My apology debts......

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 
― Maya Angelou

Maya Agnelou just flashes following couplet:

தீயினால் சுட்ட புண் உள் ஆறும் ஆறாதே 
நாவினால் சுட்ட வடு.

How blessed are we to
first have so learned sages, saints
and
have their words of wisdom serve as beckon lights
just, as time and again,
we are left stranded and groping;
not knowing which direction to turn to..

Well,

Yesterday, 18th April, 2019,
post lunch we set out to the Holy Hills,
Arunachala for Girivalam.

En route on 99th km from Chennai,
we broke journey for a brief halt to have
the caffeine.

No idea who wrote this precise algorithm
that never fails.
Algorithm that you must have the hot, steamy
cup of coffee a couple hours after your lunch.
The mind is programmed that it works in clock work precision.

In that restaurant cum a little shop selling soaps, oils, shampoo, books, seeds, saplings etc, etc.

The shop portion in that restaurant was in an enclosure, may be 10x10,  with air conditioning.

A sign board was placed outside the enclosure with the following words:

"Souls in
Soles out."

I could not help but appreciate the poetic sense - to say leave out your shoes - of the owner, an ex air force gentleman,
now running this shop employing well over 85% with local human resources.
I didn't get just a poetry sense.
But some lesson in local economic development too.

Talking of poetry, தீயினால் சுட்ட புண் உள்... , Maya Angelou............., there is an echo just reverberating the corridors of my heart.

There are number less occasions we get to hear paining curses, piercing words.
Not just that.   

அறிந்தும் , அறியாமலும் , தெரிந்தும் தெரியாமலும், there might have been similar occasions when we might also have caused pain to known, unknown, sentient and insentient. For reasons and no reasons, either with rhyme or without.

When we hurt,
we are under an illusion that we hurt others.
But don't cognize,
we internally hurt ourselves.

When we atone,
We recognize the oneness of all.
That unity brings peace, heals wounds.

Thank God, He structured conscience invariably to every mortal,  especially to introspect one's own variance with decency and values.

When it starts with a quote, to stick to the norm that it should end with a quote:

“Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.” 
― Martin Luther King Jr.


Thank you for the patient reading.

Thankfully yours

Now the Summer is in full spree.

The Sun Lord scorches every specie beneath Him.

When strong souls, viz., the humanity  can weather, withstand and try its best to live up to ever soaring Global warming, what will poor souls like animals and birds do?

Especially when H2O is drying up?!

We keep getting endless social media, whatsapp advice that we need to keep a bowl of water on our balcony, so that winged creatures fly down and quench their thirst.

In India, sure you would have heard those days our grandmothers not only did keep a bowl of water but offered a little food, grains also.

I can vividly recall. My grandmother never started her day without first offering a little food to crows. 

The person offering food is blessed soul.

About a year ago, there was a shooting incident in US.  An Indian techie became victim to the bullets.  Later in an interview, his wife, from Andhra, said her spouse would love visiting friends and relatives.  He loved relishing good food.  Whenever his friends or relatives invited him for dinner and he enjoyed the food, never did he fail to profusely pray for the well being of the host.  He never failed to utter this slogan in praise of the host, "Anna dada sugino bhavandu".  When translated, it read may the host live well and with all comforts.

Such would be the blessings may be the birds sing in gratitude to the host.

Maha Shivrathri

'And you? 
When will you begin that
Long journey into
Yourself? '

- Rumi

Yes.

What could be a better time than Maha Shivrathri to take a long journey into yourself?

When we blink
How to take that
Long journey,
Who would guide us,

Bhagavan in 'Who am I? ' answers to question  10:

Q: 10. How will the mind become quiescent?

By the inquiry ‘Who am I?’. The thought ‘who am I?’ will destroy all other thoughts,
and like the
stick used for stirring the burning pyre, it will itself in the end get destroyed. Then, there will arise
Self-realization.

Bhagavan elsewhere asks of what use is it of knowing all else except your own self.

What is this long journey into yourself?

What is this self-realization?

Are these terms Greek and Latin?

No these need not be.

Are these self-realization, enlightenment only for seers, 

 Maharishis like

 Bhagavan Ramana,

 Sidhartha Gautam Buddha?

