After my wife and I put our three grandchildren to sleep just days ago, since their parents were out late, I slept with them as there was a thunderstorm outside. Just after midnight, I was awakened to find my second granddaughter pacing towards me on the bed, crying. She was having a stomachache. I brought her downstairs to my wife. Soon her parents arrived too. The next morning, when her elder sister came down, I told her what had happened the previous night. Her sister, who was much better in the morning, started to tell her story to her, but she quipped that she knew it from me. Now her sister turned on me, asking why I told her the story. She would often get pretty "mad" when her siblings told her story to others. She always insisted that she tell her story. Then my daughter teased her, saying that the whole world knows her stories since I had written about her on the blog previously and uploaded videos on YouTube too. My wife stepped in to ease and calm her, telling her about the Vantage Point and to accept others' perspectives too. So I had a story that began with her crawling towards me on the bed, holding on to her dear tummy, complaining of pain. My wife only became aware of the story after she was awakened by my presence carrying our granddaughter into the room. Her parents were only aware of the story after they arrived to see that we had taken care of the situation, and she had fallen asleep again. If each of them entered the timeline at a specific time, her sister got to know the entire story after I informed her the next morning.
When I went for the Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) courses, during my career back then, we were taught to think out of the box. I was amazed to see that the simple exercises given to us in class brought a whole new perspective to the way I saw things till then. The NLP practitioner picked up a credit card and raised it in full view of us, or that is what I thought till then. He then asked each of us to describe the card that he held in his hand. The one sitting straight in front of him said he saw a line. The one to one side of him described in detail the printed words and graphics on the front of the card, while the others seated on the other side described the back of the card. Then I realized that the subject was the same, but when we see things from where we are, it appears different to each one of us; we see it from a different perspective, from a different angle. All the descriptions given by all of us were absolutely correct, although they varied due to where we sat.
Then we were given another exercise. We were asked to draw an elephant. Since I was good at drawing, I drew a beautiful, detailed picture of an elephant that filled the A3-size paper given to us. It was shown to all, and I gathered praises from my fellow coursemates and the practitioner. As usual, I gave a tug on my collar, hearing the appraisals pour in. Then there was one who drew the elephant so tiny. Another drew the elephant so large that it could not fit into the given sheet. It was fun seeing each person's ability to put on paper what they saw or had retained in their memory. Then the practitioner said he would now draw an elephant. He took his marker pen and placed a dot on a clean sheet of paper. "That is it!" he told us. It was done. Now, where is the elephant we asked him? He replied that that was his elephant seen from outer space. And I realized that he was absolutely right. I learnt that day that all opinions are right from the perspective of that person, which is based on or derived from their upbringing, the society they lived in, the knowledge that they had about that subject, and their personal experiences; that would all go towards tainting or enhancing each person's opinion.
Similarly, when God took various manifestations, the understandings and the paths became varied. That which we adhere to today and follow has seen many changes over time. Though man now sees things from a different perspective and has adapted himself to it, taking what he understands to be true and logical, it was quite different in the days of the past, where the generations adopted whole, stock, and barrel whatever was conveyed to them. Many still follow these to this day. Even heads of religious and spiritual establishments carry on spilling these stories to the masses, narrating stories of demons and Asuras from the Puranas, instilling fear in us. Similarly, the fairy tales and children's stories told again and again over time were often tragic and dark at times. Often, it was about curses and monsters. Fear was instilled in them. I stopped telling stories from the Puranas, and children's fables and stories too. I tell them stories that revolve around us instead, with an element of silliness, as they always enjoyed listening to "silly stories from this silly old man," as in telling her that the neighbor, too, hearing me stomp my way down, had awakened and came to ask why she was crying. The other neighbors too stood at their door to enquire.
After having me carry out rituals, lead the AVM family, and carry out charity, Agathiyar had me let go of all my attachments by bringing all these to a halt. In the absence of the Nadi readers, Agathiyar, who came through devotees, finally brought me to know that all these are an illusion or Maya, and that it was not all real, and cautioned me, reminding me of Tavayogi telling me the same when he stepped into my home. Although confusion set in back then after hearing this bare truth, today, I understand it pretty well and have begun to see through the veil, the truth, and the false. But if I were to share them in a public forum or this blog, I would be pelted by those who have taken upon themselves the role of guardians of religion and spirituality.
Just as Bhagawan Ramana tells us that all is going accordingly and it's God's play or Lila, and Neale Donald Walsch writes about his Conversation with God, where God reveals that souls had previously agreed to play their roles, everything changes when we begin to accept and adopt these wise words. Enemity drops when we accept and forgive the harm that another has done to us. We drop our anger towards others when we come to terms with our emotions. Hunger fades away when we look the other way and begin to ignore it. Pain, too, goes away when we accept. My body has been aching from head to toe for the past days, but as Agathiyar assured me that there was nothing wrong medically, that my body was going through changes and internal transformation, I began to accept it. I would wake up in the middle of the night to stay awake for some time before dosing off again. Agathiyar asked to accept the changes that brought on this discomfort and pain, as it was bliss. Indeed, it was countered by the flowering in the crown that still goes on. Since we seek pleasures, we must also be prepared to face pain. Though we know medicine is hard to swallow, we still take it, knowing it will do good in healing us. So too is pain and suffering. It is only when we fight and go against it that it begins to turn horrible and painful.
A friend and reader shared her experiences, too.
The last 3-4 days had severe pain in the whole head...precisely in the crown chakra down the back of the head in line with both eyes and the 3rd eye. The left eye and left side of the face. Pain also down the back of the head into the neck and left shoulder. Activity at the top of the head felt like surgery. Much better today. Probably was the work of the Full Moon.
She updated me later on her state.
I have been feeling better than the previous week aiya...symptoms have been much better, but still a lot of activity at the top of the head and strong energy pulses running mostly bottom feet upwards. That's been for a while, but the intensity feels stronger. Also, strong 3rd eye activity. I am paying attention to the symptoms now, although they are under control, I feel when I pray or concentrate on some issues, etc, the symptoms can become alive or activated...Also having many sleep disturbances, very erratic. Waking at odd times...takes about 1-2 hours to fall asleep again. Also, night sweats, although our nights are getting pretty cold with winter approaching.
I told her that no two spiritual experiences might be the same. Just as we are unique in many ways, our travels will also vary. One cannot compare and expect the same to take place.