“Religious Places Shouldn’t Make One Feel Guilty.”

One of the most common elements which we in India come across when we visit a religious place is a sense of feeling of being cheated.

Whether we visit a temple in the South or North or West or East of our country we get surrounded by the tauts who pod you to spend money to buy products related to the worship or to get across the long queries to reach the deities in lesser times.

Once we manage to cross the hurdle of these tauts another set of looters await us in the holy disguise of priests who pounch upon the visitors as an eagle catches its prey.  Their services are such that a simple God fearing person can’t but accept them. Their questions are like, “Are your parents living ?” If one says, “Yes”, they suggest “You need to go around a pole 7 times while I recite the slokas for their long life and it will cost you such and such amount.  If one says “No”, they suggest, “In that case you need to go around a pole 7 times while I recite the slokas for their souls to rest in peace and it will cost you such and such amount.  Now how can one come out of the situation.  One needs to be very rational and also strong from within to drop both the options and return from the temple without feeling guilty.  This is just one small example by which the tauts and the priests try to cheat the pilgrims.  It doesn’t just end here.  While we try to leave the temple one has to again cross long line of beggars who will really make you feel bad if you leave without giving them the alms.

When one, however, visits a Sikh Temple which is called Gurudwara (Master’s Door) the experience is totally different.  One never comes across any tauts outside trying to prod the visitors to buy any stuff from them for being offered inside as part of any worship.

Once inside the premises there are no queues to be followed or lines to be crossed on payments.  Ones prayers are not dependent on having any priest as a mediator. Everyone is entitled to pray directly on his own.

People inside the Gurudwara are always more than eager to serve you in some way or the other.  They love to serve the visitors with holy Prasad, with langar (food), tea, snacks, drinks whatever may be the occasion.

One can either sit along and relish the serene atmosphere or join the sangad (holy congregation) and take part in the on going keertan (singing of words in the Lord’s praise).

As the organizers of Gurudwara take good care of feeling everyone including the poor one seldom sees any beggars in and around any Gurudwaras.

Note :             The article is not written to hurt any ones sentiments.  I’ve just tried to reflect my personal feelings and experience.

 16.05.2015

Be Truthful, Grateful & Empathise !

In the early 16^th century there lived a man called Bhumiyar in Dhaka which is now the capital of Bangaladesh.

Bhumiyar used to spend all his earnings in feeding the poor and the needy.  All traders used to have their food at his place, rest and move on.

Once a holy man visited Bhumiyar’s village.  He had an amazing glow around his face and people loved to be in his company and came from far and wide to hear him. Bhumiyar also went to meet him and requested him to visit his place and have food from his free kitchen.  The holy man too had heart a lot about the free kitchen which was run by the Bhumiyar. 

Before leaving for Bhumiyar’s place the holy man asked Bhumiyar, “It’s nice to know that you are feeding the poor and the needy every day and spending your full income in this charitable task.  But may I know the source of your income ?”

The question was asked so abruptly that Bhumiyar was taken aback.  Till date everyone had appreciated his noble endeavor of feeding the hungry and were in awe.  No one had dared to ask him about his source of income. 

As he was a hardcore dacoit he was in a fix regarding what to say.  The glow on the holy man’s face, who was in fact Guru Nanak himself, was of such high intensity that he couldn’t dare to speak a lie to him.  Hence, he said, “I’m a hardcore dacoit. I have been looting and even murdering the travellers since long.  Now a days of course I’m not doing this directly.  I have deployed various men to do the job for me.  However, I can assure you that 100% of the earnings is put into feeing the poor and the needy.”

Nanak said, “Bhumiyar, the food that you are providing in your house has been earned by looting and killing people.  Hence, it renders the food unsuitable for being eaten by me.”

Bhumiyar was highly aggrieved at this and still pleaded Nanak to visit his place and have food by assuring him once again that he spent all his earnings in running the free kitchen.

