Act I

Characters:  Four squirrels, I and God as Judge
Scene: A garden.  Judge is seated in the shade of a huge tree.  Other plaintiffs and lawyers are seen in the vicinity.  It is now the hearing for my case.

Squirrel I comes forward.  Bows down to the august Judge and clasps his hand in his characteristic 'नमस्ते'.  God acknowledges his presence by a nod of His head.  He goes on to present his case:

O lord Almighty, it is with your blessings that we have lived in the slope garden near route 40 many years for many generations.  Abounding in trees this place gives us ample shelter and food.  As you know, we search for food in the surrounding few yards.  There is enough for us to thrive.  Recently we came across a bird feeder in one of the patios on the ground floor, but this lady, right here (he looks at me scornfully at this time) does not let us eat from there.  And when I observe from tree tops, nor does she eat from there.  My Lord, I think she is being very mean by depriving us of our food.

God:  I see.  (He asks me) Now what do you have to say?

I step forward, bow down to Him and clear my throat.

I : My Lord, it was last year that we came to live in this beautiful place and since then have been getting multiple bird feeders and suets so that many different types of birds come to our backyard.  But I notice that these four squirrels, because of their presence near the feeders frighten away many of the birds.  Not only that; sometimes they behave like rowdies, they fight with each other, they push down the pole on which are the feeders and dig the flowerpots.  These things irritate me to the core.  I say, if they cannot eat without disturbing other things, they don't have to eat at all.

God gives a smile.  He turns to the squirrel and says:  She was a teacher.  This was what she was doing in the school where she was, before coming here - bullying the students and expecting 'discipline' from them.

I interrupt:  God!! How can you say this about me.  Haven't you yourself said. आचार्यदेवो भव! How can you talk this way about my noble profession!

God: That's true.  Teaching is indeed a very noble profession, but how many teachers are 'noble'?  For that matter why do you have to show your greatness on these poor animals!  Don't you know that they are just going by their instinct, given by Me.  To dig and bury seeds is their nature, and by that how many trees have grown, what a great help that is to the plant kingdom.  This is their way of giving back to प्रकृति .  Tell me another thing, why do you have to keep feeders in your patio if you do not like these unwelcome visitors.

I:  Exactly, these are indeed unwelcome visitors.  Moreover it was his idea and not mine to keep these bird feeders.  How can I remain a mute spectator when these little rascals wreak havoc in our patio?  (I sulk and put my head down, not having the courage to look into His powerful eyes)

Seeing me silent, God turns to the squirrels

God:  Now you heard her side of the story.  Tell me, why you creatures have to fight there itself?  Are there not many beautiful shrubberies where you can play to your hearts content without any interference.

All squirrels put their head down in shame.  Squirrel III comes forward.

Squirrel III:  lord our Master, I have a complaint, not about this lady but about one of us.  These two squirrels right here I and II are very dominating.  They don't let me and my wife to eat anything from the feeders.  Actually these people have scattered grains all over their patio and also on the grass, but these two fatsos don't let us even come near any of them.  They want to monopolize all the places.  And that's not fair!  If they are in any one place, we respectfully avoid that place and go to the adjacent area, but these greedy guys ensure we are out.  That's why we end up running all around the place and at times pushing down a pot or two.  

He says this in a small voice and looks at me through the corner of the eye.
With a look of  'See I told you these are not angels' I turn to God to see what his reaction would be.

God:  Alright.  Pushing down pots is definitely a 'No'.  How can you displace baby plants in their pots.  You all have to be careful about that in future.  You wish to benefit from the feeders so you have to make sure that at no time do you disturb the plants in the patio.  Also you all have to be united and make sure everyone eats to their fill.  And make sure you don't  monopolize the feeders the whole time.  Have some sort of time-share.

All squirrels in chorus:  Yes my Lord.

God raises his hand in अभय.  All salute Him and leave the room.

 

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Congratulations to my wonderful students on their achievement of 10/10.  I would also like to congratulate M.P Akil,  Akhil Krishnakumar, Megha Rose Paul, Aishwarya Vaidyanathan.

