Monday 15 April 2019

GIVING OUR BEST

I was a Nambudiri priest in one of my past births. I was serving Siva in his temple. Yet I could not make it to his kingdom. I was peddling fruits in the vicinity of the famed Kutraleswar temple in Papanasam with my present-day wife and daughter. We served Agathiyar with fruits daily before starting our small time business. But we could not make it to his kingdom. I had been in Sringeri temple. I doubt if I made it near to Siva. I was in Batu Caves. I guess I did not make it then either. Only God knows how many times I took birth to attempt this mission to get back to him. I am me now, putting down these thoughts and sharing them with you. Would I make it this time?

How would I know if I had made it to his kingdom? Yes, the ones gathered around me will say that I had attained "Siva Patham" or reached the feet of Siva, as is the norm, but how would I know? I had died previously several times, but I never made it despite the claim by the family and next of kin. Are all our efforts in vain then? 

Does carrying high virtues, doing charity, feeding the hungry, praising him, building places of worship, and many more warrant entry to his kingdom? What is the secret to reaching his abode then? What does it take to make it to his kingdom? Would we be aware of us entering his kingdom? Is it something out there and beyond life that we need to achieve? Or is it all to be attained and achieved in this lifetime? 

Life is a mystery. The world around us is a mystery. Each moment many lives, having exhausted their time here, leave their physical bodies while many more come down with excitement at having made it into this world. Many more are waiting patiently to be part of the earthbound souls preparing for the right moment to decent. 

We have been given numerous opportunities to come and live a life, but when is this all going to come to an end? These are mysteries that intrigue us. I guess only with time and the grace of Agathiyar can we know the answers to life's mysteries. Meanwhile, let us live life well and let the answers dawn on us when the divine thinks the time is right for the revelation to take place.

As Ruzbeh Bharucha says, "Complete surrender to the Master is the only way to merge with God Almighty. After giving your all, leave the rest to the wisdom and grace of your Master", maybe I had not surrendered to him then and now. I will have to work on this approach.

Ruzbeh says further, "I believe that the one who goes deep within, meditates, becomes one with his or her breath, merges with his or her breath, thus becoming one with the Source and through the Source, the individual taps into the universal grid of Knowledge, and thus can go beyond man and become Superman or as in the earlier days we would say, become God-like."

He shares the way, "Connect with The One with Divine Vision & Divine Knowledge to transform from a state of death to a deathless or immortal state. The transformation has to come about by converting the purity in the Elements."