Nanak said, “It doesn’t matter how you spend your earnings. What matters is the process in which you have earned your wealth. Looting and killing in order to do charity is not acceptable.  Have you ever thought of the pain and anxiety that you have caused to the ones whom you and your men have looted ?  Have you ever thought of the grief that you and your men have caused to the kith and kin of those whom you and your men have killed ? In the Lord’s house charity done through hard earned money is only accepted.” Bhumiyar was pretty impressed with Nanak’s sermon and he requested him to guide him further.  He was in fact worried about the fact whether he will be forgiven by the Lord for all his wrong doings or not.

Nanak said, ”Look here Bhumiyar if you want to be forgiven by the Lord for your misdeeds and be rewarded for the charity that you are dong then try to adhere to three basic  tenets from now on :

1.     Always speak the truth.

2.     Be grateful to the one whose salt you eat and

3.     Empathise with the poor.

 After staying in Dhaka for few more days Nanak left the place. Bhumiyar went on with his charity as usual but had stopped looting and killing the poor people.  Soon he ran out of money.  In order to continue his charity he made a bold decision of robbing the king.  According to his thoughts king was rich and moreover his earnings were not entirely his own hence, he presumed God will also not mind it very much.

That evening Bhumiyar dressed himself in a royal manner and went towards the palace.

The gatekeeper asked Bhumiyar, “who are you and why do you want to go into the place ?”

By now Bhumiyar was trying his best to follow Nanak’s advice.  When the gatekeeper asked him the above question he remembered Nanak’s advice of always speaking the truth.  So he said, “I’m a thief and I want to go into the palace to steal.”

The gatekeeper was surprised to hear Bhumiyar’s reply.  He was confused as to whether he should raise alarm or allow him to go in.  The boldness with which bhumiyar had answered made him take it for granted that the man must be close to the king.  So instead of stopping him he allowed him to go inside with a sweet smile on his face.

Bhumiyar spent the whole night inside the palace.  He could make a good collection of precious gems, ornaments and other artifacts which would surely fetch him great wealth for his future charitable tasks.  He was very happy with himself. Before leaving the palace with all his loot he saw a bottle of ‘churan’ (dry mixture of various minerals and salt).  He knew the taste of the churan and couldn’t resist himself from eating it and pocketed the bottle.  But soon after having eaten churan and tasting the presence of ‘salt’ in it he realized his mistake of having eaten king’s salt.  He remembered Nanak’s second tenet, “Always be grateful to the one whose ‘salt’ you eat.” He felt all that he had so painstakingly collected in the palace itself and reached his home safely.

Next morning when the king came to know that a thief had made an unsuccessful attempt to steal the precious gems, ornaments and other artifacts of the palace he became very upset.  His men started questioning the guards.  While doing so they were intrigued to hear from the guard who narrated about Bhumiyar’s entry.  The guard was immediately put behind bars for being executed soon.  Various poor men and other peasants were arrested and beaten mercilessly by kings men in order to catch the culprit.

On hearing about the guard and other poor men and peasants sad plight Bhumiyar’s heart cried out in real pain for the first time.  He was reminded of the third tenet of Nanak, “Empathise with the poor.”  He couldn’t stop himself from confessing to the king about his attempt to steal from the palace. He immediately rushed to the palace and pleaded guilty and requested the king to spare the guard and other poor men and peasants.

Everyone was surprised at what Bhumiyar had one for this would surely have led to his execution.  The king asked Bhumiyar, “Are you not scared of confessing your crime ?  For this would lead to your death for sure.” Bhumiyar narrated about his background in detail and told the king and others about Nanak’s blessings and his teachings.  The king was highly impressed with his story and in order to set a good example he set Bhumiyar free and made proper arrangements to ensure that he would be able to run his charitable task of feeding the poor and the needy without any hindrance. Bhumiyar alongwith his friends and relatives became a true follower of Nanak and used to congregate everyday and recite Nanak’s hymns which he had taught them during his stay over there. Bhumiyar’s house was converted into a Gurudwara in Dhaka.

