselves, the thoughts that we only can speak to a mirror!

And that person is whom we call a friend!

Friendship is that underlying purity that bonds every relationship which so ever. Teacher-Student, Mother-Daughter, Manager-Subordinate, Husband-Wife,You and God! Every relationship is not complete until an essence of friendship is present.

What is most cherish-able about friendship is that unlike all the other relations in the world, friendship exists only because the two like-minded souls have identified each other. They mean no greed to each other. No hate and no selfish motives.


They are just there for each other when needed. Truly concerned and honest. Distances and time cannot separate them and no evil soul can cause a rift in that trust.

Today, I feel proud to have had  and still have friends, moments spent with whom have become my golden memories. These memories that will always bring a teary smile on my face. Those few strands of trust so childishly exchanged on a few first Sundays of some distant Augusts have become promise of a lifetime that I am so happy to keep in spite of the distances and businesses that years have brought between us.


Consider yourself lucky if you have or ever had a friend!

Happy friendship day. :-)

Happy Birthday to you

Dedicated to those wonderful persons who have been there on my way on life to influence me in one or the other positive way. People who have been in a role of teacher-in-disguise in bringing me up and taught finer skills of being a human, a learner, a professional, a student, a friend...the list goes on.

What coerced me into this post is that while leisurely browsing my calender, I observed that few of those gem of a persons share their month of birth with this month. A very close friend, students, professional mentors, my spiritual guide, friends with whom I share many high-five moments, and a someone who is simply a delight to be around; all share this month of birth!

This also brought into perspective the fact the persons who play a nourishing role in bringing us up at every stage of life. That there are many virtuous human beings who, even while not being a part of our family, delight us no less than someone very close to oneself just by 'being there once upon a while'. Subtract the influence these people had in our lives, and we would be much less of professionals and much much lesser of persons.

People we come across impact us in one way or the other both positively and negatively. And once in a while, we all would come across a person who will influence us with one of their qualities so much so that we try to imbibe those qualities in our persona, want to be perceived like we perceive them. Or simply enjoy their company that it is never enough of being with their presence. To be in presence of someone so virtuous is a blessing in itself because such an happening needs a magical stroke of The Cosmic Artist.

Holy spirits keep on conspiring and creating opportunities to bring the learner and these teachers-in-disguise together so that the ordained treasure of wisdom may be passed on to the humble seeker.

And it is not only this wisdom that is gifted away by a teacher-in-disguise but also the shimmer to an ailing spirit by the one who emerged out of nowhere, the that last breath of courage enthused  into a tired mind by someone is no less than a Midas touch. Someone who told you that your nose is perfectly placed. ;-)  That you look fine in that color. That you are not fat. That you are doing just fine. And these words from them, you believed them with absolute trust and emerged more lively! I doubt there exists a person who does not have fond recollections of such beautiful persons that will always resound in their minds as from the ones who made a difference.

And what moment could be of more significance than the one when this journey of their lives began which was destined to cross roads with ours to drop in our laps, a Black Pearl of pure joy, enthuse new zeal, take away a self-doubt or just make our day with a heart warming smile. :-)

That is the day when they were born in this world. That is the day we should celebrate because that is when these beautiful human beings were set on to a road to these however small but pre-ordained associations with us that were going to make life of a truth seeker so very liveable.

Today may be that day in their life or maybe not but I wish to announce that I am glad that these beautiful people were born to make a difference in my life. Happy Birthday to all wonderful persons.

I hope that some day, I might be worthy of the same honor to someone else.

The thinker's pandora

Mind is in a constant state of evolution. Analyzing facts around us and putting them into a puzzle that seems to get more and more complex as years tick over. A jigsaw puzzle called life. As we think over and over, and overdo it, the thoughts start influencing themselves and then thoughts start creating new thoughts. Over a few cycles of these isolated introspective sessions, we may find ourselves thinking about the beliefs that originated from a thought and that are not really based on any real fact!

This is a dangerous stage to be at.

Because when our own mind becomes the engine for our thoughts, we give ourselves the power to lead our mental highways into any direction. At this point, we ignore the stimuli and facts around us and enter an unrealistic realm of thoughts that can lead us astray from reality. This, in combination with our basic inclination towards life,  past experiences, and our reactions to those experiences, can take us way up into the height of optimism, or low down into guilt trips that affect our mental constitution. Both the states being harmful to us and tend to mislead our perspectives of reality happening around us.

So while introspection is a fair means of knowing our true selves, too much of it may pronounce our slight apprehensions or inclinations and make a major dent in our social evolution. It is a responsibility of an alert mind to stay cautious about when to stop thinking about thoughts and mingle with the reality, get out of that couch and take a walk!

When that woman is around

When you catch her glimpse, your heart childishly desires her company. Even if for a moment. And what a moment that would be! The moment for which one can sacrifice an eternity. Such a heart desirous of that woman in a trance of delusion would only be conscious enough to reiterate what is deeply and truly felt towards that soul....

