“Your Religion? Money!” – The Lamentations of An Accountant!

Dear Manju,
I jumping the queue to say that that was a fantastic reply in your style to Sridhar's post!
You do seem to have a unique style of writing and the flow is also fantastic, and not to mention th econtents, and teh quotes....wow!
and i loved the mantra you live by....
"Atma Tvam, Girija Matihi, Sahacharaa Pranaah, Sariram griham.
Pooja they vishyopabhoga rachana , nidraa samadhi sthitihi
Sancharah padayo pradakshina vidhihi, Stothraani sarva giro
Yad yad karma karomi tat tadakilam
Shambho tava aradhanam"

Keep sharing your thoughts with us, to enable us to enjoy your delicious way of writing!( seem to have got hooked on to the image of love for good food, icecreams!)

 

Dear varalotti,

Thanks for the response to my post in a very interesting thread you have started. I have many episodes to narrate how my faith in God got strengthened and today it is an unshakable faith. After listening to my Guruji Swami Haridoss Giri's pravachans where he has nicely and clearly brought out the Advaitha philosophy I view God everywhere, in everything and in all living things.

The first episode where my faith in God got strengthened happened when we all went for vacation to Tuticorin to my uncle's place for a marriage. As we stayed after the marriage, Thai poosam festival came and we all wanted to go to Thiruchendur to watch the Thai poosam festival there. Upon reaching the bus stand we found all buses were packed to the brim and had to give up the idea and returned home. After some time my aunt raised a hue and cry saying that her 8 year old son is missing. Everyone started searching for him in the neighbourhood and there was no trace of him. My uncle went to Police station to report. Suddenly I remembered the boy declaring to me in the bus stand,' so what if the bus is not there I will walk all the way to Thiruchendur. When I told this to my other uncles, we three my two uncles and myself left to search for the boy on the road to Thiruchendur. We walked and walked enquiring on the way with everyone whether they had seen a 8 year old boy walking towards Thiruchendur. We must have walked quite a distance as my legs became weary and to make matter worse it became dark with three of us walking on the National Highway No.7. Lorry s and buses were whizzing past us and there was no sign of a nearby village where we thought we can rest and continue in the morning. It was at that time I started chanting' Anjaneya veera, hanumantha soora'. To our relief we came across a village and we went to the village shop and bought bananas to eat as we were hungry. Right at that time an elderly man came there and spotting us asked where from we are coming. We narrated everything and when we told our uncle's name who was a PWD engineer, the man said , 'Oh, easwaran he is my very close friend. We became friends when he came here to supervise the road making. He took us to the panchayath office, made arrangements for our dinner and beds and told us to take rest and continue the search next day morning. My faith in Lord Anjaneya increased many folds as we went to sleep after the dinner. Next day, we had coffee and took leave of the villager. He came with us to the main road and right at that time a bus came. The bus was stopped by the villager and when he inquired with the driver about the boy he told yes one boy was found walking and he gave lift to him and one of the passenger from Ettayapuram which is on the way took the boy to his house when he found that the boy's legs had big koppulams due to walking in hot sun on the thar road. We went to the house and found the boy who was being treated like a prince there. We thanked the couple who were to adopt him as their son and brought him back to my aunt.

Regards,

TDU

 

Dear Sridhar,

I don't know how I missed this thread. Thanks to you for leading me here by nominating Manjureddy's post for FP. So, another example that FP is serving its purpose to the full.

Many months ago, we exchanged thoughts on a similar subject. Our believes and how we go about praying and worshipping. If I remember right, we had similar thoughts there. Here too, I agree upon all your sentiments regarding God.

I too have my own personal relationship with My God. I may not be doing the regular rituals and following certain principles of worship. But, I am glad about my equation with Him/Her. You are very right when you say that we often forget and do not give the due reverence to God. But His Grace is everywhere in our lives, touching every small insignificant thing. The bus ticket incident you wrote of sent shivers in me and I had goosebumps. True, how was that possible if He had not intervened?

I often lamented that the new Millennium brought me a lot of hardships and problems. But I was given the Divine assurance that all is fine and the Grace is guiding us. I feel overwhelmed even to write about it. But He knows and that's all matters

Great incentive from you Varalotti, you sure seem to bring the best out of everyone Not only your post, I enjoyed everyone's contributions in this thread.

L, Kamla

 

Dear Malathijagan and Vandhana,

Your posts touched me to the core.

