A Karmayogi for the little girl, a God for others

One day an old lady told her sleepy 4 year old grand daughter to sit straight and shout out baba, baba with a rose in her hand. The grand daughter obediently screamed her lungs out and caught Baba’s attention, but sadly he did not come to her to accept the rose. The grand daughter was sad, but her granny was elated that Swami gave a glance towards the little grand daughter.

A year later, the same granny taught a beautiful bhajan called ‘prema mudita manase kaho rama rama ram, rama rama ram, rama rama ram, sri rama rama ram’ (which roughly means calling out Lord Rama’s name with love in heart) to her now 5 year old grand daughter. She taught many such bhajans, which made the small girl pretty popular in the bhajan group.

The small girl, with constant guidance from her devoted granny and family had deep faith in Sathya Sai Baba.

But as she grew, she started getting distanced from him.

The first crack developed when she saw some corrupt politicians sitting besides him; giving fake speeches. She could not understand the reason why baba was allowing them to share the podium with him.

The crack deepened when she witnessed politics within the bhajan group. Everyone wanted to hog the limelight and show their importance. She could not understand why Baba was not telling them to be good disciples.

Finally, the crack became irreparable when she lost her beloved granny to an illness and when she saw her father’s health turning from bad to worse. Every time that she heard about a miracle, she would go away to another room. She almost started hating the devotees’ double standards.  For instance, the same devotees who would say all good things about baba and his teachings would not think twice before hurting a poor lady in the bhajan group.

But despite all this, she still respected him for the good service that he had done to the mankind. For her, he was a saint; a karmayogi. Just think which hospital on this earth would provide you with free, world class medical treatments or which political party has provided the basic water facilities to arid lands? Have you ever done your higher education free of cost? I know you cannot think of any hospital or educational institute offering world class services to people.

Irrespective of who says what, one cannot deny the fact that Sri Sathya Sai Baba has turned the small town of Puttaparthi into a world class destination.

While, we may be curious about his 40,000 crore empire or his successor or whether he is divine or not; let us not sideline his great preaching: ‘Love all, Serve all’ and ‘Help Ever, Hurt Never’ in the process. These teachings should be the guiding principles of life. We cannot create another world class village like Puttaparthi but atleast as responsible, educated individuals we should ensure that we do not harm the society through any selfish or harmful deeds.  

                                                                                               

Today, as thousands and lakhs of devotees throng Puttaparthi to pay their last respects; the little girl now a grown up woman wept silently because she knew that with one less karmayogi amidst the swarm of selfish and greedy human beings; the balance between good and grey individuals has yet again been affected.

P.S: Here’s an irony: Jesus Christ came back to life two days after his crucification on a Sunday- famously known as Easter Sunday all over the world; while baba left for heavenly abode on this very same day. 

Lets stop spreading rumors

We all know how Japan has been affected by Tsunami and now the nuclear blasts. It is indeed disappointing to see how a hard working country like Japan, (which after the Hiroshima, Nagasaki attacks resolved to become a strong economy) has been reduced to a wasteland. My father says that Japanese are sincere people with a determination to succeed. He says they wont be crying for sympathy from so-called rich countries, they have lot of self respect and they will surely make a huge comeback. I hope for the same.

Meanwhile, I am sure many of you might have received this mail from some of your contacts in your mailing list:

There was a nuclear blast 4:30pm Sunday in Fukushima Japan. If it rains today or in the next few days, DO NOT GO UNDER THE RAIN. If you get caught out, use an umbrella or raincoat, even if it's only a drizzle. Radioactive particles, which may cause burns, alopecia or even cancer, may be in the rain.

BBC flash news: Japan government confirms radiation leak at Fukushima nuclear plants. Asian countries should take necessary precautions. If it rains, remain indoors first 24hours, close doors n windows, swab neck skin with beta-dine where thyroid area is, radiation hits thyroid first. Take extra precautions, radiation may hit Philippines starting 4pm (Pinas time) today!

PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE.


