Time To Feel Grateful

Another New Year

It was in December early 1960s. I was doing my Post Graduation in the University of Madras. We had some students from Australia visiting us under the University Youth exchange programme. There were about twenty of them who were supposed to stay in the houses of local students. I opted to host one of them following which a stocky guy who looked like my double was allotted to me. The team was with us for a week and every evening we all got together for dinner at some common place. It was Christmas week and the city wore a festive look. The students wanted to visit some well known Church for the night before Christmas for the midnight service. I went along with them and listened to the carols. The songs indeed touched my heart and I fell in love with the carol Silent Night, Holy Night. The carol is about 200 years old. It is on the birth of Jesus on a silent and holy night. I loved the carol so much that I listened to it whenever I felt agitated about anything. The carol has a great soothing effect.


All those who have read my blogs know that I am from Triplicane, Chennai which has a significant Muslim population. More than 50% of my childhood friends were of Islamic origin. As I grew older, I developed a great taste for Sufi literature and Islamic holy songs. I was amazed by the close resemblance of some of the songs to the chanting of Vedas. I became a great fan of the writings of Kahlil Gibran. He had such a fascinating view of death that it was no surprise that he died before he reached the age of 50. Some of his takes like the following have had a great impact on my mental makeup:

Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love. Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.


The calm and modest demeanour of Dalai Lama has made me look upon him as my Guru. I have had the privilege of listening to his speech that went deep into my heart. His sayings like ‘Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.’ have helped me to take my failures in my stride. The Paramacharya of Kanchi and Ramana Maharshi were the quintessence of Hindu spiritualism. The great thing was that there was such universality in their teachings that even Westerners became their followers.


The world belongs as much to nonbelievers as to believers. Highly eminent persons have been nonbelievers. Voltaire, Karl Marx, Bertrand Russell, Spinoza, Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Edison, Hippocrates, Stephen Hawking have been staunch nonbelievers. Their contribution to human advancement is no less than that of believers.


This is the season to remember all these great men and feel grateful to them. Another New Year is round the corner. My warm greetings to all of you for a wonderful, fun-filled New Year!

 

@kkrish
Thank you kkrish and I heartily reciprocate your good wishes for a glorious 2018
And I thank you also for seconding my statement about believers and nonbelievers. I have seen in movies where our Earth is in the danger of being attacked by the aliens how everyone joins to tackle the problem. All differences dissipates into a common concern for preserving our Earth. Why do we have to wait for such a situation to dissolve all our differences of caste and creed?
Sri

 

@Shanvy
My dear Shanvy
I am very happy to see you here responding to my good wishes for a happy new year! I wish you a glorious 2018.

Come on Shan! I write here for over a decade about whatever that comes to my mind. The content is more important than spelling and grammar. For your information, there would be hundreds of such mistakes in what I write if not for the Spell Check in my PC! I am reminded of my commerce Professor in the college who would ask a student loitering about in the foyer 'Why are you rotating the veranda?' We all loved him not only because he was a fabulous teacher but also for simplifying English and bringing it to the reach of everyone!

Beautifully articulated! The other day, a highly poisonous snake was sighted in the suburb and the people sent a SOS to the Snake Park in Guindy. They came and took charge of the snake and left it in some wilderness to lead its own life. As you say, the world belongs to all, not just the humans in general and good humans in particular.
Sri

 

@iamsrihere
I am happy that my quote from Dalai Lama helped you. Such wonderful words of learned people are like balm for a bruised soul and the sheet anchor in troubled waters. I always hold on to them.
Thank you for your good wishes which I heartily reciprocate
Sri