SHORT STORY: IN LOVE WITH YOUR GURU

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

IN LOVE WITH YOUR GURU

In ancient times there lived a Mahatma whose name was Maharishi Kanad. He had the distinction of exponentially increasing the treasure base of Indian knowledge by scripting the Vaishesik Sutras that determines the rights and the wrongs in terms of finding the absolute good, for a person. He had many shishayas (pupils) that included both men and women, and they all owed their esteem allegiance, to their Guru, Maharishi Kanad.

    And, in that there was a beautiful woman also, who used to look after the Guru with all sincerity. But slowly and slowly, she started feeling as if she was falling in love with the Guru, but she was not able to express her feelings in front him. And, she was even scared that the Guru, should not suddenly shun her, and the other shishayas should not make fun of her.

    But still one day when she was alone with the Guru. She gathered some guts and said, ‘My dear Swami, I love you from the bottom of my heart, and I want to sacrifice everything of mine on you. So can you please accept me in life?”

    The Guru was shocked, at what the lady had told him suddenly, and had gone quiet for some moments. And, the utterance of the lady had spread like a ‘jungle fire’ in the hermitage. And now, all the shishayas were eagerly waiting to know what would be, the Guru’s reply.

    Guru smiled and said, ‘I’m happy that you love me. But you also know that I love the entire world, and when I say the entire world even you are included in that. And you also know that all my shishayas love me, so what is so special about your love.

    Now, the lady was in a dilemma and could not figure out as to how, she should explicitly convey what she wanted to convey. For she did not know how to communicate her deep love to him, and she was also a little cautious, knowing, that so many unseen eyes and ears must be waiting for the much awaited answer of the Guru. Guru waited for a while and then said to her, ‘When you say, you love me and you want to sacrifice everything for me it also means, you want to control me. And this also means that you are not conversant with the real meaning of the Guru. But since you are a devoted shishaya, I don’t want you to be unhappy. So you can have my love. Tomorrow, when I am alone in cottage, you come to me.’

    Upon hearing these lovely words of acceptance the lady went gaga. She came out of the cottage, where rest the female shishayas were now jealous of her, as they too wanted to share her luck.

      Next day after decking up, and when she felt no one is in the cottage of the Guru she entered, when rest of the shishayas were keeping a constant track of her.    And when they saw her entering the cottage they quietly assembled near the cottage of the Guru.

    And when the lady entered she saw, the Guru was in samadhi and around him there was a circle of light, and in that the Guru was appearing like the Sun. She ran towards the Guru in full enthusiasm trying to embrace him. But alas: what was that? She then saw she was only embracing herself. And suddenly she felt the Guru is all over the sky and she can’t just hold the sky nor she can embrace the sky. And after trying all ends, she could only experience as if she is trying to catch the endless sky. And after a little while she was tired and stood there wonder struck. She then could hear a loud laughter in the cottage.

    And that is when the Guru said, ‘my dear shishaya you forgot the basic essence of life that the Guru is not a personal property of anyone, and in fact he belongs to everyone. He is divine, who is everywhere, but not visible. He is the route to your destiny but not your destiny or your kismet. Guru makes you farsighted. So share me with everyone. But don’t try to control your Guru. And feel my wisdom and knowledge within you.

    And after hearing such divine sermons that lady who till some moments back was dull and gloomy immediately cheered up and with her fellow shishayas started celebrating and praising the Guru. And thereafter, slowly the Mahatama returned to his embodiment when he too joined the celebrations.

    This story is lifted from mythological articles, and conveys, our relation with our Guru, which is different than our relation with others.

    Today is Guru-punima and this is a tribute to every Guru.

***

POETRY: THE MIGHTY ABDULS OF INDIA

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

THE MIGHTY ABDULS OF INDIA

There is no alarm,

As India has the might of,

The Abdul’s, Hamids and Kalams,

And so there is no alarm.

*

From battlefield to the drawing board,

From LOC to missiles,

They knew all,

And all knew them,

For they dared all,

But no one dared them.

*

In the line of duty,

Hamid laid himself,

And while leading the nation,

Kalam was way ahead.

*

Kalam gave India the throb of missile,

That could stare at the dare of any hostile,

And all drenched in technology and science,

He placed India in the rare club of nine.

*

A teacher at heart,

A scientist by mind,

A genius by birth,

A politician not inclined,

But a President by merit,

And a noble inherent.

