I had written in an earlier post that "I need not wait around to see the garden bloom. The feeling is great, having severed the last strands of ties with the garden or rather dropped ownership of it. I am not to hang around assessing the farm and the orchard and its products, weeding the plants, or pruning the fruit trees. I was here only to sow the seeds." I was contemplating ending my writing, too. Then, as I watched the movie Aalan over a couple of days, I came across some advice from a grandpa to his grandson asking him to read and, above and beyond them, to write.
"When we read, you become aware of the world. Learn about nature's wonders and get a clearer understanding of our society and community. You must read it. Don't just stop there. You have to write. Because reading will only be beneficial to you. But when you write, it will be beneficial to the whole world. All the things that you saw, read, and experienced, compile all those stories and write them down. Your writing will take you to the highest of highs."
The grandson takes his advice, and with much encouragement from those close to him and a stranger-turned-friend, too, he gets someone to publish his writings under the name of the stranger who left a lasting impact in his life. Later turning up again before his guru, he informs the latter of having fulfilled both his desire and the guru's advice. The guru, surprised that he had no copy of his own writing and had written under another name, tells him that, "A sage does not need an address, but the author of the book is its face. His writing is his identity. How could you not see what you have created?"
Now, is this a message for me, too?
Moments ago, a reader writes in.
"You told me many times to write, but I had other professional constraints. You eventually wrote that he wanted others to take up his work and share. You and father worked tirelessly, unselfishly for years to grow and mentor us all. I have taken. I bow down. Thank you both. I will take it up, aiya. I will begin his work. I will write. There is only 1 problem, aiya...I know nothing."
We receive the answer to this again from the movie when a fan of his book asked him from where he received those experiences to write the book, he replies that "When you travel with nature, it all comes together."
Paramahansa Yogananda wrote his story and that of his gurus and opened up a new chapter in my life too, introducing me, one who only knew the deities in the temples, to Godmen and gurus. So have many books and their authors become Upagurus to us. Where do you supposed it all came from?