"When you are around, you take control of my thoughts. Freeze my actions and hypnotize me with that magnetizing aura of yours.

I feel humble, helpless, stupid! Intoxicated by your being, paralyzed by your presence. I wish to waste no time in living my life that moment. I only wish to pass every second of that moment in observing you. In living you.

A slightest gesture, a minuscule assertion of your thoughts on your face, a smallest swirl of the wind as you slowly move about observing the world your own way, a life threatening glance, are too valuable to miss.

Then comes a realization that how undeserving I am of you that I now perceive. You, who captivates my thoughts just by your presence. You, so pure and so innocent. You, so unaware of you!

How much I appreciate you, I am unable to express through my words, actions; even my thoughts seem to be immature to be able to express, if I was ever capable of, or if right words did exist, my fondness for you. My belief in you. You, as my ressurrector. Savior.

This inability of expression grows inside me. My sense of expression fails me. Desperation from this inability and a surging sea of longing fills me up. I am unable to contain it within myself, and it erupts from my eyes and trickles away.

Involuntarily, I wish I had been a bit more deserving of you..."

That poor soul has no right to complain. Only imagine the unreal, continue on the quest for real and rejoice in this unreal romance because what is unreal has more charisma and magic about it than the real thing.

Respect that woman

Dedicated to that special woman on woman's day

The very moment a man breaths his first, he is in contact with a woman, most likely first contact being a nurse and then his mother. Throughout his early life he is nurtured, cared, pampered and fed by her. She, a woman, knows what would his next thought be and ensures that his thoughts always be in high spirits. Whatever he endeavors into, she makes him feel he is a winner no matter what he has brought forth. She would even beat the earth when the toddler trips over from his own mistake. She ensures that he grows up strong, mentally and be fit to have his say in the world that he will face. She endures some humiliation at his hands to not to hurt his ego. She knows this because she has been wife to another man. She can 'think' about thoughts because she is a woman.

And man, whom nature has built strong to protect her, himself and endure the labor of hard-work to provide for a woman, so foolishly mistakes his this strength for a tool to rule the fairer sex. Even though he fails at the real world's stage, he is still stronger than the woman, louder as well. He tends to believe that she is her right, and treats her thus.

He is making a grave mistake here. For he is forgetting that the one who made him so is a woman. She has been engineering his thoughts to make him believe he 'can' even when he could not. She has cautiously self ordained this responsibility to act as a cushion for him when he falls, to pamper him when he is low and to endure him when he is enraged by his own failures showing back in his face. She is the woman.

That woman.

The woman who deserves to be seen not as a fixture at home that cooks, serves, washes and cleans. Not as a member of  opposite sex whom nature has created to satisfy man's carnal needs. Not even as a beautiful possession of a man's. Not as a member of opposite sex, the weaker race.

But as a totality of a man's incomplete self. As a person more valuable and more complete as the man himself is. If she is to obey, she has an equal right to command. If she bows, she has equal right to be respected. In bowing to her a man is not depicting his inferiority but instead his gesture just expresses his regard for a woman who has written away her own self for sake of a man whom she looks forward to be her support.

It is then when a man views his woman as a goddess who can reclaim him from all the evil and vice in his life, who can infuse a new valor into his failed will, who can tell him to believe and move forth, who's assurance is always there to comfort him for the next attempt, that he will find truly respected by the woman. He will have to use no coercion, he will not have to hide his failures with a display of rage and strength on that woman. She will understand. His ego will dissolve in thin air. He will find solace in participation from that woman in his life. Only then he will feel that his life is now complete. Only then he will feel alive and feel like to rise and fight again and again.

For such a man, she will go miles to display all the honesty, love and care she is capable of for that man who she now feels, truly believes in her. She will extend her unending support, unconditional trust and unfathomable love for such a person. So much so that he will wonder if he really is worthy of all that respect?

Yes, he is, because he has offered respect to a woman. The principle of reciprocation in a relationship is now working in favor of both.

God is happy to see his two creatures relishing the fruit of nature, life and being.

PS: I intended this post to convey something else but the thoughts took me elsewhere. I thought I should be just to the thoughts that came by naturally and above post conveys the same.

Edits
08-03-2011: Typo in the title! Thanks to Gurpreet for pointing out.

Love is...

Dedicated to all who seek the truest of Love

There were these two individuals, unknown to each other. They lived their life happily and enjoyed every moment of their life like any other individual.

Years went by and they never realized when an emptiness that was uncalled for, crept into their souls and grew inside them.They tried to fulfill this emptiness by venturing out into the world yet unknown, to look for a remedy to this feeling of hollowness. The need to get a resolve to this void sometimes became the only ruling thought in their minds. They wandered, indulged and, in their sub-conscience, prayed, in a hope to witness that one moment, that one streak of life, that will bestow a sense of completeness that they have been yearning for so long now. Looking for the soul that will relieve them from this this incompleteness which now just did not seem to loosen its grasp on their conscious selves.