Sukhwant Singh Thaper

09.06.2015 1:25 pm

Harmandir Sahib : A Memorable Trip to Punjab

Trip to Punjab

May Itinerary

12^th May 2015 :

Dad and Shailendra came to drop Reena and me at Singrauli.  We had left home around 7:15 am for the train (shaktipunj) was 1 ½ hour late. It arrived around 9:15 am on PF 2. We reached Jabalpur home at about 4:30 pm.

13^th May 2015 :

Dad, Niksy, Preety, Reena and me left for Jabalpur station at 2:00 pm. Dad was able to walk from the from the auto stand till the coach comfortably. Train left in time. Sweety and Piyu joined us from Katni.  We all took early dinner and tried to sleep.

Ity also left her hostel in Lucknow with Vijayan around 8:00 pm took her dinner in Caveln and boarded her train at 11:00 pm for New Delhi.

14^th May 2015 :

We reached Nizammudin at 5:30 am. Took taxi and reached the hotel at New Delhi.  Sudhir Bhaisaab joined us by 6:45 am.  Both of us left for New Delhi station to receive Ity.  He bought the PF tickets and we went to PF no. 10 on the basis of the lady at the enquiry counter and what the sign boards were displaying while on PF 10 we saw from distance a train entering towards PF no. 1.  Sudhir ji saw the train and said Ity’s train will also be of the same colour (yellow coaches).  When we checked online status it should that the train had already arrived at 7:40 am.  There was no announcement made in this regard over PA system, we rushed towards PF 1 from PF 10. On reaching PF 1 we saw the train getting in and it must have been 8:05 am.  How they were showing that the train had already arrived by 7:040 is something we are still wondering. However we received Ity and went to the hotel.

Sarika and Tarun also joined us.  We all got ready and took breakfast.  After Sarika, Tarun and Sudheer Bhaisaab left all of us slept like logs for about 2 hours.

Left the hotel for New Delhi station at 3:30 pm to board Shatabdi from Amritsar. This time also Dad walked upto his coach.

The journey in Shatabdi was pretty good and comfortable.

Till Beas it was in time but in the last 40 mts. it got delayed.  Instead of arriving at 11:10 pm it reached Amritsar at 11:45 pm.

We took two autos and reached Guru Arjun Dev Niwas at 12:15 am.

With the kind help of Sardar Paramjeet Singhji we could manage to get two rooms in Arjun Niwas itself, which is a very difficult job.  On reaching the threshold of Arjun Niwas Dad became unwell and he threw up.  Fortunately he did so outside the Niwas near a drain.  Within minutes there was heavy thundering and rainfall because of which we didn’t have to clean.  Dad becoming unwell at the threshold of Arjun Niwas reminded us of Mom also throwing infront of Arjun Niwas booking counter while sitting on the sofa way back in 2009.  We had to do the cleaning too.  We just wondered at the strange coincidence that how both Mom & Dad had to throw at the same place and that too on arrival.

Though we had, at least I had, thought of performing the seva of cleaning the utensils but three days journey had drained out all our energy and we were compelled to sleep.

15^th May 2015 :

Left Room no. 74 & 3 and shifted to Room No. 85 because of loads and loads of pilgrims arriving into the campus.

Shifting from 2 rooms to 1 took away the first half of the day.  Went for the darbar of Shri Harmandar Sahib.

The moment one steps into the premises the feeling of divinity starts pouring faith.

Whosoever one looks at he or she looks divine.

Sikhism had followed few brave concepts right from the beginning which are very practical in life.  Sikhism doesn’t follow the concept of fasting.  Hence when one has to go to meet the Guru we follow the concept of satisfy your bodily needs and then meet the master.  We call it ‘Pehlaan pangat phir sangat’.  Pehlaan – first ; pangat – line for eating the langar (food) ; phir-then  and sangat – congregate.

There is no point of going to the master or congregating with an empty stomach.  It will be a futile exercise for our mind will remain inclined towards the food.  Hence keeping this in mind we first went towards the langar halls to eat the food.