*

And epitome of simplicity,

Role model of youth,

Every bit an essence,

To India’s presence.

*

You towered India,

To the scales of excellence,

But your job was not over,

When you suddenly left for heaven.

*

While India will miss you,

India salutes you,

You rest in peace,

But bless young India,

With more Abdul’s like you.

***

POETRY: EGO

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

EGO

I was right and he was wrong,

And that brought about the ferocious storm,

For in this alluring life,

Only I was in the boil and he in the warmth.

*

I was right and she was wrong,

And that brought about the nagging storm,

For in this fascinating life,

I suffered while she rejoiced.

*

Mind says, I was always right and the other wrong,

Heart says I was ever right and the other wrong,

Where ego hides between the mind and heart,

To play its blaring song.

*

In the pantomime of life,

No pantomime remained,

For half was snatched and half was surrendered,

To the ego of minds.

*

Till one day when I realized in the wake of life,

Only tall egos remained,

Virtues refrained,

And happiness was in vain.

*

For in the framework of lifetime,

Ego reigned under the spell of legerdemain,

While humility abstained.

*

And by the time I could attain,

The bliss of sane,

It was too late,

For the other had left to gain.

*

Leaving me to my big fat ego,

At the inveterate crux of my domain.  

***

POETRY: WHEN THE CLOCK STRIKES TIME

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

WHEN THE CLOCK STRIKES TIME

When the clock strikes time,

It tells my mind,

That in the interest of a lifetime,

I need to do something sublime.

***

When the clock strikes time,

It reminds,

One needs to climb,

The lofty mountains of harrowing times,

***

For time is never kind,

In the bewilderment of a lifetime,

Where in the cadence of strides,

Timing and direction needs to be right.

***

Where the clock-dial looks like a shrine,

And the needles, the pricking needles of a lifetime,

And the pendulum, the uncertain sting of time,

Is when the clock chimes to announce the unmet rigors

 of time.

***

And between the clock and my mind,

Remains the eerie twine,

Of sad and merry times,

In the hobnob of ethereal mesmerize.

***

For let’s not blame the clock,

To what we suffer over times,

For clock is no shrine,

That carves our noxious times.

***

For we bring about our own time,

In the rigmarole of enduring spine,

And when the clock strikes time,

It only reminds of our sync with times.

***

SHORT STORY: THE ART OF SURVIVING

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

Maharishi Mandalya was a scholar of great repute. He had many pupils in his hermitage. One day two of his pupils went out of the hermitage and near the close by river, to collect some flowers and fruits. And while going they saw a scorpion crawling near the banks of the river. The first pupil while cautioning the second one said, ‘beware of the poisonous scorpion, as Guru ji has said to keep away from bad people and bad things.’

    In the meanwhile the scorpion slipped and fell into the river and started struggling, to save its own life. And on seeing the scorpion struggling, the second pupil bent over and picked the scorpion with his hands and put it back on the banks of the river. And while doing so the scorpion stung him and soon he was in deep pain as the poison of the scorpion started spreading.

    The first pupil, when he saw the second one in deep pain got angry and said, ‘You did not follow the teachings of the Guru and that is why you are in deep pain now.’ The second pupil replied, ‘No I have followed the teachings of our Guru, and he can’t be wrong.’ And, that started the vehement argument between the two, about the teachings of the Guru.

    And in spite of the severe pain, the second pupil told the first one, ‘Our Guru, has taught us to help anyone in need, and at any cost, and even if others don’t agree to our sentiments. And the way scorpion’s nature is to sting, my nature is to save the scorpion from drowning.’

    The first pupil said, ‘But our Guru has also taught us to keep away from bad people and to protect ourselves. And you have violated this rule of the Guru, and that is why you are in deep pain.

    Both stuck to their guns and could not reach a conclusion. Finally they went to the guru and narrated the whole episode. Maharishi with a smiling face heard both, and in a peaceful tone said, ‘Up to a point you both are correct and beyond a point you both are incorrect. You all have not understood my teachings properly, as there is no contradiction in what I’ve taught you.’

    ‘When I taught you to stay away from bad people and things, what I meant was don’t let yourself get polluted by the evil. And every intelligent person should do this only till he doesn’t develop the inherent capacity to remove evil from the society. When I taught you not to give up your helping nature, the objective behind was to teach you service. You should be like a true doctor, who doesn’t decipher between enmity and friendship and should only concentrate and be eager on reducing and removing pain.

