Tuesday 27 August 2024

THE WAKE-UP CALL

I believe I have super hearing, super sight, and super taste buds, and am super sensitive to everything these days. Everything is enhanced, enriched, colorful, and truly beautiful. I believe good health is a gift from the Gods. I remember scrambling behind the 68-year-old (or that was what he told us) as Tavayogi took big steps and had me keep up with his pace when he brought me places in 2005 in India. He could run up the flight of stairs of the Peedham he stayed in during his visit to Malaysia. When I was with him at his ashram he invited me on his morning walk, something that was religious to him. When he was in Malaysia he lamented that he had missed out on this as he was cooped up in a pen in an office block. The moment we arranged for a puja in my nephew's house in 2010, he took the opportunity to take a walk with me around the neighborhood. When I and my family visited him at Kallar in 2013, he took us all on a walk through his neighborhood. Not satisfied he had some boys bring us into the Kallar jungle. In walking we begin to appreciate nature and its beauty. How many of us actually gaze at the skies? How many take in the fresh air of the outdoors? How many gaze at the green turfs of grass? 

Taking my evening walk around the neighborhood park, a six-year-old Malay boy walked up to me and touched my beard. There was joy in him. Later his father tells me as he had not seen a bearded man he was thrilled to the core. That is the joy that we adults should learn to see in simple things. But sadly we always look up to big happenings in life and miss out on these small things that bring joy in life. We tend to postpone most things for another day. But usually, that day never comes. It has to be this very moment be it engaging with god or nature or family and children. Ramalinga Adigal penned a beautiful song reminding us to act right this instant and never postpone the act of reaching out to the divine. These songs are a wake-up call.