Among the manmade wonders of the world I strongly feel that what is happening or rather has been happening for centuries at this place will take the top position.  Feeding the pilgrims, non-stop , 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year.  And each day (24 hours) feeding people from 1 to 2.5 lakh in number.  The whole process is so swift and clean and efficient that one finds it difficult to describe dedication of the volunteers, taste of the food, the zeal and the spirit of service, endless lives, it’s just out of the world.

Amazingly the entire process of entering the langar hall, having the food  served to you, eating it and coming out of the hall takes not more than 30 minutes. The way ones spoons, bowls and plates are taken away from the hands and sent into the assembly of waiting volunteers to clean them leaves the visitors mesmerized with tears of appreciation rolling the eyes of many.

All credit of free kitchen service langar goes to Guru Nanak’s ‘Sacha Sauda (True Transaction).  He was given Rs. 20/- by his father Kalu Ramji to go to the weekly hatt and do some profitable business. Guru Nanak spent the whole amount in feeding the holy men he had come across on his way as they had not eaten from many days.  As he felt that nothing can be more profitable in our lives than to feed the hungry.  Since then his followers, the Sikhs, have not looked back as far as serving the poor and the needy is concerned.

After having our langar Reena, Ity, Niksy and we went for the darshan. Inspite of the hot weather the arrangements were such that we didn’t feel the heat.  Corridors were pretty cool and fortunately lots of breeze was blowing.  We sat for a while in the corridor and took various photographs.

We reached the main entrance (Deoddi) in front of the Akaal Takth at 2:05 pm and got into the live to reach the Harmindar Sahib.  We crossed the line by 2:50 and got the opportunity of getting inside the sanctum sanctorum.  Could stay inside for about 3-4 minutes and came out with fresh energy.

We came out, took the round of the parikrama and crossed Beri Sahib and reached our Room 85 at Arjun Niwas and took rest.

16^th May 2015 :

Today we took Dad for the darshan of the sanctum sanctorum. Till the main entrance (Deoddi) we took him on the wheel chair.  From there onwards he had to walk the last 84 steps upon the connecting bridge between the parikarma and the Harmandir Sahib.  One facility that is provided to such old pilgrims or to those who are physically challenged is to take the right lane from which the pilgrims normally return and is less crowded.  It took us as little as 20 minutes to complete the darshan as against around 70 minutes of yesterdays darshan.

Here however I personal feel that some more compassion and care needs to be extended to old people and those who are physically challenged by extending the wheel chair facilities right upto the Darbar Sahib.  This would enable so many people to dare to travel to do the darshan.

After encircling the entire parikrama and taking various photographs to went back to the room and took some rest.

In the evening once again we went inside to move around the parikarma and to take the holy dip in the sarovar (water pool).  The moment we stepped out of the Arjun Niwas we were both surprised and thrilled to see the crowd of pilgrims.  They were sleeping in every nook and corner of the campus including the Manzi Sahib Gurudwara and the corridors.

Ity, Reena and Preety were there with me.  I took my holy dip in the sarovar and then we moved towards the Akal Takth Saheb.  We reached there around 11:45 pm.  We saw the main gate closed and the sight of Amrit Dhari Sikhs getting accumulated in front of the main gate of Harmandir Sahib so beautiful and attractive that we couldn’t resist ourselves from sitting there inspite of it being so late. At 12:20 am the Amrit Dhari Sikhs started entering the Main Gate from the small door for cleaning the Sanctum Sanctorum while group of other Sikhs were performing keertan at the threshold.  It was a sight worth watching.

We returned to our Room No. 85 at Arjun Niwas.

On knocking the door neither Sweety nor Niksy opened the door but Dad did so.

18^th May 2015:

In the early morning Preety, Reena and Dad got ready along with Sweety & Piyu and went for the darshan.  Dad took the holy dip.

Around 11:00 am Reena and me too got ready and left for Jallandhar in a hired taxi (an Indigo) to visit PIMS Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences where Sonu is admitted after having met with an accident on the day of Holi on 5^th of March 2015.