    In this episode the second pupil got mixed up with both the teachings. It was his duty to save the drowning creature. But he could have used a stick for that. There was no need to use your hand. By using a stick he could have saved that scorpion as well as himself.

    ‘If the evil is powerful and big, what should one do?’ asked a pupil. The guru replied, ‘your first obligation is to save yourself, because to stay alive is the biggest obligation of life. Later on if it’s possible you can kill the evil with your materialistic and spiritual powers.

     This interesting story tells us how we should help others and while helping others we should also keep in mind that we don’t hurt ourselves. And as our gurus have said, help others by keeping yourself safe.

***

    

SHORT STORY: RELATIONSHIP OF TRUTH WITH REALITY

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

RELATIONSHIP OF TRUTH WITH REALITY

The spiritual Indian city of Kashi is located on the holy banks of river Ganges where an able ruler once ruled. His court was blessed by many renowned scholars who used to have big discussions and debates on ‘truth.’ And in the court it was inscribed in golden letters, ‘In pursuit of truth.’

    One day in the morning a Yogi came to his court and suggested, the ruler change the inscription in gold, and suggested the inscription should be, ‘In pursuit of reality’ and not ‘in pursuit of truth’ and on hearing this all the scholars in the court of the ruler were rather startled.

    To convince he said, ‘Truth is not like reality. Truth is what we believe in, but reality is the state of things as they actually exist.’ And to prove his point he called for some barrels and got it filled with oil and on a moonlit night he got the barrels placed in an open field where the reflection of moon was very clearly visible in each barrel of oil.

    And then the Yogi said, ‘Dear friends when you see the reflection of the moon in these barrels you feel there are so many moons, but when you look up to the sky you come to know of the reality, that there is only one moon.’

    ‘In the same manner if we want we can get so many things made out of wood, but we are well abreast of the fact that all these are made of wood. In the same manner when you’ll empty the barrels you’ll come to know the moons have vanished but the real moon atop remains.

    So also when the furniture breaks into pieces various furniture items will lose their identity but the identity of wood remains. In the same manner truth might be linked to the environment and times but reality is quite different from all this.

    And that is why our efforts and inscription should be in accordance to the directive, ‘In search of reality.’ And every scholar in the court agreed with the logic of the Yogi and the inscription accordingly was changed to ‘In search of reality.’

 After sometime another Yogi came and said, ‘Dear friends there may be a difference between truth and reality but truth has its own importance as we see so many moons in barrels filled with oil so we cannot condone the truth even when we know that the moon is one. In the same manner we cannot overlook the reality and status of various things with various names. In reality you all are either male or female, but you cannot overlook the fact that you too have a name. The ultimate and complete face of truth is the reality and reality is witnessed in various forms of individual truths.

    And that is why my suggestion is to change the inscription to ‘in pursuit of truth and reality’ to which every scholar gave his approval. But the change of inscription did not last for long as after a while another Yogi came who wanted to change the inscription again. He said, ‘truth cannot become truth unless it is linked to reality .’ he further said  in all the barrels of oil  the reflection  of moon is linked to one such reality that the moon exists and moon had not existed its reflection too would not have been there. In the same manner the wooden furniture is linked to its basic raw material—wood. And. you will have to agree that truth in any form is always connected to the reality and you also can reach the substance if you change the inscription to ‘the relation of truth with reality.’

    All scholars had felt the power of real truth in what yogi had said and therefore the inscription was further changed as per the Yogi.

***

SHORT STORY: PERSEVERANCE--LORD'S SHIVA'S APPRECIATION

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

Once upon a time there was a person who could not understand as to why so many devotees queue up in front of the Shiva temple for darshan of the Shiv-ling. In fact he was extremely intrigued at the simplicity of these devotees, and so he wanted to see for himself, the power that Lord Shiva possessed through his Shiv-ling.

    So, one day he decided, here on, every night, when the temple is closed to the devotees, he would enter it from the back gate with his cane, to whack the Shiv-ling at least five times, and see how Lord Shiva can retaliate in return, as he was doubtful even of his existence.

    And he confided in his wife about his agnostic idea, to take her reaction, as she too was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. But on hearing this, his wife shuddered, at the very thought. She tried to convince her husband tooth and nail, about the devastating consequences, but failed in doing so.