I don't blame the people who mailed this to us, they shared with genuine concern. However, though it is good to share information, it is definitely not good to spread rumors. We need to understand the difference between the two. Imagine, what would the condition of a person be who is already affected by a particular incident. I remember, a day after 26/11 occurred, there were fresh rumors floating about another attack at CST. People were simply scared and my mom was not even ready to allow me to go to a nearby market. Why scare people and create panic amongst them? We cannot avoid such mails or messages (you will be bombarded with such mails and messages by someone or the other) but definitely we can judge if these mails or messages are to be believed or not. According to me such mails are rumors until the Government does not issue an official statement regarding it and deserves to be deleted forever. We as educated citizens of the country should be careful about the information we share. We need to remember that even a harmless mail such as these can lead to confusion and chaos in the society.


P.S: A special thanks to my friend Monali who brought to my notice that these mails were rumors. 

No one killed Aarushi???

You definitely know a lot about her. The mysterious murder of Aarushi and Hemraj is back in focus. Two years gone and the guilty has not yet been caught let alone being punished. Few evidences point towards her father, however, there are still many loopholes. We obviously cannot do anything about it (except for lighting candles in front of her smiling photo at India Gate and Gateway of India).

But we can certainly pray for Aarushi and Hemraj. Pray that their soul RIP and that the guilty is punished soon.

AND YES ALSO PRAY THAT KAMAL R KHAN DOES NOT MAKE A FILM ON THIS SENSITIVE TOPIC x-(

I happened to come across Aarushi's profile on Orkut and though I find it weird about how could people write scraps and ask her questions such as kaisi ho? when she has already passed away; I feel that this mass prayer (through scraps) for her justice would surely do some miracle and help in punishing the guilty.

This is just one of those high profile murders (Jessica Lal, Priyadarshini Matto and Nitish Katara being the others) that has garnered media attention. While this case may get solved sooner or later, there are several cases that are pending since time immemorial and have not attracted media's attention maybe because it does not involve rich families. Hope justice is meted out to these families too and hope that it is not yet another example of Tareekh pe tareekh for them.

Respect Her!!!

• Mr. Maharaja Kaushik- the coach of Women's Hockey Team has been accused of sexually harassing the players.
• 3 minor girls get raped and killed in Nehru Nagar- Kurla, Mumbai
• A recent survey stated that Delhi is considered to be the most unsafe place in India for Women. Around 85% women said that they do not feel safe in Delhi. Goa is also considered unsafe by foreign tourists.

Welcome friends, welcome to a Nation where women are considered nothing less than a Sex object.

Welcome to a nation, where on one hand a women is called the Lakshmi of the house (obviously, it is she who brings Gold and money to your home in the form of dowry) and on the other she is treated as a burden to the family (Because in India it is the responsibility of a girl's father to conduct a marriage at their expense).

Pardon me for this nonsensical rant, but could not stop myself from ranting.

Today as I flipped through the pages of a newspaper, I found more than half of the newspaper carrying stories about Rapes, Sexual Harassments and Molestation. Tired, I switched on the TV and was greeted by the same Rape, Sexual Harassment stories. I switched off the TV and sat on the veranda only to find an uncle residing in the opposite building slapping his wife black and blue. It was a sick sight to watch. We complained to the Cops for the nth time, who took him to the station for the nth time and sent him back for the nth time because his loyal wife is scared to complain against him.

India is a nation of diversity, and not just languages and culture; even the treatment meted out towards women in different parts of the country proves this.

So while a girl child is welcomed as Lakshmi or Durga in West Bengal or Southern States, a girl born in Punjab or Haryana is considered to be a huge burden to the family and is often killed after birth. Often, the mother who has given birth to a girl child is sent back home as though she has committed a crime. The father of the child seldom realizes that it is his chromosomes that determine the sex of the child. So shouldn't he be punished for committing this heinous crime.

Obviously, I have no answers to my questions but yes I do have some wishes that I hope gets fulfilled some day:

I hope that the honorable Judiciary System takes a note of the crimes meted out towards women and make the laws more stringent.

• I hope that girls stop bowing down to the atrocities meted out to them. Set an Example by saying a FIRM NO to something which is against your wish. It could be forced sex, forced marriage anything.

• I hope that the government does something about protecting the women. Sheila Dixit are you listening?

• I hope that every family treats women as equal and treat them with respect.

• I hope that the media does not make such stories a fodder to fill their space and time. It's good to inform people but definitely not good to harp over it.

• But most importantly, I hope that Women do not keep quiet and learn to fight for themselves.