As I had conveyed to Charanjeet Chachaji about our arrival were able to meet almost everyone in PIMS.  Sonu’s situation is very grim.  His right leg has been amputed at thigh level.  Left leg is in bad shape.  Right hand has blood supply but nerves have got severed due to which he doesn’t have sensation in it. His jaws are in bad shape. Yet he has survived. All of us are trying to cheer him up and encouraging him to look forward to his life. Chachaji, Chachiji, Vicky, Monia, Vikcy’s son, Niketa and her husband all were there. Except Sonu and Chahanji we all went to a nearby hotel to have food. After lunch we went back to Sonu and took leave for return to Amritsar.

On our way back we got the opportunity of once again visiting Govindwal Sahib. Visited the house where Guru Amar Dasji lived. Where Guru Ram Dasji lived.  Saw the room where Guru Arjun Devji was born. Saw the remains of the tree around which Guru Arjun Devji used to play. Saw the fire place where food was prepared.

Saw the ‘pallaki’ which was used  by Guru Arjan Devji for shifting of scriptures which were to be included in the holy GGSji.

It’s amazing to note the kind of reverence which the Gurus have rendered to the ‘word’ through which the scriptures are expressed.

Didn’t feel like leaving the place which has seen the presence of Guru Amar Dasji, Guru Ram Dasji and Guru Arjun Devji.

From the humble house of the Gurus went to the nearby famous Gurudwara of Govindwal Sahib which is known for its langar hall and its Bauvili (Deep well).

During the time of Guru Amar Dasji Emperor Akbar, who was his contemporary, had paid him a visit. Akbar was asked to join the ‘pangat’ (line) for eating the langar before meeting Guru Amar Das ji.  People who had accompanied the Emperor were taken aback to realize that they will have to sit among the commoners. So they requested for enabling the Emperor to have his meal along with Guru Amar Das ji presuming that he will be served in a special way.  But to their surprise they saw that Guruji was served just as other common people were being served.  The Emperor was aweyed at this arrangement and felt happy to see that people from various castes and works of life were being made to sit together and were being served with the same food.  This was amazing because the society was divided between casts so much so that a person from low caste couldn’t even dare to cast his shadow or come in way of a person from the high caste.

Emperor Akbar had offered thousands of acres of land surrounding the Gurudwara at Goindoal for being used in langar service.  Guruji using his visionary powers declined to accept the offering and said that the langar service will go on only on the basis of donations made by the pilgrims and not by any other source.  Moreover he said adding so much property would lead to fights among the followers in the days to come.

The campus of Govindwal Gurudwara also has a famous water collection which can be reached by climbing down 84 steps.

People believe that each step represents 1 lakh species into which one gets incarnated on the basis of his karma.  People take a dip in the holy pool in this baaxli and then recited Japji Sahib Paath written by Guru Nanak on as many steps (one path on each step) as possible under the belief that each step will clear off 1 lakh incarnations.  There are few who stay there for days together to complete the process on each of 84 steps in order to ensure that they are blessed and their souls finally RIP.

Last visit in 2009 I had managed 4 paaths and the time 1.  So 5 lakh in carnations I shall escape !.

In this regard, however, I’m yet to come across anything said by any of the Sikh Gurus.  Even the present Guru of ours GGSji doesn’t mention any such thing.  Hence I take it as something which is blindly being followed.  No harm if people are getting attached to baani in this way.

As soon as Rahraas Sahib Paath started at Goindwal Sahib Reena and me got and left for Amritsar.

We reached the Gurudwara campus at 8:40 pm.

Went to the room. Came to know that everyone took rest for the day. Dad was not taken out the whole day.

18^th May 2015

After Dad took the holy dip everyone got busy with breakfast.  Later in the day Reena, Niksy and Ity also went along with me. They went into the cubicle for taking the holy dip.

Evening was spent in going around for little bit of shopping.

All of us took a ride on e-rickshaw ate kulfi made by Radha Swamy’s followers.

In the night time Reena & we went out.  Ate bread pakodas, booked two autos for taking us all to the Railway Station at 4:00 am.