    The person started visiting the temple every night to whack the Shiv-ling. And every day in the morning his wife used to seek pardon in the same temple for him.

    After sometime when the person felt even after whacking Lord Shiva’s Shiv-ling every night, nothing was happening and everything was as normal as every day, he would come and tease his wife and say. ‘See you are only worshiping a piece of stone as he has no powers.’

    And gradually the person’s dare increased manifold when besides whacking he also started abusing Lord Shiva. But he was extremely regular in doing so.

    By now a year had passed, but he had not missed a single day where he did not whack the Shiv-ling. Whether, it was the heat of summers, freezing cold of winters or even torrential monsoon, and even when he was unwell or his wife or children were unwell he made it a point to enter the temple and whack Lord Shiva.

    Once, during monsoon, when it had been raining for a couple of days continuously, and the area around the temple was totally flooded, and the temple marooned. One could only swim to the temple, but that also was quite risky as all the snakes and crabs had come out of their holes and were floating along the waters.

    But the person was determined as ever to reach the temple. So he took the cane between his teeth and started swimming. And on the way he ducked and even went around certain snakes and insects and finally reached the steps of the temple.

    And happy at his effort, he as usual, entered the temple and started whacking and abusing Lord Shiva’s Shiv-ling. And he was enjoying it even more today because of the humungous effort he had put in to reach there.

    And then suddenly the person saw he was being blinded by a very bright light and saw some silhouettes emerging that resembled the pictures of Lord Shiva that he had often seen.

     And then he could hear a divine voice as if telling him,

    ‘I’m impressed by your passion and regularity, even when each day, you only came to whack and abuse me. Not one day you missed out, no matter what issues you had at hand. I’m happy and I grant you a vardan, bhakt.’ Resonated, the divine loud voice of Lord Shiva as the silhouettes merged into a gigantic image of the Lord.

    The person was astounded when he realised his mistake and fell at the feet of the Lord and started asking for mercy. Lord Shiva granted him mercy and just then the gigantic image of the Lord started receding along with the bright light and soon everything was calm and normal.

    The story conveys a message that there is no shortcut for perseverance. Perseverance is so powerful that it made even Lord Shiva appear, even when the person was pursuing a campaign against Lord God Shiva.

This story was told to me by my mother.

***

     

SHORT STORY: JOB RESPONSIBILITY OF GOD

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

    Long time ago there lived a king, who was truly righteous but extremely arrogant. One day, he called his Prime Minister and said,

    ‘I have a doubt that keeps bothering me. And as you know, in this universe everyone has a fixed job to do just like, a king is supposed to rule, a soldier’s job is to fight, a trader is supposed to trade, teacher is supposed to teach, a preacher is supposed to preach and even the rest of the civilisation have prescribed jobs to do.

    And there is the law of the universe. In the same manner the person who runs this universe also must be having a definite job to do about which I know nothing. So please tell me what is the job of the person who runs the universe—God.’   

    Prime Minister had no answer to this as no one had ever asked him a question like this. But he attempted.

    ‘Your Majesty, no one knows the answer to this question, and neither, it is mentioned in any book—as the job of God.’

   And, since he was an extremely cunning person he thought for a moment and added, ‘But your question is quite justified, as this question came to my mind also several times, but since my job is to advise you to help you run the administration, so I didn’t bother to ask. And these are spiritual issues where I  think the Raj-Purohit (Chief-Priest) will be in a better position to give an apt answer.’

    And after expressing his views he very strategically left the place immediately, leaving the entire responsibility of answering the question completely on the Raj-Purohit.

    When the king posed the same question to the -Purohit Raj he got bewildered, as no one had ever asked him such a question, and no one knew the exact job of God. And everyone only knew to the extent they had read in the books, and even in the books there was no separate information about God’s job responsibility.

    But the King specifically wanted an answer to his question. Raj-Purohit didn’t want to offend the King, so he sought a week’s time.

    King agreed, and said, ‘okay, but I need a comprehensive reply to my question.’ Raj-Purohit went home. And in the next one week he went to all the libraries and went through all the books that he could lay his hands on, but he could not get a comprehensive answer to this question.

    By the end of the week he was mentally quite exhausted. So he went out of the city and sat under a tree and started thinking, how will he show his face to the King tomorrow, or should he leave the kingdom and flee.

