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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!

walking on soft grass
breathing in fresh air
punctuated by bird songs
gentle breeze tickling my hair
 
beneath a clear blue sky
surrounded by many a leafy tree
I revel in the peace
that pervades all around me

I smile and rejoice
at my utter lack of sorrow
how fortunate I am!
full of hopes for the morrow

I count my blessings
and watch the setting sun
quickly sending a note of thanks
to the Omniscient One

Wonders never cease - Squirrel story

There are two couples of squirrels who live nearby.  Of course they are regular visitors to our bird feeders.  They love to eat the suets (which are meant for the birds) neglecting the grains which are especially served up for them. 

One of the couples intimidates the other, more brown looking couple.  But the chased are extremely resilient.  They run away, but momentarily.  Almost immediately they are back, gnawing from where they left off.  

The squirrels do various kinds of asanas.  Of the ten steps in suryanamaskara, they have mastered three of them!!  But I don't see them being toned even by a millimeter!  O well!

They can be hungry through out the day.  Mornings are especially ravenous times. And in the mornings while they are busy eating their grub, they are also entertained by watching me do the yogasanas; similar to music/dance shows in restaurants!! 

Wonders never cease - An ode to Fathers

I know I am a little premature during the year in celebrating 'dadhood' since it was Mom's day yesterday.  But when I saw the two dedicated dads who were caringly feeding their fledglings, I decided to dedicate this little paragraph to them!

The Northern Cardinal and Downy Woodpecker are two of the many birds who have nested nearby.  Though we cannot actually see their nests, the presence of the young ones is obvious these days as they slowly venture out to explore. Usually it is the older birds who regularly visit our bird feeds.  

One particular cardinal who can be identified by an ash colored patch over his right eye, used to be a regular visitor along with his 'beloved'. 

Each and every time that they come to feed, usually within seconds of one of them landing on the grass, the 'gentleman' gives a little grain in her mouth, his way of showing his love!! It is such a endearing sight indeed!  The past few days we noticed that he came to feed in close intervals, and we zeroed in on the reason.  A young one was perched, safely at a distance, waiting for his dear dad to feed him.  And he was such a good 'non-fussy' eater too!  There he was patiently waiting for his food, and obediently took the soft masticated grains offered to him!!  Today he too ventured on his own in the 'adult' feeding area and was awkwardly pecking on the grains! 

 Then there was the downy baby, I saw him today for the first time when he was sprawled on our patio.  He was awkward, unable to hold his wings in place, they were plopped next to him.  In his childhood curiosity he tried a couple of times to enter through the closed glass doors, (not hurting himself I hope).  There again feeding on his favourite suet was his dad and this little baby was content to wait for daddy dear.

Indeed I felt very privileged to see this exhibition of 'matrubhaava'.(yeah though these were in fact 'pitarau')

We love you young ones and we hope that the grains that we are fortunate enough to feed you with will make you strong and magnificent just like your parents. 

Wonders never cease - camouflage

Camouflage in reefs
The creatures in the reefs indeed seem to be masters of camouflage.  

     The sea horse which hides among 'coral pens' and the innumerable types of crustaceans which get 'lost' among the bright colourful reefs.  When the tiny fish and creatures hide beneath the reefs on seeing a small school of 'thugs', one of the thugs goes beneath which scares the hiding little ones into swimming above, where they are promptly made 'biriyani' by the waiting thugs!

     One type of fish (unfortunately I do not remember its name) swims vertically(!) among the reef.  In that vertical form they look like a stagnant reef, they swim horizantally only when they have to move from one part of the reef to another.  

Spectacular!