All of us did our packing and slept around midnight.  I was the first one to wake up at 2:55 am, others followed.  We all got ready and managed to leave Arjun Niwas sharp by 4:05 am. Reached the station in time and boarded Shatabdi.  Enjoyed the journey loved to pass through the luxurious, green fields of Punjab and Haryana.  Reached new Delhi at 11:45 am.  Got settled in the hotel.  Sarika and Awani joined us.  We all took lunch together Ity, Sarika and Awani left around 3:00 pm in a rickshaw towards Ajmeri Gate where Tarun was waiting for them in his car for taking them home. Ity would be going for bit of shopping in the evening and would be leaving for Lucknow the next day by Shatadi at 6:10 am.

Dad, Sweety & Piu left for H. Nizammudin by an auto.  Rest of us Reena, Treety, Nixy and we left the hotel at 3:30 pm in a Scorpio. We first went to Bangla Sahib Gurudwara.  As the time was less I didn’t go inside.  Instead I wasted near the Main Gate.  Reena, Nixy & Preety left their slippers and went inside.  I had told them to just take Prasad and come off but due to misunderstanding Preety & Nixy rushed in and Reena had to follow them in.  I was left standard out. But anyway I felt nice for enabling them to go in.

We reached H. Nizamuddin by 4:00 pm.  We saw Dad sitting on the staircases along with Sweety & Piu.

While sifting luggage to PF No. 3 Niksy got lost for a while but then after a short turmoil period of 20 – 25 minutes during which tme the weather had also turned hostile and scary we were able to find her.  We boarded the train at 4:40 pm.  The train was scheduled to leave by 4:50 pm but it left by 7:00 pm.

20^th May 2015:

In the morning of 20^th may 2015 we crossed Katni at around 10:00 am .  Seeety & Piu got down.  We all proceeded for Jabalpur.  We reached safely home at Jabalpur around noon.  As we all were extremely tired we all slept like logs inspite of the heat.

Ity also reached her hostel at around 1:00 pm safely.

Our house at Sainik Society needed some minor repairs. So got them done.

I left Jabalpur on 24^th afternoon by Intercity Express and reached her hostel around 1:00 pm safely.

Our house at Sainik Society needed some minor repairs.  So got them done. 

I left Jabalpur ion 24^th afternoon by Inter City Express and reached the comforts of home around midnight.

This time the whole month of May has remained extremely hot. Temperature soared upto 47 C.

Pinky’s presence at Nigahi proved to be a very pleasant one.

Reena joined us on 29^th night.

Vicky arrived here on 31^st morning.  Dad went to Shaktinagar to receive him.  Pinky, Vicky & Rana left for Jamshedpur.

Let’s Feel for the Poor!

It happens with most of us irrespective of whether we are at home or at our work place. At one particular time of the day our fan is switched off by the sweeper or the sweepress for sweeping the room. The whole process gets over in about 3 – 4 minutes but it makes us all feel uncomfortable.  We look forward to the task of sweeping to get over as soon as possible so that we may start getting the breeze again.  But how many of us ever empathise with the sweeper or the sweepress for whom there is no breeze whichever room he or she is going to.  We even at times express our irritation and shout also at the sweeper or the sweepress and scold them for making us uncomfortable for a while.  Let’s feel for them.

Why to Mark “Unread’ Read emails?

Why to Mark “Unread’ Read emails?

Often I used to see the option to mark read emails as “unread” and used to wonder at its usage as to why was it needed to mark a mail that has been read as ‘unread’.

But yesterday when I received a call from one of the Directors of DPS Society Ms Vinita Kher who after congratulating me for school’s  good board results of X & XII expressed her concern at not having received our response to an e mail sent by the Chairman DPS Society regarding “QAP” (Quality Assurance Programme) for Cl VI & VIII.

I was taken aback because it had never happened before that we have ever failed to respond to any such mails.

Immediately on going through the previous e mails on my cell I saw that the particular e mail of the Chairman was received by me on 15^th May 2015 when I was within the premises of the Golden Temple Amritsar.