    One shepherd boy who was grazing his sheep there, saw the Raj-Purohit sitting there in a pensive mood and recognised him. He asked, ‘why are you looking so sad?’ The Raj-Purohit replied, ‘child you please do your work, as I have some spiritual work to handle.’

    But, when the child assertively asked again, the Raj-Purohit narrated his problem, knowing full well, the boy will not be able to solve his problem.

    ‘Raj-Purohit ji, if you are troubled only because of this small problem, then please go home and relax, and tell the King this shepherd boy knows the answer to his question.’

     Upon hearing this, the Raj-Purohit was stunned, because even the most renowned scholars of the kingdom didn’t know the answer to this question. He pleaded to the boy to let him know the answer, but the child insisted he would tell the king himself, the answer to question.

    A bit relaxed, Raj-Purohit left for home. Next day when he reached the King’s court the king repeated his question and with great amount of eagerness he waited for the answer, but was flabbergasted to hear that the answer to his question was available with a shepherd boy. He immediately ordered for the child to be there. The boy arrived at the King’s court in great enthusiasm.

    And, everyone looked at him with a great amount of disgust, but also waited for the valuable words to come out of his mouth. The king asked, ‘Oh shepherd boy! Do you know the answer to my question that even the renowned scholars sitting in my court don’t know? So tell me what you know about this topic?

    The shepherd boy hesitated for some moments and then said, “Respected, before I answer your question I wish I be given the right kind of seat to sit. Because, as far as this query is concerned, you are the student and I’m the teacher, for I’ll provide you with that knowledge. And in principle the seat of the teacher should be higher than that of the student, but it is not the case here.

    On hearing this everyone started whispering in an appreciative manner about the boy. The King also felt some truth is his statement. After a few moments the King vacated his throne and requested the shepherd boy to occupy it, after which he eagerly started waiting for the answer while looking at him.

    But the boy after sitting on the throne went quiet and started enjoying the great feel, while perched on it. The King got restless and in an arrogant tone shouted, ‘Oh you child, will you answer now, what is the job of God?’ the boy looked at the King and peacefully asked, ‘what answer?’ and on hearing this, all present in the King’s court got stunned. The boy then said, ‘the job of God is to put down the arrogant and lift the humble.’

 This story is one out of the thousand stories of Puran (mythological scriptures) that is still relevant even today as it was in those days.

***

       

SHORT STORY: THE SIKH GURU

Copyright@shravancharitymission


By Kamlesh Tripathi

An excerpt from the book ‘Gloom behind the Smile’

    It is amazing to see some cities and states losing people to other dynamic urban areas. This has also been happening across countries and continents. I guess this how civilizations kept moving from one place to another. I was reading about a Sikh Guru. He once visited a village and stayed there for a few days and then prepared to leave. While he was leaving he blessed the village by saying ‘May you prosper by staying here only.’ Guru moved on and as night was setting in he camped in another village and stayed there for a couple of days and enjoyed their hospitality. While leaving he blessed the village by saying ‘May you prosper and move to other parts of the world.’ A keen follower asked the Guru as to why he had given two types of blessings to his disciples in respective villages. The Guru replied that the people of the first village, though looked after me, were not very cultured and therefore, I blessed them but prayed to God that they should not move out and spread their culture. I found the second village well cultured and I wished to the Almighty that these people should prosper and travel to other parts of the world so that they spread the light of their sweetness and culture everywhere.

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POETRY: IN THE 'MARCH-PAST' OF LIFE

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

IN THE ‘MARCH-PAST’ OF LIFE

In the march-past of life,

I often had to fight for my right,

So also, in the march-past of life,

I often had to fight for my plight.

*

Where, in the backwaters of my aspirations,

There was always a march-past of ambitions,

And in the animation of my fantasies,

A march-past of tribulations.

*

For in the spate of luck,

My share was low,

But in the spirit of struggle,

My march-past was rife.

*

For who cares and cares who?

As you are a small fry,

But the march-past of life,

Took me to the skies.

*

And in the barracks of life,

Whenever it begins to twilight,

I pull out my boots,

For a march-past of another kind.

*

Though names and definitions change,

March-past remains the same,

And even though it has no great name,

March-past is the gateway to fame.

*

And march-past is divine,

As it quarantines,

The unwanted malware of your mind,

Just to keep you in line.

***