Children of Grace

A son becomes a father, a father becomes a son. Three generations that can match as one when the three are met.

I am privileged to have a father that is of grace and a son who is an angel to my life. The warmth of my father's hand on my head and the hug of my son makes me feel life is worth for all that it gives.

I feel the love of my father to me when I see my son, a new found love has been created for my father in the love towards my son. The care and warmth he showed me as a child, the nurture and love that was a part of my daily life growing up is seen in the beauty that my son is being.

While I thank my father for making me a good human, I thank my son for making me realize how beautiful life is. He can laugh at the most silliest things and forgets the scolding he received in the least amount of time.

There is never a bitterness of the past and never a want of the future. He is always in the present living in the moment. No plans of tomorrow, no thoughts of the yesterday. Just a memory we sometimes recollect to have a smile and just a day to plan to go to the beach or the park or the mall.

The child is born with the grace of god and is the guidance for most of us parents. But most of the time, we choose to ignore the requests of the child in the maturity of our ego not our consciousness.

A child is the most conscious of his/her soul that we adults are ever to be. We choose to follow the way of life without realizing the duties of our soul. The growth of our bodies leads to the decay of our soul and its pain.

If we as adults were to imitate our children, this world would be a better place.

LOVE 7, choose 7 children whom you do not know to share the love with them. An orphanage would be a good place to start with. Be there with them, don't take goods and materials to make them happy. Share a game, a day, a time to make them happy. Let them know that there is a person who cares for them.

Just make a difference in 7 such children's lives and you will see the world will become a much more beautiful place.

Love 7, is the new way of life. Not for the world but for the child in us to be awakened and to make the soul conscious of our body and mind.

Dark Light

The absence of light creates darkness. Darkness is not an object by itself but the presence of it creates the fear.

The world is changing more than we know it to be. The moments of joy are dulled by the gloom of death and destruction around us. There is so much hate in the world today that people are questioning the basic fabric of humanity.

I don't worry of their doubt, what I worry about is their silence. Like darkness exists only in the absence of light. Hate grows in the absence of love, war happens in the absence of peace. Murder happens in the absence of life.

We as the good people of society witness the brutality and hurt around us but what do we do? We stand and witness what happens around us without any action and do not act upon it to make a difference.

I see videos of the Taliban killing people. They were shooting at random and killing the innocent people, they have no soul to connect with. Their understanding of humanity is dull and dead. There is no glory in death and killing but do they understand this?

Looking at a closer distance, in our neighbourhood, we see people going through difficult times and yet we only stand as spectators to the event of their suffering. There is no remorse in our souls when we see the sufferings in our vicinity. Our selfish ego rides the surface to limit our action to the ones we love not to the soul we connect to.

Did we ever stop to ask ourselves why does this happen?

Times have been the same since the dawn of mankind or atleast what we have a recollection of history. Wars have been the passtime of many leaders and emperors. Murder and mayhem has always been society's mistress. Why are we making a hue and cry about it now?

The difference is obviously in the discovery of better modes and means of communication. The news of the death and ability of the damned are spread like wild fire through various mediums of communication, television, radio, internet and even mobile phones. We have come to day when we know everything that we are given to know in the shortest possible time.

The killing of an individual was only verbal news till about a few years ago but now has become a spectacle for us to witness and that is making a difference. But all these differences will be of no use until we take a stand to unite and curb the menace.

The difference of eliminating darkness is to spread light. To go into these areas and share the understanding of humanity and not religion. To share the capital and not the masses. To reach out to the ailing and not to kill them.

We will need to make a choice to make a change, only then can we see the light over come the darkness....

To have, To Receive and To Get

In a day and age of having the best for yourself is a norm. People try different means and methods to have a get rich quick fix. We forget to live our lives in the quest to get rich and show our friends and family. To have the materialistic gains is what we have aimed our destiny.

I was made to believe the materialistic way of life is the place for all to be until I met Saraswati. She is a regular person without any hopes of making it big in the world with a simple understanding of life and the hurdles she faces.

I had to go to the outskirts of Mumbai on work and was waiting at a tea stall for the workers to come. While I was waiting, a lady came with a basket on her head and a baby in her arms. She asked the tea stall lady to help her get the basket down and lay it on the ground.

She went ahead to arrange the basket laden with toys and women's accessories. She was preparing herself sell her goods in the village near by. I was sitting and observing her as she did her work.

As she was getting her basket ready, her daughter, 1 year 5 months young, lay on her lap and slept soundly. She kept to her work of readying the basket and also caring for her daughter. It was a sight to see, how she was making an effort to earn her livelihood. I was only amazed at the courage this lady was showing in the world of material craze with the simple products she kept in her basket to sell.

I approached her and asked her why she was doing so much to make a living. She could have easily stood on the streets like a beggar and made a lot more money. She looked at me with a smile and said, "Sahab, God has gifted me with everything I need to earn my living, why should I beg for my living?" I was shocked and awed by her courage. Her answer had made a dent in my belief that the world is getting worse by the day and humanity is a dying phenomenon. Her ability to live life without the need to have the abundance of money but to have the abundance of time with her child and family was truly mind changing.

Saraswati said, she works 5 hours every day except sunday, when her husband would get an off from work and the time would be spent with family on that day. She carries her baby everywhere she goes and does all the work to ensure her child gets a decent education, something she was not allowed to do since she was a girl. Saraswati was the youngest of three siblings and the only girl. Her brothers were educated and worked in the city, where as she was not sent to school beyond class 8th as her father didn't think it was a worthwhile investment.

