My three-year-old granddaughter, a Generation Alpha, asks me today "Who is God?" This reminded me of my daughter, a Gen Z, who was only 7 years of age back then in 2005 when she asked Tavayogi "Why do people die?" and "Where is the Soul?" It never occurred to us to ask these questions back when we were a child. We see a drastic change and leap in all fields in recent years with the advent of Gen Y, Z, and Alpha.
Millennials, also known as Generation Y (or simply Gen Y), are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ending birth years. This generation is generally marked by elevated usage of and familiarity with the Internet, mobile devices, and social media, which is why they are sometimes termed digital natives. Generation Z, or Gen Z for short, are the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting birth years and the early 2010s as ending birth years. Generation Alpha (or Gen Alpha for short) is the demographic cohort succeeding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 2010s as the starting birth years and the mid-2020s as the ending birth years. (https://en.wikipedia.org/)
In the Mongolian film "The Cave of the Yellow Dog", a small child who happens to arrive at the tent of an old woman, while looking for her pet dog that had gone astray, is given a good wash and tidied up, and fed by the old woman. While waiting for someone to claim her in the wide and vast Mongolian-Manchurian grassland or steppe the Grandma tells her a story.
"I will tell you a story. Long ago a rich man lived in this land. He had a beautiful daughter but she fell ill. No medicine could help so the father decided to ask a wise man for advice. The wise man said, "Your yellow dog must be sent away." The father asked, "But why he protects us and our herd." He replied, "That is what I have to say and what you wanted to know." The father did not have the heart to send away the dog. But for his daughter's sake, he had to do something. So he hid the dog in a cave that was impossible to escape from. He brought it food every day. But one day the dog was gone. The daughter did get better. Soon the daughter was in love with a young man, and they got married and had a child."
Grandma: "Come I shall show you something." She gives her a needle and a tray of rice grain. She has the child place grains onto the tip of a needle. "Tell me when a grain of rice balances on the tip of the needle."
Child: (after several attempts): "That's not possible."
Grandma: "That's how difficult it is to get a human birth. That's why human birth is so valuable. See my child how hard it is to be born as a human being."
Once back home, the child asked her mother if she (her mother) could remember her previous life. She replies "No," and that only children could remember them and always talk about them. "Only little children can do that; they often tell colorful stories. People say they are always talking about previous lives."
Children are naturally known to be curious about all things for they are at the age of exploring things around them. So what do I answer to the query about God from my granddaughter? I could only tell her that I have yet to see God. But those who have seen him have given numerous representations of him as in paintings and sculptures. I took her to her altar and showed her God who is worshiped with forms and names as depicted in the paintings. When she is older she will start the search to know God and find him. For now, this shall suffice. As for the question by my daughter for Tavayogi, he was pretty much surprised to hear the question come from a seven-year-old and took all of us gathered at the Peedham to task telling us that one should ask this kind of questions rather than ask questions that revolved around their troubles and problems which in Tavayogi's words are tangible and can be solved by discerning or Arivu. We never got to hear his reply to the latter question, though he did give a reply to why people die. He said that there comes a time when the body cannot possibly go on sustaining the soul, hence we drop the body.
I never had any questions for my gurus though I chose to follow all their teachings, directives, and instructions instead. Although many things still amaze me and I do not know nor understand their workings, I have settled to learn about them as I travel along and once I arrive at the place and the moment and no sooner. This stand has worked in my favor for with it comes peace and calm. We do not carry any baggage in anticipation of the future just as we never want to carry past baggage.
The story of the yellow dog as told by the Grandma serves to tell us and remind us of the subtle issues and reasons for things to take place that are beyond our knowledge. The subtle and invisible force that runs deep down and governs all the events and happenings in our lives is only known to a select few associated with the divine. A friend shared a story that reminds us to accept the divine will at times, without questioning it.
Nolan finds some experimental treatment under a brilliant neurologist named Lillian (Phylicia Rashad), who is especially interested, if not forceful about trying to help Nolan parse through his memories. Her method involves using hypnosis and a "black box" to help him go back through select bits of his past, as if he were “walking in [his] own shoes.” But as Nolan revisits major points in his life, like his wedding night, or an old apartment, he starts to see creepy images - contorted figures with blank faces and cracking bones speed toward him like spiders. (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/black-box-movie-review-2020.)
If Lilian was interested in looking at the strings of memory, parsing through, time-stamped objects found in memory images, in the movie "Inception" an attempt is made in placing an idea into one's subconscious.
Inception’s titular concept is the placement of an idea into a character’s subconscious. (https://www.vulture.com/article/inception-ending-movie-explained.html)
A professional thief steals information by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets. He is offered a chance to have his criminal history erased as payment for the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception)
We all carry a Black Box with us through all our births. In it are the deepest secrets that we carry, that are never known to others and even us unless revealed to us by others, or we unknowingly or accidentally trigger them or through certain means attempt to reach them. At times we listen and heed the words of the wise and elders for they know too well the outcome of our actions, as they might have lived through similar events. At times we consult and decide likewise on our actions and the results of our actions. The turn of events could come about as foreseen, predicted, or prophesied based either on the vast experiences or Siddhis gifted to certain individuals. We seek astrologers and masters who are adepts at prophesizing the future for want of a guarantee to a rosy future or to remove obstacles and dangers, sufferings, or illness. Remedies are dished out to help us try to erase the past, through numerous means that are adopted in clearing out karma. Some capable of performing Siddhis or others who have learned the art of manipulating, who selectively let loose this bag of worms can either help empower one to do wonders or derail one's journey if he chooses to. Hence, there is a danger too in listening to other's experiences, advice, and prophecies for it is liable to influence our decisions. Hence, be careful to whom you show this box. Listen though but decide for yourself. If your thoughts are clouded and you cannot come to a decision but need to make one, follow your heart and take it that it is the best decision for the moment in time given the circumstances. Do not regret it if it doesn't favor you. Instead, take it as a lesson gained from the experience. You shall come out of it wiser.
In a scene at the beginning of the Hindi movie "PK", when a student studying overseas finds the courage to tell her parents back home that she was in love with a boy of another nation and nationality, she is told by her father's guru that the boy shall jilt her. She refuses to believe him till the moment she receives an unsigned note delivered by a kid while waiting for her lover to turn up at the office of the Registrar of Marriages where they are to solemnize their wedding. She leaves the place in haste and hurt after reading the note, now ready to believe what the guru had prophesized. She returns to her country. The danger of implantation of the future happening is tailored in the final scenes of confrontation between the "alien who has come to study us" and the said Godman. During the finale where the showdown takes place between the "alien" and the said guru, she is made to realize by the "alien" that she had misunderstood the events that led to her mistakenly and wrongly receiving the note meant for another lady. As the thought was implanted in her by the Godman, she took it that her boyfriend had jilted her and left the place. When the truth is revealed, she unites with her lover who was still waiting for her call for three years.