Malathi, very often it happens that God is by our side and we do not know of it. Your experience with Venkatachalapathi was thrilling. You are blessed, I can simply imagine your amazement at what happened in the club. Thirupathi is the only holy place I have visited time and again since my childhood. As a child, I remember going there with my parents and one early morning, after the bath and getting ready, I had some free time and just wandered off from the cottage in the direction of the temple all by myself and walked right into the Garbagudi and had His dharshan!! Was that in another era...was that me?! Can you imagine that happening today? The last visit, we stood in front of the Lord for a nanosecond ( to use Sridhar's words!) , that too after my bil thrust some notes into the hands of the priest right under Balaji's eyes!!!!! Now, I am not so keen about visiting that place any more. Like you say, He is right here in my house, in my puja room...I don't need that pujari's permission to see Him

Vandhana, it is putting it mildly when you say God was protecting you. Imagine the havoc it would have caused if your little one had not insisted. Sometimes, you never know when and how we are blessed.

L, Kamla

 

Oh my GOD...Manju) ....

I have to take the Almighty's name even while appreciating your post, ofcourse! Manju, I am stumped and at loss for words. What a fine write up! Like Sridhar, I should stop right now and not say more, because it should be obvious to you that I am impressed...for lack of any better word!

...But...I shall indulge myself and carry on. Your thoughts about God and our personal relationship with Him is truly great....As the famous witticism goes, "god does not need us, we need God ; If a God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent one" ......There is a powerful truth in this line...Jo thum thodo piya, mein nahin thodun re, tho so preeth thod Krishna, kaun sang jodun re?" It is me who needs God , to whom will l look up to otherwise?!
... After wandering through a maze of philosophies and credos - which in the ultimate analysis are only other people's opinions -I have gone back to being the child who had accepted the wayside Ganesa as her playmate and co-conspirator. ......Bravo:clap That is also a sentiment I contribute to. It is good to know the thoughts of other wise persons, but we should also have the wisdom to realize that they too are struggling with their thoughts and putting forth their ideas. We can learn, but the real feel should come from within oneself!
And that Mantra you quoted and live by, that was the crowning glory of your post. I am not quoting it here as it already has been done by others, but it has been quoted and marked and kept away in my heart Manju , forever reference
Profound thoughts. Once again you leave me wanting to better my expressions and imbibe your writing skills

L, Kamla

 

Dear Varalotti,

This is a a lovely thread. I wish some Atheist gets to read these article and then question themselves...

What one thinks is what one becomes. And every minute when we think of God we get absorbed into divinity and guess just the thought of God can come to our rescue. It may not be rationally proved but none can prove the divine to the mundane. To understand God one surely must definitely understand the language of his silence and trust what we have is the best we deserve.

I guess all the people who've experienced this will surely agree. May we all get to remember God not only at times of crisis but also every time evil (greed, jealousy, selfishness, anger, so on) knocks the minds door. God in us, alone can show the right path. All the best, fellow readers.

 

Sudha,
you are such a dear ! always lavish in praise and ever encouraging .Thanx buddy .:wave
That mantra is close to my heart and as i have mentioned, i TRY to live it. If i had your talent, i'd even dance to it !
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Dear Varalotti
that was magnanimous of you. But please dont write things like " pray for us"etc. Its so embarassing; sounds like i'm some meloncholic , half starved figure with joined palms and tilted head standing in a dusty alcove of a forgotten shrine. Eeeek !
And you went and nomitated it for FP too ! I'm grateful for your encouragement , and as already said, for flagging off the train. You were the Engine , we bogies just followed . And yes, i second your vote for making this a regular forum.:goodidea:
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Kamla dear , oh dear ! are you EFFUSIVE or what ! I can almost see you tossing your cap in the air . How can i ever thank you enough for your consistent (wild)cheering !.
Please, i'd like to know whose hindi couplet is it that you have quoted.Meera? (Quite poor in that dept.)
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Dear Senthan, thank you for sharing your beautiful thoughts about that mantra. Yes I agree that most of our rituals are very scientific, but their meaning is usually buried deep under centuries of possible misunderstanding, interpolations and varied interpretations. Thats the beauty of our vedas and philosophies. There are ways and ways to understand them. All valid. For at the end of the day, what matters is the equation found between " I and The Brahman" . All streams, all rivers originate from the same rain and lead to the same ocean, after meandering through different routes and terrains.
Yes, please do share more of your thoughts with us.
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Thank you for the responses, dear friends. I am extremely happy . My shiva is happy with me; and for me. For i have just uttered what i always do: "Shivaarpanam"

Regards
manjula