"If God tortures us with ordeals again and again, we may reach a point when we lose faith in God’s mercy. Why does the merciful God subject us to endless acid tests?"

 Let me state that I am no spiritual guru.  I came across this question and was not convinced with the answer and so I wanted to express my perception in this context.

First of all, it is our own 'prarabdha karma' which brings about tricky / challenging situations, or 'ordeals' as some may call it.  Such a situation surely distresses the one who is undergoing the ordeal and often he questions 'why me?'  It is quite natural to be upset since human nature seeks pleasure and happiness always.  

However, wrongly assuming that it is God who inflicts this ordeal only leads to ill will against God.  He is only the witness to the web of grief that we weave around ourselves.  In the same way, He just witnesses the good and happy moments when we rejoice over pleasures.  At the time of joy , we too, most of the time, do not reach out to Him to share the happiness and joy.  But that does not change his perception of us at all. 

So if we reach a point when we lose faith in God, that really is no loss for the Almighty.  Is it your decision that henceforth you do not trust in the Almighty?  Alright, so be it, would be His stand.  Because He is to us what we think He is to us.  If we think 'He does not help me', He does not.  If we think that He is our refuge, then He is.  Everything is in our perception.  Since He is the Almighty, what loss is it to Him that we do not trust Him?  None.  He does not have to prove anything to anybody.  It was neither a gain when you trusted Him nor is it His loss when you choose not to trust Him.

Sri Ramadas of Bhadrachalam was imprisoned for 14 years.  Yes he was a devotee of Lord Rama.  But suffer he did for 14 long years.  He cried out to his beloved deity, but Rama rescued him only after he had fulfilled his karmic actions.

We are no Ramadas of Bhadrachalam, but the life of such saints make for a great example to us.

However in this scheme of things,  in this 'karma-cycle', there is one undeniable factor called His Mercy.  Without any reason whatsoever, He chooses to shower His kindness on us.  So when stuck in the mire of ordeals, all that is in our power to do is to call out for His help, and He will definitely rescue us.

"अव्याजकरुणायाम् तु प्रसिद्धो वेङ्कटेश्वरः"

 It is only He who gives us the mind, after all, to seek out His help.

so...? get a life!

Recently one headline keeps haunting me even though I try to ignore it even if it is right in my face.  It is something to this effect "World's 'most beautiful' woman still has not lost pregnancy weight".  Did you understand which 'most beautiful' woman I refer here?

For nearly a decade and a half we have been crazily in love with this beautiful lady.  Beautiful she could very well be, with a little god given gift and a lot of help from makeup, she could be.  And let her be!  I have absolutely no problem.  But my conscience (you could call it ego if you will) starts taunting me the minute I see the word 'world's most beautiful'.  Alright so that title she got about a decade and half ago still sticks. But honestly aren't we all the very beautiful?  Aren't each one of us indescribably beautiful and awesome in our own unique way. 

Honestly, when I look at myself in the mirror I feel very proud of myself, for the person that I am. Yeah, the feeling of wellness goes beyond the color of the skin and the proportions of my body.  You may think that I am being egoistic.  Maybe.  But I think that this high dose of self-esteem is necessary to go through my life.  True, there are more talented and breath-takingly beautiful people all around, such people have been, are and will be in the future.  If only we knew how to recognise this beauty instead of calling only one individual as the 'world's most beautiful' person.

And haven't we heard somewhere that beauty is only skin deep.   Here today and gone tomorrow.  That is the transient nature of physical beauty.  (True beauty lies in goodness of the heart.)

And if people are having trouble losing weight, its their problem, choice, karma, whatever.  But the masses are not willing to let it go.  They are not willing to accept the fact that she is also a human being, that she could put on weight and lose her model like figure.  They are not willing to put her down from the pedestal that they have put her in and give up her place to another beautiful lady.

According to the masses being model like is beauty, they cannot recognise true beauty.  It has always been this way.  Now their favourite heroine does not fall into their definition of beauty and a big hue and cry is raised about it.

I say, people, go look into the mirror, see how beautiful you are!  Recognise your beauty!  Fall in love with your own great unique personality! 
Go and fall in love with the beauty that u are!