Is it not meant for every ordinary soul?

The answer is resounding YES.

There's no time frame within which one ought to get enlightened.

Nor is it a scheme.

No hard and fast rules.

It's as simple as that.

Just close your eyes.
Bubbles of thoughts would try reaching the surface of your mind.
Don't try to stop them.
Just watch them.
Observe them.
Whilst you watch and observe,
Bubbles start shrinking and at last
Would  Dissolve totally.
You are in complete stillness.
The bliss just throbs.

The same throbbing you don't experience even in your sound sleep.

That's why you need to meditate.

Is it a waste of time doing meditation for as less as 20 minutes morning and evening?

Consider following benefits :

Lower BP
Regulation of heart rate
Restful sleep
Immunity increase
Least stress
No anxiety.

Now you can answer yourself

if  

you  need meditation or don't.

If every 8-year old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation. –

 Dalai Lama

EVERY SOUL HAS A LESSON

I just wound up my previous note with the following quote:

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” 

- Maya Angelou.

Being tax laws practitioner, we need to keep pace with ever evolving metamorphosis of tax laws.  Publishing world is ever waiting to bring out the newer version and striving to bank on the changes.

Despite the world going tech way, still the publishing industry is yet to call it a day for print version.

Even tech savvy new age professionals prefer not to strain their eyes reading it in kindle, desktops, and palm-tops.  They love to read the print version over a cup of steamy coffee.

Well,

Very recently I walked in to a leading law book seller's shop in the prime of this metropolis.

I finished choosing the latest texts, flaunted my card to complete the payment.

The process the shop follows is when you finish paying, the cashier does not deliver you the book instantly.  He sends the book with one copy of the invoice directly to delivery counter.  He just hands your portion of the invoice.  

In my number of visits, I have seen an old man sitting in the counter, after matching the title of the books chosen with the same in the invoices, he would hand over the books in a bag.

This occasion he just took more minutes to complete the process than he usually takes.

I was wondering what was wrong.

When he compared the prices of the books, for one book, the cashier, presumably inadvertently, charged me 10 extra bucks.   So meticulous was this man, he just  called up the cashier and informed of the excess charging and advised me to go back to cash counter and get Rs.10 back.

It just struck me how careless I was, albeit 10 bucks may or may not matter.  It's not the size of the cost.  What struck me was delivery man's due diligence.   

I went to the cashier and he without an apology  gave back Rs. 10/-.

Next while taking delivery, I thanked the old man manning the delivery counter.  He simply nodded.  It seemed that he did not let what good he had done to me go to his head.   A real Karma yogi.

Perfect epitome of what Lord Krsna speaks on "Do-just-your-duty-and-never-focus-on-the-fruit".

KARAMANYA VADHIKARASTHE MAA PHALESHU KADACHANA MAA KARMA PHALA HETUR BHURMA TE SANAGOSTVA KARMANI -

You have the right to work only
but never to its fruits.
Let not the fruits of action be your motive.
Nor let your attachment be to inaction.

Every soul has a lesson.  No soul is an ordinary soul.

Welcome to my Page

As I keyed in the title, the life flies in a jiffy.


Why this page, page of mine?

What spurred it?

Is it another autobiography? 


To answer the nagging questions in the same order.

To why this page, the answer 'why-not' may sound blunt; certainly I don't intend this to go and rub shoulders.   Day in and out, in this information glut, we do come across, bump into many good things. Lest we lose them, why not document it, if it may do some good to someone, somewhere.

To what spurred it, I owe the credit to retired bureaucrat Anil Swarupji.

He in a recent interview to Edex, of New Indian Express said,

"I've been in the habit of writing one page every morning and I continue to do this. It's a record of the events of the previous day and sometimes my thoughts as well. It helps me recollect as and when I want to write something."

It's just that inspiration.  Yes I want to take cue and do the same thing.  

To the one as  is this another autobiography, though I don't wish or rather it would sound childish if I boast myself to be so great that I need an autobiography,  yet this piece, my page may toe on my life, what I read, whom I'm relating to, what I feel, experience et al.

As we journey on, I shall share whatever good things I come across in life.

Wrap this up with "why write":

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” 


- Maya Angelou, I know Why the Caged Bird Sings.