I had seen Chairman’s letter regarding “QAP” but due to bad net connectivity I was not in a position to download the attachment and see,

Later it had just skipped my mind. As thee mail had already been opened and read by me I didn’t go through it again till Kher Madam reprimanded me ( though in a very sweet manner).

Last date for sending the desired information was 30^th May. As soon as I got the call from Kher Madam we managed to send the details which were asked for within an hour or so.

I always tend to see the silver lining in the cloud.

The whole process of sending our response to “QAP” to DPS Society taught me the importance of marking read emails as unread.

Next time whenever attachments will not get downloaded or any email which shall be need for future reference shall be marked “unread” by me.

Thanks to Kher Madam! 4^th June 2015.

Sukhwant Singh Thaper,

Principal, DPS Nighai

O Lord! Help Us to Understand You.

O Lord! Help Us to Understand You.

Whenever big natural disasters like Tsunami, Hurricans, Floods etc. or manmade destructions like ISIS’s mass murders, 9/11, etc. take place it is often seen that we start questioning about the existence, or non-existence of the God. We tend to do so because we have inadequate minds to assess the happenings in the universe. We can’t comprehend the entire process of the universe.

Today’s morning assembly of class VII was based on the theme ‘Friendship’.

It began with a beautiful thought, “We should let our enemies have 100s of opportunities to become our friend but we should not give even one chance to our friend to become our enemy.”

 Children presented very beautiful thoughts, speeches, poems and sang songs related to friendship.

While listening to the students many thoughts went through my mind as to who are our good friends. Inspite of all our goodness we all come across friends who at times for some reason do things or say things that gives us pain. But still we long for them and run after them. On the other hand there is one source or one energy from which we receive our strength and sustenance, but yet become so selfish that we don’t even try to befriend this source and be grateful to it.

We may have faith in the existence of God or not. But we can’t deny the existence of a Power or an Energy that is controlling the entire universe. We can’t just get away with a scientific definition that the gigantic masses of bodies in the universe are floating in the space due to gravitational pulls of each other. Who has set them in the fixed orbits? Who has fixed the galaxies to be where they are?

What does it mean to befriend the God or the Lord or for that matter the Power or the Energy.

What does it means to me is to accept Its presence all around us?

It is this Power or this Energy or in other words the Lord or the God Himself who controls everything.

 He as well as His ways are incomprehensible for mere mortals like us.

All that we need to do is in good times we can appreciate Him and His creation and during tragedies or difficulties learn to accept the happenings with grace.

If I can appreciate the beautiful colours of the flowers around me and the chirpings of birds and the murmur of a flowing river then oh Lord please also bless me with a mind to be in awe of your Supreme Power or Energy when we see things that our under developed minds are not able to comprehend or for that matter enable us to comprehend them as big tragedies that it is all part of your doing and you can’t do anything that is wrong.

30^th April 2015

Wrong Parenting

Wrong Parenting

“ Mummy ! Am I a bad boy?” Sweet voice of a boy drew my attention.

It was early morning of 8^th February 2015 and I was sitting on my seat in all readiness to alight at Shaktinagar. I had boarded Triveni: Express night before at Allahabad where I had gone for inspecting a school at the behest of CBSE.

The boy who was asking the question was almost in tears. I couldn’t see them because they were sitting in the next coup of the compartment. From the conversation I could make out that the little boy was travelling with his parents and his paternal uncle.

Mother of the child responded by saying.

” No Dear! Why are you asking so?”

To the boy again responded by saying “ Mummy, Papa says I’m a bad boy. Please tell me am I a bad boy?”

Before the mother could respond his paternal uncle responded by saying, “Forget your case son, your father is bad himself.” To this the boy said, “ No, he is not bad, he is my papa,” His uncle retorted with explanation, “Your Papa is bad himself because see he is eating away the chips from your packet.” The boy literally went into tears and I could make out that he must have gone into his mother’s lap for being helped out.

His mother tried to cajole him for a while and said, “Don’t cry my baby”, and scolded both her husband and her brother-in-law for bullying such a small boy.