Of new years and new beginnings

We all look forward to welcoming the New Year, with many hopes to be fulfilled .The year 2021 is also no exception. We were all tired of the previous year which brought despair, fear and death in human life. We were all looking eagerly to find a new way out of it. Some inspiring lines from Tagore came to mind, which made me ponder a little deeper. He wrote, "this incense of mine unless burnt does not yield any fragrance." I thought about it, and realized that the true changes come not with changing time, but by actually burning the incense, which is to say, actualizing our true fragrant potential from within. In changing our state of mind. Real change comes from within, not without and when the urge for change comes - to make life better, we can really do so by using that desire to force changes within our mind. Otherwise our insatiable mind tends to cling to small material comforts that constantly come and go and forgets about bigger duties towards life. This pandemic has surely made us better in many ways. It has been a shared challenge and we are more empathetic to each other now. Also it has made us more family oriented, we have relearnt to share house hold chores happily. Scientists have invented new vaccines. Children learnt to follow online classes quite successfully. Even at the age of 81, I learnt to follow discourses online and give interviews through zoom. These are all very inspiring achievements for all of us. On the whole, adversity has made us more inward looking, alert and creative. We all have stepped in to a new year with challenges, hopes and confidence. Time is like an unending ocean, through which we navigate with our little boat of life. When that little boat collapses with a strong wind, we become one with the ocean and learn to swim. Losing our small identity, we learn to embrace our large identity and accept life as a whole.As Swami Yogananda said, " your fulfillment lies not in obtaining the objects of your desire, but in the unfoldment of your soul qualities and in making the effort to succeed in worthwhile endeavors "

Old is gold...not always!

There is a saying, "Old is Gold". Life gets a golden touch of wisdom when it passes through a long period of time and the many ups and downs of experiences. Though in old age, everything does not always look very golden. Failing health and loneliness often catch up and demoralize the spirit of elderly people. In my life I also could not escape from these problems. When my children went away to U.S.A for higher studies, when my husband passed away, I also felt. very lonely. I tried to bring some purpose in life. I started doing some social work in an orphanage, also published my husband's unfinished book, and traveled a lot and so on. Now when I look back to my younger days, I laugh at my own immature ways. I thought old age comes to others, but will never haunt me. Every day I looked at the mirror, but did not know, when and how old age crept in like a silent thief, and captured the fort of my whole existence. I became slower in movements. I was alarmed when I first noticed a few gray hairs on my head. Now my whole head looks like a white snow ball, and I feel quite happy about it. I realized old age must be accepted gracefully. Luckily I have few good friends with whom I can spend hours playing scrabble, or discussing politics. Sometimes we plan to go to nurseries to pick up some exotic plants for my garden. Often I compare life with a river. Making a gurgling sound, the river flows down from the mountain top, and dances in the sunlight. But before it ends its journey by being one with the ocean, it nourishes all life on its two sides. It makes the land of its two sides fertile for habitation. Human life is also the same. When it proceeds towards old age, it becomes wiser, calmer, tolerant and forgiving. But sometimes suddenly like a tsunami, hard winds blow, and shatter the raft of our life into pieces. At the age of 81, I also experienced such a blow in my life. Last year , when I was happily touring in America, I suddenly fell ill, andwas admitted in an I.C.U at a hospital. I was treated well, but my illness shattered my confidence, and took away joy from my life. I came back to India, got wonderful medical treatment, and loving support from my relatives and dear friends, but I never lost my faith in God, and tried my best to come out from that dark period of my life. After a year of sincere effort, I could get back to my normal self. I became confident, and joyfully embraced life again. There is a saying, that every dark cloud has a silver lining. It is so true. I know sufferings come to teach us something. If we can learn that lesson, we become richer in mind. We never know, when and how our life will take a turn. We can only surrender, and pray to God to guide us in right direction I feel every moment is so very precious to me now. I have no right to be gloomy or sad in any situation. I try to share my joy, my knowledge and prosperity with others who are not so fortunate. That gives me enormous joy. I realize, life is to give, not to take.

Advice from a sage for a householder

I was remembering a story of a man, who was in search of a touch stone that could turn anything into gold. Once he picked it up, but unknowingly threw it away, and lost it for ever. It happens in our lives also. Moments come which touch our soul, inspire us, but we forget about them. Looking back, I find many such glittering moments, which are still now stored in my memory, and become a source of inspiration whenever I think of them. Long back, one such incident happened, when I met a sadhu in Allahabad who was hundred years old. From Delhi I went to Allahabad for a few days, and stayed with our family friends. It was a summer morning, and our friend suggested to have sadhu Darshan first, and then start our sight seeing. So next morning, we all got into a car, and drove towards Jhusi. Jhusi is situated just opposite side of sangam, which is a very sacred place. Sangam means Union. Three rivers Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati unite in that spot, and people from all over the world come to have a holy dip there. But very few people know about Jhusi, which is quite barren and rocky When we reached there, one old lady (disciple of the sadhu) cordially invited us, served us a cold drink made from fresh lemons from the garden, and comfortably seated us in a porch. Another disciple of eighty years old came and announced, sadhu baba will come and bless us after we had our lunch and rested a while. I was amazed to see their loving hospitality. I realized that their attitude was very different from ordinary householders like us. Selfless service was the path, which they followed always. THe eldest sadhu, who keeps always silent came to bless us after we had our lunch and rest. He came and sat erect on a slightly elevated platform in the middle. I was waiting for this moment to ask him 'Baba we are house holders, we have expectations from others, and when they are not fulfilled, feel very frustrated. That frustration makes me more miserable, please show me the way out." He remained calm for some time. Then he said a few words, which changed my life. He said three things. 1. Do not expect any thing from any body. 2. Do not criticize others and third 3, you have a human life, if you can do some thing good, do it. These words seem to be very simple. But if we think deeply, we find all miseries and conflicts have their roots in criticism and expectations. If we can uproot these two evils from our mind, then peace is guaranteed. Now I am in my ripe old age of 81, and try to apply his instructions in my life. I believe, spiritual people can see the house holders problems better, and can offer better solutions to us.