Saraswati was not in the shadow of being dejected of depressed with the treatment meted out to her because of her sex. Her ability to stand up and earn her living was proof in itself, to show her strength to fight the world around her in a subtle but defined manner. She was a deity in her actions.

I listened with an open mouth and a head held high to her life and her living. Her mother in law and family were very strict and didnt allow her to move out too often. She had to make them known that she wanted to do it for her and her child's happiness. She said she was blessed with an understanding husband who supported her in her wants and needs of being independent.

I was truly blessed to be within the aura of such a person in my lifetime. A person who showcased strength and courage when the world around her was only trying to pull her down. May the world be blessed for having a person like Saraswati to have, to receive and to get what we deserve and not what we want. 

Thoughts and Deeds

What you think is what you do!

How many times have we thought of something and it has happened differently?and how many times have we thought and it happened significantly similar.

I cannot imagine a world with no hope, no destiny, no thought. God has been our teacher, our motivator, our inspiration in many ways more than ever and yet we fail to understand his/ her teachings. We follow different paths to acknowledge him, some follow religions, some follow disciplines, some just appreciate him as the divine. There are so many names given to him that it would be less to mention.

And yet we are oblivious to the existence of a deeper power. In a recent interaction with a close friend, Christopher, who happens to be a very successful banker, we shared of our good times as children and as we grew up our destinies chose different paths of contentment. He went on to share that he did well because he dedicated his early years to the knowledge of the earth and the science around it. I on the other hand was more inclined towards the godly benefits of mankind and hence did not prosper as much as he did.

Surprisingly, my son, Rick came running to me and asked me to play ball with him in the backyard. He was insistent that I come and play as Christopher's son, Caldrin was not playing it right and he wanted to show him how to play it. We both made our way to the back yard and saw Christopher was catching the bat and staring at us with anger.

I asked him what was the matter and he was pointing fingers at Rick, saying he was not throwing the ball correctly. They were 5 years young, and were having their own interpretation of the game. Christopher and I looked at each other and gave a wryful smile. I made my way to where they were playing and followed the instructions of Rick. He was throwing the ball correctly and Christopher was not able to connect the ball to the bat. Christopher was almost immediate to shout and asked him to look at the ball and hit it. He did not move away from his comfort and share the comfort with Caldrin. Caldrin just looked at the ball and kept trying but was not able to connet it correctly, in disgust he threw the bat and started to walk away by banging his legs. His father only responded with more words of control and discipline.

I stared at him with an open mouth and did not know what to do. Rick came to me and asked why Christopher was shouting at Caldrin, he only wanted to help him. I had to make my stand clear to Christopher, shouting at children do not make them stronger it makes them weaker. I moved to Caldrin and warmed him with some kind words of praise and comfort. I offered to show him how to hit the ball, he was more than glad to try it with me.

I guided him to hold the bat and I held his hand to firm his grip on the bath, Rick went on to throw some balls at us and I asked him to pitch it slowly. We connected the ball to the bat and he was able to hit it well.

He went on to better it as the number of balls repeated itself and Rick was also delighted on his achievement.

Christopher was joyful on seeing the change in his son and patted him when he was done with batting. He retorted how important it was to concentrate on the ball and not to wander his mind. Caldrin just looked and him and looked away.

I had to explain to Chris that money could not buy him the respect of his son or let alone allow some respect towards him. He needed to spend time with his son and relate to his emotions and feelings with kindness. Formal education gives you the knowledge of everything else but of the self. There is a need to have the clear thoughts for it to manifest into better deeds.

His shouting and screaming was not going to help Caldrin in becoming a better human being, he would be just another robot of the worldly pleasures and becomings.

It is what we groom our children to be for a better tomorrow. No need in earning the millions of dollars when you are penniless in emotions.

Of War and Peace

The existence of hate and jealousy has been seen since Kane and Able. The greed of what is not ours has always been the motivation of brute action and subsequent reactions of negative emotions.

We are living in the world which is powered forward by the good that is done for society but are held back by the wrong that happens around us. History has been an evidence of the ruthless nature of humans and how we are so happy when we hurt others.

In the early days, war and treachery were a part of life where the mighty were powerful and the weak were simply slaves. The change of structure happened at a slow pace where war was condemned and the weak were given the strength to exist without fear. There was a change in the perception of war.

The 20th Century saw the most gruesome of world wars and the formation of the UN council which is supposedly the mediator and the supporter for the just. Media played a major role in seeking the need for peace and sustenance in the world. The number of artists who have sung of happiness and joy, the movies which have shrieked the life out of us to understand the environment of peace as subjected to that of war and hate.

Little do we know of the daily lives of the people who wake up to the sounds of bombs bursting around them. A child who fears of loosing a limb if he were outside playing football because of the shellings. A girl who was raped by the soldiers meant to protect them. The horrifying tales of parents burying their children because the opposite side mistook them for terrorists.

War exists till today in the very backyard of our homes. We just refuse to acknowledge it. We are too involved with our daily lives to figure out the love that doesnt exist in the minds of those influencers of hate. For when will hate turn to love or when would they be a need for the lost to be found.

History has been an example and a learning for us but we simply refuse to read between the lines. War only causes casualties and more hate. Dialogue and communication with a refusal for brute force or action can amicably resolve long pending issues and make us feel more comfortable.

The happiness of a parent to see their children graduating. The happiness of a child to play in the field without the fear of being bombed. The glory of a girl to play with her tea sets and dolls. The love of a husband towards his wife. 

The beauty of love that could fill the earth is still a long stretch away. There is but a need for each one of us to work in the direction of love and giving. Our choice of No WAR but offer PEACE....