In this yearning, they realized that no amount of entertainment was fulfilling enough, no cuisine was satisfying, no amount of success seemed to be stimulating and the adventure had lost its thrill. The world has just went dull. There seemed little point to continue living on.

But what they did not know was that the destiny had its plans for each of them. It has been conspiring against them and for them at the same time. It was the destiny that had silently sowed the seed of this need in their souls. And it is the destiny itself that had also planned for a moment when they will be rewarded for all that wait, all that yearning, all that hoping and praying, by a scintillating streak of life that will entice them towards it's source. This source being the soul from which this stream of hope seems to emanate. The soul that would pass as another human being to another human being. But not to the them, who were a part of that divine conspiracy which had acted upon the two of them.

Then one day, that moment came. Their vicinity of each other had that magnetic influence on each other that they both, in a flash knew that their moment have arrived.

The Cupid had struck.

Time around again this time, to them, no amount of entertainment seems to be fulfilling enough, no cuisine seems to satisfy, no amount of success seems to be stimulating and the adventure has lost its thrill...

...unless they are together!

These two souls who perceive each other as destiny's response to their unfulfilled emptiness are now bonded together in a spiritual tie which is beyond what any law or tradition can prescribe. It is beyond what any philosopher can describe. It is only what, on the two unnamed souls, that destiny can inscribe.

The hollowness that has been haunting them, the incompleteness whose resolve they have been waiting for, has been renounced by the advent the other. They are so glad to have been united. So much so that they feel that they are re-united. That they were two wandering souls of whom half only remained and other half was that void that they were awaiting to be fulfilled. Now that they have found their better halves, they are now one soul. From the two hollow halves have born one complete soul.

The only wish now of this complete soul is to live every moment in this state of utter fulfillment where even a twinkle of an eye, a small gesture of the body, an utterance is too important to be missed.

A flaw in any half of this soul belongs, not to that half, but now, to this one soul. The other half knows this and accepts this. In this acceptance, they remove the last boundary between them. They are one. For once and all. Till death does them apart.

It is now, that they are in the Love that Love itself is.

Getting a child's attention

On to my favorite subject. Children! They are so beautiful ; both internally and outside. It is hard to imagine how could the world that starts from such beautiful stage, tends to breed hatred, hypocrisy, war and greed. But discussing that is not my purpose today. Today, I only wish to narrate a small incident that took my attention while I was at a Cricket match organized by my colleagues.

This day, the school had some attendance as opposed to totally empty school that we have seen during all the other  matches. As per their routine, the junior students flocked into the lawns surrounding the playgrounds to have there lunch and play around. I think they were under the instruction of some teacher to allow the big boys, us, to play the game in peace. So far so good.

Someone noticed that few children are still too close and the Ball may just hit some of them if someone pulls a hard one which, is a routine on this ground. Especially this patch of lawn is visited many times by the fielders during a match . So I was asked to ask the kids to leave the place for safety.

I have been teaching for a while in the earlier days of my career and have a soft corner for children. Although I was not familiar with any of those kids enjoying their recess, I did not want to act a bully and drive them away like a truck wading through sheep on the highway. Some thinking was needed.

As I observed the children on the lawn, I saw couple of girls in groups forming circles, engrossed in sharing lunch and chatting their childhood talk. A randomized bunch of boys discussing the game as they observed us seniors play.

I thought that the boys were safe from the oncoming ball (if any) because they already had their attention towards the game and will notice it coming pretty early on to dodge it. But just to make sure they are into the game, I went over to them and:

Me: I hope you all are enjoying the game?
Children: Yess!

Me: You see that guy who is batting at the moment? He hits quite hard and almost here where you all sitting so watch out for the ball. Ok?
Children: Okay Sir.

I don't know why they addressed me with 'Sir'. I was expecting a 'Bhaiyaa' or something similar. The girls are still busy chatting. By then I have thought of something.

I went over to one of the two circles of chit-chat and stood facing the ones who can see the game happening. Other half were with their back towards the game and more vulnerable. I took time till I got some attention and asked with a 'real' smile on my face:

Can they see the game?

'Yes' came the reply.  

"But how will all these (I pointed) friends of yours see the game who are not facing it? And in case needed, the Ball coming?


Chit-Chat was temporarily suspended by the vulnerable half of the group and lunch lost attention for a while as well. I could sense the little minds thinking. As they deciphered the hidden concern behind that question, I was assured that point has made it home and I set on observing the expressions on their faces.

The chewing stopped and the eyeballs rolled towards the forehead without raising the heads. Then, food in hand was taken care of and a consensus was communicated by meeting eyes and nodding heads. Followed by some movements. Hands folding the lunch boxes temporarily, legs releasing themselves from the seated position preparing to carry their masters away from the threat. 'Threat' because unlike the group of boys, these girls were more interested in their chit-chat and sharing than in the game that, for them, must have seemed to be more of an inconvenience now.

I was glad that I have not registered a bad stroke on their budding minds about how adult strangers behave. I returned back to the team in pavilion after completing the task. Only I knew what I have gained extra today.